The Big E – Ecumenicists, Evangelists, & Everybody Else

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22 – June, 2020

By Elaine Lessig

Are you wondering why a written piece with the title “Ecumenicists, Evangelists, and Everybody Else” appears in a publication about canines? The answer is a bit complicated. Let me start at the beginning. As a child growing up on the North Shore of Long Island, our neighborhood was compiled of families whose children either went to Catechism after school on Wednesdays at the local Catholic Church or hurried to Hebrew School at the Jewish Community Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No questions were asked. None were needed. It just was.

Through the years we were very aware of each other’s religious events. Sports and community activities were never scheduled on Sunday mornings. That was a protected time when the Catholic families went to church and the Jewish children went to Sunday school. During Lent, our Catholic friends would give up gum, soda, or candy. Usually, at about the same time, the Jewish kids brought their lunches from home to observe Passover. On random Wednesdays, nerves and fears were often intense. Those were the days for Catechism tests to be given. To save our friends from the pain of failure, we would prompt them on the Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and responses which they had to supply. I can recall them still.

Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs marked the time when we moved from childhood but were still a long way from becoming adults. We danced with the opposite sex. Usually the girls towered over the boys at the big parties which followed the religious services. From the “kids” tables, we watched our parents socialize with their Manhattans and Martinis. Drinking our Shirley Temples made us feel very sophisticated. There was always at least one adventurous friend who would sneak a sip from a parent’s drink while the adults were cheek to cheek on the dance floor. Plenty of boys and girls took the opportunity to furtively experiment with a quick, chaste kiss.

Click here to read the complete article
22 – June, 2020

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