Amelia Augustus will be hosting her Zoom interview program on Tuesday, December 8 at 2:00 pm.
She will be interviewing Kendal resident Eugene DuBow whose career varied from parole officer to Founding Director of the office of the first American Jewish organization to have a representation in Berlin, Germany.
All residents will receive a Zoom invitation an hour prior to the program.
Chanukah Invitation
Chanukah Invitation
We have been invited by Congregation Mishkan Ha’am in Hastings to join a Zoom Sabbath and Chanukah celebration.
When: Friday, December 11, 2020
Time: Drop-in beginning at 7:00 pm
Menorah lighting at 7:30 pm
Sabbath service following
If interested, get in touch with Jerry Trupin and he will forward the Zoom link.
Zoom Lecture
The Education Committee has announced a Zoom lecture at 7:30 pm on Monday, December 14.
Stanley Goldstein will speak on “Conscience of a Conservative--Corporations and Sustainability”
According to Google, sustainability means “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” The definition goes on to mention “the sustainability of economic growth” and “avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” So what does “sustainability” mean to a corporation?
Stanley Goldstein, a long-time Briarcliff resident, is a CPA, a conservative, and a person with a deep interest in politics and literature. He founded a successful accounting firm, leaving it in 1981 to become a private equity investor.
In addition to being on three for-profit boards of directors, he is the founder of the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable, the Donors’ Forum Philanthropic Roundtable, the Westchester Great Books Council, the American Friends of James Joyce, the Briarcliff Manor Public Affairs Roundtable, the Brooklyn College Public Affairs Roundtable, and the Sustainability Investment Leadership Council.
Politically conservative and socially liberal, Stanley believes that corporations have a responsibility to their employees and their communities and that this does not harm the all-important bottom line.
Founded in 2015, the Sustainability Investment Leadership Council “works with corporations, accounting firms, law firms, and investment firms to integrate sustainability as part of a firm’s overall growth strategy.”
But what does that mean? Stanley will tell us on Monday evening, December 14. Residents with email addresses will receive an invitation for the 7:30 pm Zoom lecture in advance.
Library News
Books for Christmas:
When thinking about your holiday gifts, don’t forget the books for sale in the library. For only $1.00 each, you can find volumes to please many people on your list and, at the same time, help fund the purchase of new books.
If you don’t remember to bring cash, please fill out an IOU and leave it in the jar by the books.
Need help? Librarian on duty Monday-Friday 10 am-12 noon and 2 pm-4 pm.
New Covid-19 Rules
The prime goal of both the Kendal Management and the Residents Association is to keep our residents safe and healthy. With the Covid-19 pandemic all around us and the number of its victims increasing, it has been decided that social visiting and dining would have to be further limited These actions are an absolute lifesaver.
The new rules were explained to all residents in a memo. In part, the note explained:
In an abundance of caution, Kendal on Hudson Administration has thoughtfully decided to institute a “14-day pause” on all social visitors to the property and seated dining beginning Wednesday, December 2nd. This is done in response to the prevalence of COVID cases in Westchester County and our desire to maintain our community as a safe space for all who reside here. It is also being put in place to proactively mitigate any COVID issues at Kendal which may negatively impact the year-end holidays we are all hoping for (and so justly deserve!).
The pause is scheduled to end on December 16th at which time the situation will again be studied.
Lectures & Courses Update
2021 Monday Night Lectures on Zoom at 7:30 pm.
January 4: Schools Superintendent Chrisopher Borsari: “K-12 Education during the Pandemic”
January 25: Pace University President Marvin Krislov: “Postsecondary Education during the Pandemic”
February 22: Screenwriter, Producer, Author and Director Nicholas Meyer
March 1: Senior Director of Horticulture Louis Bauer: “Nature into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill”
March 15: Pace University Professor Andreea Cotoranu: “Artificial Intelligence”
Coming Courses via Zoom – 2 pm to 3 pm
Professor Kate Farrington - American Theater - Tuesday, January 5, 12, 19, 26
Professor Edward Berenson - “History of Paris” - Friday, January 8, 15, 22, 29
To enroll, contact Fran Kelly,
Looking Ahead to 2021: Lectures and Courses
Time flies! Kendal’s Education Committee is already looking ahead to January 2021.
