Margie Pensack - Making Those Golden Years Shine

Making Those Golden Years Shine

by Margie Pensak

The first time my friend received Modern Maturity in the mail, she realized with a jolt that she had reached a new stage of life. With more and more Baby Boomers becoming automatic card-carrying members of AARP by the minute, I thought it would be interesting to survey some retirees in the Torah community and compare their lifestyle to that of secular retirees. While Modern Maturity - which, by the way, is the magazine with the largest circulation in the United States - depicts couples chasing the sun to Arizona, the Caribbean, or even Mexico, I think I can safely conjecture that this version of retirement is not commonplace among Orthodox golden agers. Below, some local retirees, discuss their present activities and future goals. As could be expected, these include a renewed commitment to Torah, family, and community.

Saluting Retirement

Rabbi Michoel Geller spent 44 years of his life as a pulpit rabbi, before retiring in 1996. he and his wife Chana then moved from Malden, Massachusetts, to Baltimore to be close to their children, Yisroel Meir and Sora Stern (who have since moved to New York) and Zev and Tova Gerstein. Prior to his 16-year position in Malden, Rabbi Geller served as rabbi in Norwich, Connecticut, for 28 years. He also served for two years in the Air Force reserves, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.

After spending so many years in small towns, where they often provided the only taste of Yiddishkeit to their fellow Jews, the Gellers were thrilled to live in a burgeoning, vibrant Orthodox community. But if you think Rabbi Geller has settled into a relaxed retirement, Rebbitzen Geller will tell you different. He's busier than ever!

Rabbi Geller is assistant chaplain in Sinai Hospital. When Sinai chaplain, Rabbi Mitchell Ackerson was stationed in Iraq for almost a year and a half, it was Rabbi Geller who filled in for him, as many as four days a week. Rabbi Geller is also employed as a mashgiach for the Star-K, which involves traveling to Essex twice a week.

This is Rabbi Geller's typical daily schedule:

6 a.m.: wake up
7:15: attend Rabbi Hopfer's shiur
8:15 - 9:45: daven
10:00 - 10:45: eat breakfast
11 - 1 p.m.: attend daf yomi shiur at Rabbi Nachman Klein's Senior Kollel

"In the afternoons, when I? m not at the hospital or a certifying plant, I work for my real boss - my wife!" teases Rabbi Geller, who admits to having KP and running errands.

On Wednesday evenings, after davening Mincha and Maariv, he goes to Rabbi Dovid Rosenbaum's shiur at the Adas, and on Thursday evenings, he attends Rabbi Frand's shiur.

Retired Army Major,

Rabbi Joseph Daina, put in 20 years of active duty in the military, from 1973-1993, moving as often as every three years, around the world. He and his father, Rabbi Max Daina, a.h., were the only Orthodox father and son to make a career of the military in over 225 years.

Rabbi Geller's introduction into the Daina family came in the late 1950's, when he met Rabbi Max Daina while he was stationed in Louisiana. Rabbi Joseph Daina's introduction into the Geller family came even earlier, in the 1940's, as a child growing up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. It was there that Rabbi Geller's future father-in-law, Rabbi Lesser, the shamash of the Daina family's shul, took young Joseph under his wing, while his father was away on military duty.

Over the years, Rabbis Geller and Daina became close friends, seeing each other at Jewish military conventions. In fact, when Rabbi Daina moved to Baltimore a few years after retiring from the military, he and Rabbi Geller became chavrusas (learning partners). The irony is, Rabbi Geller's "retirement" schedule is so hectic now, it no longer allows the two to be chavrusas.

Shortly after Rabbi Daina retired, he started to "catch up" on his learning with a daily learning schedule. He also became a Rabbinic mashgiach for the O-U in Texas, and was active in the Dallas Day School. After his move to Baltimore, he began writing a book about his experiences in the chaplaincy. He also got re-married to Naomi, a family friend and former congregant of the Gellers in Norwich. The shadchanim were none other than the Gellers!

