PASSOVER EDITION SECTION C PAGE 28
Pete: Shabbat Shalom
What is this? A shul or a fresh fruit market. Who is this? A rabbi or an expert in fruits and vegetables. When is this? From 8 in the morning until 7 at night, or also late at night, when it’s time to buy or sell scores of families’ chametz?
Pete Moutzouris of Pete’s Fruits and Vegetables on Cedar and Holly does more than make his customers comfortable with a friendly “Good Shabbos” on Friday afternoon. Proud of his own Greek Orthodox Church and faith, he takes joy in the faith and practices of others. So it’s not just “Good Shabbos” (plus an ample supply of Shabbos candles). It’s also “Happy Pesach” (plus an ample supply of the root from which maror is ground); it’s “Happy Shavuos” (plus an ample supply of flowers for home and synagogue); it’s “Happy New Year” (plus an ample supply of honey) and it’s “have a good fast” before Yom Kippur.
Sometimes, you’d think the Jewish calendar was composed at Pete’s, for he carries the yearly cycle around, missing not a step: Candles for Chanukah, explanations for his non-Jewish customers what’s going on when normally staid executives show up in his store decked out in outlandish Purim costumes; with note taken also of everything from students studying in Israel to marriages and births.
Pete has more than earned the title of honorary member of the Jewish community.
Sergio: Baruch Hashem
Is it only the Jewish person who must thank G-d? Does it make a difference in which language one thanks G-d? No and no. With a flourish and a smile and not the slightest pause for effect — but with an effect nonetheless — Sergio Estrada, when asked how he is, belts out a “Boruch Hashem.” Which happens to be Hebrew for thank G-d.
However, you might just as well be greeted by Sergio, as he serves you as the East Side Kosher Deli, with a ditty in Spanish — or an operatic Spanish rendition.
If a customer orders a steak or a turkey sandwich, and wonders about the availability of butter, Sergio will smile and instruct his customer, gently, in the laws of kashrut. This season, he’ll extend the lesson with a short discourse on the laws of Passover, together with, you guessed it, another flourish, “Hag Kasher ve-Same’ach.”
Sergio Estrada sings Hebrew songs for the kids, knows his customers’ favorite dishes and writes them down before the customer even has a chance to order. He knows his customers’ tastes, with an “institutional memory” second to none. You’d never guess he sells cars on the side. We’d like to see him in his lot some day — who knows what cultural adaptations he makes there to bring a smile to his customers’ faces. No doubt, he does, for Sergio has mastered “the great mitzvah of being happy, always.”
Dennis: Irish Translation
How much do we admire Dennis Gallagher, and why?
He is, first of all, a highly effective, even inspired, elected official, having spent many years in the Colorado House and Senate, a couple of terms on the Denver City Council and a busy stint as Denver’s current City Auditor.
He is, secondly, an unusual and scintillating personality — full of that elusive yet potent spirit the French like to call joi de vivre; fond of telling stories and jokes (many quite hilarious); enamored by and loyal to his ancestral home of Ireland; taken with tales of specters and hauntings (which he likes to tell while wearing a top hat and tails and giving autumnal tours of old cemeteries).
He is also fiercely loyal to his friends, and Colorado Jews have always been among them. We cannot count the number of times he has legislated, communicated, agitated, demonstrated or otherwise advocated for issues of concern to Jews, from Soviet Jewry to the Golda Meir house to neighborhood issues on the West Side.
We’re frankly not sure why that is. You might take the initiative and ask him yourself the next time you see him. You might not get your answer but you’ll likely come away laughing from a good joke, weeping from a sad story or shivering from a spooky tale — and quite glad, all the while, to have made his acquaintance.
Sandy: Mutual Respect
Sometimes Jewish institutions hire non-Jewish professionals to be their executives strictly because of their administrative and fiscal abilities. It may also be because the non-Jewish professional would bring a certain objectivity to the position that a Jewish community member might lack.
Some 28 years ago, when Rabbi Bernard Eisenman hired Sandy Greene as a part-time administrator at Congregation Rodef Shalom, he hit the double jackpot. Not only did he find an intelligent, capable and efficient administrator in this gentile woman who had previously never heard of a challah or a sukkah, he also chose a caring professional who studied up so she could respect the Jewish needs — and perhaps idiosyncrasies — of Rodef’s congregants.
Not long after she came on as a part-timer, Sandy Greene became full-time and worked her way up to executive director. She brings impartiality to her job, allowing her to run a tight ship and keep the business side of this Conservative synagogue in check. On the other hand, Greene is able to help her congregants on Shabbat by performing tasks in the synagogue that they may not. She does this out of respect.
Rodef Shalom has honored Sandy Greene several times. We do so here, so that the wider community may recognize this friendly and respectful “honorary Jew.”
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