Monday Night Lectures on Zoom:
January 4, 7:30 pm - Christopher Borsari, Schools Superintendent: “K-12 Education During the Pandemic”
January 25, 7:30 pm - Marvin Krislov, President, Pace University: “Postsecondary Education During the Pandemic”
Courses on Zoom:
Tuesday, January 5, 12, 19, 26, 2-3 pm -
Theater Course with Kate Farrington
Friday, January 8, 15, 22, 27, 2-3 pm -
History of Paris with Edward Berenson
To enroll or to get more information, contact Fran Kelly
Mixed Media Workshop in Person
Kendal’s Art Committee announces a “Mixed Media Workshop in Person”
This will be an opportunity to explore some of the creative possibilities of the mixed media process in art. All supplies will be provided. No experience is necessary;
Space is limited to six participants.
Where: Art Room on C Level
When: Fridays, December 4 and 11, 2-4 pm
To sign up, get in touch with Ann Lasusa.
Book Review by Hope Cooke
The Kendal Residents Website is adding a new feature to its NEWS section - Book Reviews. Noted author and Kendal resident Hope Cooke will be writing occasional book reviews for reader perusal. Those that she chooses will be works recently acquired by the Kendal Library.
Hope’s first review is The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams family, edited by L.H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlander and Mary-Jo Kline, Northeastern University Press (1975, republished 2002). It follows:
Think times are hard now? For much of the period, 1762-1784 that this correspondence covers, small-pox (and with it a nasty vaxing—anti-vaxing debate) raged alongside the volatile politics leading up to the war. The Adamses and others actually smoked their letters to kill the virus that continued throughout the conflict, its debilitating effects forcing the American troops to retreat from Quebec, John writes from the field, where he assisted General Washington.
Meanwhile, back in Massachusetts, Abigail and the Adams children are down with the deadly disease in Braintree where Abigail raises their five kids on her own, runs the family farm, copes with a nearly valueless Continental currency, deals with privations due to the bans on imports brought by the Revolution and hoarding and price gouging as well. (The women of Boston, she writes, hogtie an offending merchant and dump his body in a cart.) In her husband’s absence, she carries and bears a stillborn infant, conceived on one of his rare trips home.
Due to her patriotism, however, as well as some super cool unfamiliar to me, she never complains –even sotto voce--until 1782 when John informs her he plans to extend his European assignment where Congress had sent him earlier to help negotiate peace for the new country, a duty that would mean three more years abroad. In France his chief enemies are Ben Franklin, the longstanding Francophile boss of the American delegation, who treats the unsophisticated Yankee with disdain, and the attractions of Paris that seriously alarm him. Abigail doesn’t really complain even then but merely suggests that she and a daughter should join him despite the ‘perils of Neptune’. The Atlantic dangers are so great that many of the ships carrying their letters routinely sink, and as much as half a year will go by without their hearing from one another. The mail is also threatened by spies and ‘Ruffians’ infesting the overland postal routes. For months at one point due to a break in correspondence, Abigail lives with a rumor that her oldest son who is traveling may be lost at sea.
These are just starters. Read on for a riveting exchange, with Abigail (famous for advising her husband “to remember the ladies” when he’s co-drafting the Constitution in Philadelphia) being the emotive voice and John, the dry reporter who happened to be present at the birth of our parlous Republic.
Do not be put off by the initial exchange of ‘love letters’ during the Adams’ courtship, an excruciating badinage of classical allusions. My advice: skim until you reach the business of their long-distance marriage, an epistolary treasure.
FIVE STARS
Getting to Know You
Under the theme “Going from Professionally Aimless to Always Scoring a Bull’s Eye, Big Time,” Amelia Augustus will interview Gene DuBow about the many hats he’s worn in his life.
To those who are relatively new to Kendal, Gene may be known primarily as the host of the weekly Contemporary Issues Discussion Group (now on Zoom), but he has also committed himself to numerous past and present Kendal-related activities.
Gene is a 50-year veteran professional with the American Jewish Committee and was the founding director of the AJC’s Berlin office. In 1996, he was decorated by the German government with the Federal Order of Merit in recognition of his work in German-Jewish relations, and in 2004 Gene was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College.
Please meet Gene up close and personal on Tuesday, December 8, at 2 pm. The interview will be conducted on Zoom. All internet users with email will receive an invitation and instructions on how to join the meeting.
Amelia heartily recommends it!