Senior Lounge Is Fitting Tribute to Beloved Parents

This weekend, members of the Greater MetroWest community, both from New Jersey and Israel, gathered in our partner community of Kibbutz Erez for a moving dedication ceremony of the Arazim Senior Lounge in the memory of Sylvia and Mickey Fried. The Frieds were generous supporters of our community and their family, including daughter Paula Saginaw and sons Steven and Robert Fried, felt that the most fitting tribute to their legacy would be a building in their beloved Israel.

The old facility, which is part of a compound that includes the Murnick library, a conference center, and a children’s arts and crafts center, underwent a complete renovation. The lounge will serve the seniors, many of whom were founders of the Kibbutz, with classes, computer stations, a kitchen, and a safe room. The project was completed thanks to the work of outgoing kibbutz chair Roni Levin and liaison Yahel Ben Aris.

Following are Paula’s reflections of ceremony:

The dedication ceremony of the Arazim Senior Lounge in Kibbutz Erez was quite an emotional day! Being surrounded by the veterans of the Kibbutz, and hearing how much they appreciate and enjoy having a place to call their own was extremely heartwarming.

When friends in New Jersey heard about the dedication of the Arazim Senior Lounge in memory of our parents, they would ask two questions: Why Kibbutz Erez? And why a senior lounge?

The answers are easy. Kibbutz Erez has been a very special partnership where we’ve developed warm friendships and mishpucha, family, over the past 15 years.  And even though it’s a very precarious place on the map, so near to Gaza, when one visits Erez, there’s a peacefulness and tranquility that is palpable.

My family wanted to choose a project to honor the memory of our parents that would be meaningful as a reflection of their lives. Both my mother and father, Sylvia and Mickey Fried, of blessed memory, were very involved in the Jewish community – in their synagogue as well as Federation.  They cared deeply about the elderly and did all they could to make their lives a little easier. They were also very much lovers of life and enjoyed spending time with their family and friends, schmoozing and reminiscing.

A Senior Lounge was the perfect fit!   

The seniors of the Kibbutz were in need of a place in which to have coffee together, do gymnastics, use computers, or just hang out. They also wanted to share their stories and memories about the history of the kibbutz with the next generation.  It seemed beshert to create such a place as a tribute to our parents.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, one of the elderly women of the kibbutz named Rachel, who is in her 80s and goes to the Senior Lounge on a regular basis for gymnastics and to be with friends, thanked me and my family for giving them such a matana, Hebrew for gift. What a blessing it is to be able to honor the legacy of our parents in such a way; a legacy of compassion, of generosity, and of mutual responsibility for tikkun olam, making the world a better place.