My brother Bernie turns 80 today. Over this past weekend Gilda and I drove to his home in Rockville, MD, to celebrate with him. Our sister Lee flew in from Los Angeles.
Saturday we went to synagogue. Ritual confirmation. Aside from Bernie having an honor reading from the Torah and having an aliyah, Gilda and I were given an aliyah, as well.
That’s when the bizarre took over. Reading the Torah for an aliyah while we were standing on the bimah was a man we had never met before, Jeff Fenster.
Fenster. In two previous blogs I recounted how an Israeli high school teacher misread the Delaney attendance card on which I had spelled out my name in Hebrew. Instead of Forseter he called me Fenster. Throughout my junior year he called me Fenster. It became my nickname among my classmates. That was in the 1965-66 academic year.
Fast forward to 2010. A notice from our temple said a man from Riverdale—Matt Fenster—was seeking bone marrow donors to treat his acute myelogenous leukemia. I knew nothing about him except his name and medical need. I felt a kinship with Matt Fenster.
Gilda and I drove to the testing site the next day, only to be turned away because we were 61, one year older than the donor age limit. We gave a donation but were bummed out we couldn’t do more.
A year later we learned Matt Fenster passed away, leaving four young children.
Fast forward again to June 2022. Our high school class scribe who keeps us abreast of happy and sad news of fellow alumni and their families sent a note relating that Leah Fenster of Riverdale, daughter of Matt Fenster, had become engaged to Gabriel Miller, the grandson of one of our classmates.
Standing on the bimah Saturday I couldn’t ask Jeff Fenster if he was related to Matt Fenster. To no avail I couldn’t find him during the kiddish after services.
