Louise Reichert at 100

I went to visit my friend Louise Reichert today. She celebrated her 100th birthday back in September and, happily, remains as sharp and vital as ever. Louise was the wife of Victor Reichert, who began as a rabbi at Rockdale Temple in 1926. I asked Louise to show me the book that the congregation prepared for her birthday and enjoyed seeing so many remembrances of Louise and Victor. But I was completely bummed to see that the piece that I had sent in from Boston wasn’t included in the book! I had wanted to share my sense of Louise’s place in history with her and with others who love and value her. … I’m going to bring it over to her tomorrow. Meanwhile, here it is:

K.K. Bene Israel is a very old congregation, the oldest – as we’ve all heard many times-- west of the Alleghenies. Yet, sometimes, it can be hard to grasp the reach and the meaning of that history. Often we measure the history of a congregation in the pictures of its buildings and its rabbis – in this case synagogues on Broadway, Mound, and Rockdale and illustrious figures like Max Lilienthal, David Philipson, and Victor Reichert. But the true history of a congregation is in those that give it communal life. By that standard, Rockdale possesses a historical treasure who should remind us that, in the end, Plum Street Temple (opened in 1866), is really just a building.

K. K. Bene Israel dedicated its own magnificent temple in the middle of September in 1906, giving (presumably) little thought to the baby girl born into the congregation’s Feibel family during that same week. Yet for all the apparent grandness and solidity of the neoclassical Rockdale Temple on Rockdale Avenue and the many full years of rich congregational life there, Louise Reichert has outlasted that edifice “for the ages” by more than 30 years!

On the occasion of that 1906 dedication, the congregation recalled the recent deaths of the last surviving widow of one of the original founders of the congregation and of Cantor Morris Goldstein whose skilled musicianship and cultured presence had embodied the aspirations to higher culture implicit in Bene Israel’s Reform Judaism. They realized that, having lost these important symbolic ties to the past, it was up to the congregation to continue to honor their community’s rich historical legacy as they moved into the exciting future that the new building represented.

In this sense, Louise offers a unique bridge to the past. She connects us to that downtown congregation that built Rockdale Temple in order to pioneer a new center of Jewish life in Cincinnati on the hilltop suburb of Avondale. She embodies the activism and rich communal life that characterized the congregation on Rockdale Ave. And she stands with her community now as it envisions a new kind of center on the grounds of the Rockdale Temple on Ridge Road.

A community is fortunate if it can be enriched by its past. In this sense Rockdale Temple is truly blessed by the presence of Louise Reichert. And not just because she has lived a long time. And not just because of the many years of energy, devoted service ,and deeds of loving kindness she brought to the community as the wife of its rabbi, Victor Reichert. The pleasure of Louise’s company, her vibrant spirit, keenness of insight, constant curiosity, and devotion to Rockdale are known to all who spend any time with her.

At 100 years old, she can speak with verve of personalities and movements that few others remember. She reminds us that a past world which often seems far away and present only in the pages of books and old newspapers is not so far from our own. She challenges the complacency of those who would look back on pre-World War II Rockdale Judaism with condescension. At 100 years, she stands not only for the past but also for the potential vitality of Rockdale’s future. May we all take advantage of the good fortune we have to be able to learn from her example.