Rabbi Daina currently teaches at Etz Chaim, and still keeps up with his non-observant Jewish army buddies. He and Naomi, a retired educator, love to spend time with their children and grandchildren, and entertain company on Shabbos. Mrs. Daina volunteers for Bikur Cholim, and hopes to publish a book one day about educating children.

Rabbi Daina feels that retirement provides "an extra chance" to do something fulfilling with your time, and that it is a challenge to decide how you are going to spend it. The most important point, he feels, is one which is often ignored--the opportunity to have a family is not merely given to us to fulfill a spiritual obligation. We should enjoy our families while we can, and the Dainas spend much of their retirement time doing just that.

"Enough Is Enough"

Rabbi Reuvain Shnidman was a research physicist for the Army for more than 35 years, before he decided "enough is enough". Although he is retired for only four months, he says that retirement is close to what he expected. "It's definitely more relaxing than fighting the rush hour traffic to Aberdeen Proving Grounds."

Rabbi Shnidman's days are spent concentrating on learning Torah, in his two daily learning sederim. He prepares for the Daf Yomi shiur he gives in the evenings, in the Senior Kollel, and he also learns at Ner Yisroel in the afternoons. He makes family time a priority, and has also traveled a bit. What advice does he have for those contemplating the big move into retirement?" I' ll pass along the lessons I learned at a retirement course: First of all, can you afford it? Secondly, are you ready for retirement? And, lastly, are the people around you ready for you to retire?"

Baltimore's favorite weather man, Bill Lerner, also decided "enough is enough"' in planning for his end of year retirement. By December, Mr. Lerner will have worked for over 39 years for the National Weather Service. Now that his last child is out of high school, he decided that he would like to be in charge of deciding what to do with his time.

What are his plans? In addition to spending more time learning Torah, he has several hobbies he would like to pursue, including gardening. "Since my wife expects me to take on more of the household duties, I'll have plenty to do," figures Mr. Lerner. "I'm not planning at all to be bored!" In anticipation of retirement, he adds, "even though I haven't done it yet, I highly recommend it!"

Retiring With Class

Ephraim Eisenberger retired in 1993, after working for 36 years as a federal civil servant for the Navy. He utilized his physics and engineering background, as a Safety Manager. When the Brooklyn Navy Yard closed up, he moved to Baltimore, and commuted daily to Washington, D.C. Completing the required number of years, he was able to retire without any penalties. Additional incentives for his retirement were the fact that his position was being transferred 20-30 miles south of Washington, and that the Navy was offering cash buy outs.

"I was nervous about this life change initially," admits Mr. Eisenberger, who asked his family what they thought about the idea of his retirement. "I felt like I had to ask them permission to retire. As in many frum families, by retiring I would be able to provide less for my married children? a concept foreign to the secular world." Although his family encouraged him, he debated with himself between sitting and learning and continuing to help out his family financially.

Still wanting to help out his children and grandchildren in his "retirement", Mr. Eisenberger is capitalizing on the "ego trip" teaching experience he had while simultaneously being employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He presently teaches physics on several campuses, including: Ner Yisroel, Maalot, Towson State University, and Essex Community College.

Retirement Appeals to Him

Reuven Yudkowsky worked as a Revenue Agent and an Appeals Officer for the Internal Revenue Service for a total of 39-1/2 years. Although people warned him about the down side of retirement, he says he never looked back and regretted his decision. It was a smooth transition. He now has a morning and evening learning seder, has a daily exercise routine, is involved in a few chesed projects, and babysits for his grandchildren occasionally. When he travels to out-of- town or out-of-country simchas, he is able to stay a little longer now. His wife, Faige, who is still teaching at Bais Yaakov of Baltimore (and believes like most women, that women never retire!), says the best part of his being retired is that he is there to help when somebody needs him.

"I decided to retire because I thought I would be able to do it financially," explains Mr. Yudkowsky. "Boruch Hashem, I had a job that offered sufficient retirement benefits.The children were all married, except for the youngest. It just made sense. I could accomplish that much more." In answer to the question he is most frequently asked about his retirement, "Tell me, what do you do with your time now that you are retired" , he quips: "Well, most of the time I am answering the question:"What do you do with your time"?