Flowers on Old Broadway

One of the customs of Shavuos, a late spring holiday, is decorating the synagogue with greenery. In advance of the holiday, and to help beautify our synagogue, our long time member Dale Brown brought in dirt, planters and dozens of plants and set up a new garden in the back courtyard of the synagogue. Considering that this space has been the home to dirt, broken concrete and an occasion piece of trash (and, for a week a year, our sukkah), Dale's addition is a tremendous improvement. The plants include holly bushes, impatiens, ivy and others. In the middle of Manhattan, in West Harlem, we sometimes have to take extra efforts to be aware of the natural world (although the Hudson River is just a few blocks west of the shul). We are grateful to Dale for giving us another aspect of life for which we can praise Hashem.