On the most beautiful spring evening so far this year, Temple Judea held its annual gala, designed to provide a great dinner, the honoring of two special couples, a fabulous speaker and wonderful entertainment.

In past years, the gala has traditionally been held in the Temple Judea Ballroom, a lavish venue.

However, this year, because of an unexpected upsurge of the Covid virus, changes in plans had to be made to carefully accommodate everyone’s concerns about the virus and still have a memorable evening.

Rabbi Todd Chizner, Cantor Deborah Jacobson, President Paul Vegoda, as well as Lauren Resnikoff, Douglas Weigler and others, had to quickly re-think the location of the Gala.Last-minute thoughtful and careful planning for this festive evening resulted in an extraordinary, successful and beautiful event, free from Covid worries. Special thanks to Maxine Peresechensky, the Executive Director of Temple Judea, who always keeps the wheels turning.

A very large open-sided white tent on the Temple campus provided the exactly correct venue, giving over 125 guests the opportunity to have a buffet dinner, catered by Hassan Caterers and enjoy an evening “out of doors”, all while surrounded by trees and foliage and a brilliant blue evening sky.

After dinner, the celebrants donned their masks and proceeded to the Sanctuary for the rest of the planned program.

The honorees were Dr.Jodi Laxer and Dr. Joel Laxer, as well as Suzanne and Greg Bloom, who are both successful attorneys. As each couple came up on the Bima, their grown children joined them. There, the children read testimonials to their parents, each describing their lives with their respective and very accomplished and loving parents.

A special guest speaker, Quiara Alegria Hudes, spoke via Zoom on a large screen. Hudes is the Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright of “Water by the Spoonful”. She also wrote the script for the Broadway blockbuster, “In the Heights”. Rabbi Chizner served as the moderator as Hudes spoke about her book, “My Broken Language”, describing her coming of age against the backdrop of an ailing Philadelphia barrio, with her sprawling Puerto Rican family.

The “Mammales” (Yiddish for “little mommas”) a trio of very talented young professional singers, sang rollicking tunes from “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish.

This evening ended back in the tent for coffee, dessert and connecting with Temple friends and families. It was truly a successful; event.