THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 7, 1994 TAG: 9409070433
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
If you would know what helps this region go despite one adversity after another, drop by for half an hour at the display celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk.
That seems short? Once people were jamming the National Gallery of Art, waiting ages to see an epochal show on China. As a taxi idled, I took a rear door into the galleries and shot through four millennia in 15 minutes.
Ohef Sholom's artifacts and panels of photographs with easy-to-read labels is enhanced by a 12-minute video of highlights.
What impresses the viewer is the profound contribution of the congregation and its leaders to Norfolk's progressive spirit and spunk.
Among gifted rabbis was Dr. Louis D. Mendoza (1907 to 1945). He quietly halted his brilliant book reviews on Sunday evenings when other clergymen complained that they were drawing from Protestant churches' regular services.
His tribute to Woodrow Wilson brought invitations for him to deliver it to Congress. He declined, but agreed to give it on the radio.
He and the Rev. Sparks Melton of Freemason Street Baptist were friends. The two congregations had the same organist, and when both wanted her to play at Thanksgiving, she suggested they hold a joint service. They did - and still do.
Lawrence Forman, the rabbi since 1970, is a leader in community activities ranging from the program for gifted and talented children in the public schools to the medical ethics committee at Sentara Norfolk General.
In a niche is a picture of Charles L. Kaufman. Sensing that urban renewal was coming, he pushed a study of Norfolk's slums after World War II. The city won the nation's first urban renewal grant and additional millions under Kaufman's guidance.
Standing tall in a 1920 photograph of 14 Boy Scouts in Ohef Sholom's 1920 troop is Henry Clay Hofheimer. Hereabouts one does not undertake a major fund raiser without consulting him.
He was a leader in the growth of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and in the establishing of the Eastern Virginia Medical School.
An earlier business mogul, David Lawenberg, built the grand Monticello Hotel, then pre-eminent among those in Eastern Virginia. He was the first director general of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition. It helped shape the U.S. Navy's decision to place its base in Norfolk.
A roll call of officials in Ohef Sholom through 150 years includes a host of civic and business leaders in the region's history.
Minette Cooper, the first woman president (1985-87) of Ohef Sholom, directed the compilation of the exhibition. Alisa Forman was chief script writer, and Molly Wash was curator.
It will be open through Sept. 22 in the temple, at 530 Raleigh Ave. in Stockley Gardens. Admission is free.
Time spent touring it is a dip in the stream of history from which one emerges refreshed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
An exhibit marking the temple's 150th anniversary will be on display
through Sept. 22 at 530 Raleigh.
by CNB