H EADLINES
Gatherings Continued from Page 1
once a month for activities like
lunches and visiting a scare-
crow exhibit in October. On
Dec. 13, the Goddesses are
having a Chanukah potluck
featuring brisket,
kugel and salmon, among other
delicacies. “We’ve all been vacci-
nated, and we think enough is
enough,” Heisen said. “We’re
not young.”
Later in December, Heisen
and her daughter will fl y to Los
Angeles to visit her son and his
family. When Heisen’s husband
was alive, the family tradition-
ally ate prime rib on Christmas
Day, his birthday.

Now, they are bringing back
the tradition for the fi rst time
since 2019. Peter Heisen died in
February 2020.

“We can’t eradicate the fl u.

We can’t eradicate colds,” Heisen
Cara Scharf, center, celebrates Chanukah with her family before the
pandemic. Courtesy of the Scharf family
said. “How can we eradicate
COVID? We can’t.”
Heisen is not the only Jewish
local willing to travel for a
holiday gathering.

Cara Scharf of Philadelphia
is planning on going to New
Hampshire and Connecticut for
Meet HERBERTA SMITH
Caregiver SHE’S CALLED SIMPSON HOUSE HOME SINCE 2018
In the 1950s, Herberta went to the Mercy-Douglass Hospital School
of Nursing, an African-American hospital and Philadelphia’s first
school for Black nurses. She started her nursing career in 1955.

In 1988, Herberta looked for change in her life and found it in
the mission field. Over the next three decades, she would spend
a total of six years in various locations throughout Uganda.

She made her last trip in 2016 at the age of 83, two years before
she moved to Simpson House.

Th anksgiving and Christmas,
respectively, with her husband’s
family. Th e New Hampshire party
will include about eight people
staying together in an Airbnb.

Th e Connecticut gathering will
welcome 11-12 guests.

Scharf and her husband also
are getting together with Scharf’s
parents a couple of times to light
Chanukah candles.

Last year for Th anksgiving,
they met with her parents for
a small get-together. But in
December, as cases increased,
they just lit Chanukah candles
over Zoom.

Th is year will be more fun,
Scharf said.

“Th ere’s a sense of togeth-
erness and joy around these
holidays,” she said. “It’s sad
when you’re just doing it over
Zoom.” Scharf added that she trusts
her family members and that
everyone eligible to be vacci-
nated is.

“We feel pretty comfortable,”
she said.

Call us today at 215-709-6663 to see for yourself why
Herberta and other caregivers choose Simpson House for
retirement living.

2101 Belmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
SimpsonHouse.org/JE-HS • 215-709-6663
14 NOVEMBER 18, 2021
The Good Grief Goddesses, a group of Jewish widows in the Philly
area, are planning on getting together for a holiday meal on Dec. 13.

Courtesy of Joyce Heisen
Charles Schnur of Center
City is having a family member
come to him: his mother-
in-law. She lives in Stamford,
Connecticut, but wants to spend
Th anksgiving and Chanukah
with her 5-month-old grandson.

She plans on staying with the
Schnurs for “awhile,” Charles
Schnur said.

“We’ll get to celebrate with
her. She’ll get to celebrate
with her grandson,” he added.

“Th at’s nice.”
Another Jewish Phila-
delphian, Bryan Cohen, is not
planning on traveling or having
anyone come to him. But he is
planning on resuming a public
tradition with his father, brother
and his brother’s fi ancee.

Before 2020, the Cohens
would go out for Th anksgiving
dinner in the city. But last
year, they just got together
virtually. In 2021, though, the Cohens
want to go to the Capital
Grille or another steakhouse.

Th ey will probably gather for
Chanukah candle lightings,
too, Cohen said.

“Restrictions are down,”
he added. “We’d like to get
together.” Several
Jewish Phila-
delphia ns
ment ioned
vaccinations as the reason they
feel comfortable seeing family
members again. For some, it’s
not exactly a requirement; for
other families, though, it very
much is.

Peter Gaskill of Bala
Cynwyd usually celebrates
Thanksgiving in Sharon,
Massachusetts, where his wife’s
brother and sister-in-law live.

Th e dinner was canceled in
2020 but is back on this year
under one condition.

All guests who have been
eligible for vaccinations must
be vaccinated and tested before
the event. And the tests must be
negative for COVID.

Even kids 11 and under,
who became eligible for Pfi zer
vaccines in October, will have
gotten their fi rst shots by the
time the family sits down for
turkey. “Just because you’re vacci-
nated doesn’t mean you can’t
get COVID,” Gaskill said.

At the same time, he’s not
worried about the indoor
dinner. “Everyone’s vaxxed, so we’re
feeling safe,” Gaskill said. ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0740 JEWISH EXPONENT
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