If you haven't already done so, I hope that you have the opportunity to read Mitch Albom's new book, The Time Keeper.  As you may know, Mr. Albom will be speaking at a community program on October 21 and some of our Cedar Village residents will be in attendance.  But of course we can't take everyone out to a lecture, it just is not  feasible.  So we did the next best thing, we created a special book event here!  We had numerous copies of the book and we shared them throughout both our staff and residents.  And we invited our friends from the Mayerson Jewish Community Center senior adult program to come and join us for lunch and a book discussion.

The Wilbur and Mary Jean Cohen Religious and Cultural Center was filled and the seating was a nice blend of folks from both organizations.  Each table had a designated facilitator and that individual had some questions to spark discussion.  Not everyone had read the book but everyone could participate in lively conversation about time, the value of time and how the meaning of time changes at different points in life.  Following our lunch and table conversations, we had a brief talk presented by our Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Fellow, HUC student Iah Pillsbury.  Iah will be with us for the entire year and is working on a very interesting and meaningful project with both Rabbis Walter and Yudin.  Iah shared her thoughts with us on the book, and the topic of time, in a very interesting and thoughtful presentation.  It was a great program, the first time that we have really done this kind of "connecting" session with seniors from the JCC and it is certainly something we plan to repeat!

Our Israel travelers head out on the Interfaith Mission, Building Bridges, next week!  It is hard to believe that it is here already.  We have eight  Cedar Village residents and five from Otterbein Lebanon and staff members from both organizations.  We'll have a send off party here at Cedar Village on Wednesday afternoon, Oct 24 at 2 p.m. and then we will board the bus and head to the airport.  We'll be posting photos regularly and sharing updates daily. We hope you'll be following along!  It is not too late to give us your note or prayer to deliver to, and place in, the Western Wall.  Just bring it over, or write it here, any day before Wednesday!

All the best,  

Notes written for us to deliver!

carol@cedarvillage.org