Calendar Quandary

By: Larry Gordon

Summer is almost here. It’s hot outside, school is ending, seasonal plans are underway, and it’s time to start looking ahead while always keeping in mind the special days of years gone by.

As I sit here, I’m conjuring up some of the most notable summer memories I’ve manage to collect over the years, baruch Hashem, the most notable of which was the July 4th weekend that I met the young lady who would become my wife and with whom I created my family. When she agreed to date me, I thought that somehow, I was the most fortunate man in the world. After I first introduced Esta to one of my friends a few weeks later, he was very impressed, but he asked me if I understood why she would want to date me.

At the time I was not sure if that was a philosophical inquiry, an insult, or if he just plain couldn’t figure it out. Upon reflection, I felt it was a compliment wrapped inside an insult, but I wasn’t offended. I just believed that I was deeply fortunate and that I’d be better off not engaging in dialogues of that nature.

Thankfully, we’ve collected many summers since then, and summer has always been a time when we could enjoy the tropical New York weather and just try to relax to the greatest extent possible.

So, permit me to recollect several of those summers as long as we’re on the subject. The summer of 1969 stands out for several reasons, one of which was that at the end of that long, hot summer, my grandfather—my father’s father—passed away a day prior to Rosh Chodesh Elul.

R’ Yochanan Gordon, zt’l, was the gabbai in the Crown Heights shul known simply as “770.” He immigrated to the United States from Belarus in 1932, and two years later, his wife and four children arrived, the oldest of whom was my father. That was more than 90 years ago.

It’s intriguing to think that we’re connected to such a significant time in history and how our communities have evolved to the extent they have. After all these years, I still have difficulty wrapping my head around how we’re connected to those days and how our families faced so much danger and uncertainty with courage, ease, and equanimity.

But then again, could an adventure of that type really be so simple? That is, voyaging across the Atlantic Ocean for at least two weeks until you were fortunate enough to arrive in New York City.

Somehow, we managed to delude ourselves into thinking that life has always been as comfortable and safe as we know it today. I’m pretty sure that my zaidy’s levaya in the summer of 1969 was the first funeral I ever attended in my life. It stands out as a monumental turning point and would probably stand out much more if there hadn’t been so many other funerals over the years.

Then there were my few summers in sleepaway camp. There was one summer in particular when I was around 14, the perfect age to be in summer camp. I remember this summer distinctly because it rained just about every single day. Unfortunately, we had this early-morning lineup at around 8 a.m. just before Shacharis, and because of the rain, we ended up standing in mud each morning. That was not a pleasant summer as far as I can recall.

It’s unlikely that you have ever heard of this, but there was a time that when you went to camp in the Catskills, you had to go to the Port Authority bus terminal in midtown Manhattan and catch a Greyhound bus to either Liberty or Monticello where the camp picked you up for your summer adventure.

{IMG: Greyhound bus leaving NYC.jpg 

Then there was visiting day, which very often was a combination of both the best and saddest days of the summer. It was nice to see your parents arrive early in the day, but then it was difficult to say goodbye at the end of the day as they returned to their car for the bumper-to-bumper traffic back to Brooklyn.

In our case, it wasn’t that sad because, as I’ve stated here numerous times, my parents spent most of their summers in Israel, so we usually had surrogate visitors on those visiting days. Those visitors included my brother Binyomin, who was niftar eight months ago. The few times that he and his wife Sandy stood in for our parents, they were accompanied by my mom’s parents, Aaron and Chaya Malka Berger. He was and always will be a great brother and Sandy, may she be well, a wonderful sister-in-law.

My bubby and zaidy—my mom’s parents—came to the U.S. from Europe way back in 1910, well over 100 years ago. They were very close to us kids and we loved them deeply. Now that I’m sitting here thinking about them, I find it difficult to fathom that all of those memories existed in one lifetime. At the same time, it occurs to me how dearly we miss them, and it seems that these recollections and memories are timeless.

Let’s take a giant step forward to today, June 2026. School is ending and the camps and summer homes are opening for the season. Gourmet Glatt is opening this week in Kiamesha Lake, New York on the location that was once the famous Kiamesha Lanes bowling alley.

This year the start of summer is a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle. How we plan our summer and our children’s summers come down to several things, among which are when yeshiva and seminary start in Israel at the end of summer as well as when Tishah B’Av falls out.

I should have included Regents exams for our New York high school students because in some cases, the Regents exams are scheduled for the days after camp begins. That can mean that some kids have to hop back and forth between camp upstate and the classroom down here in the city. If you’re reading these words in Florida and have always lived there, you probably don’t know what a Regents examination is as it pertains to our school-age kids.

As we usually do, we will figure it all out. The most important thing is to have a safe, happy, and productive summer. In case you haven’t checked your calendar, Tishah B’Av falls out on Wednesday night and Thursday, which leads directly into Shabbos Nachamu at the end of July.

Rosh Chodesh Elul occurs on Wednesday, August 12. This means that Rosh Hashanah is exactly four weeks later. In other words, the holidays are early this year. Just as important is that Rosh Hashanah and the Sukkos chag start on Friday nights (September 11 and 25 consecutively) and are observed on Shabbos and Sunday. Yom tov is always great, but it’s an added attraction when it occurs on weekends, and to each of the readers, it might mean something else.

It’s never too early to wish everyone a good new year along with an enjoyable summer. The best advice at this point might be to keep your calendars nearby. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.