Community

ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART
Copy Editor

F

ive of us met in September
1983, part of "Miss Sandie"
Landau's Friday morning
mother-toddler class at the
Jewish Community Center in Oak
Park. The following year, three more
moms joined us in classes taught by
"Miss Bessie" Levin.
One of the first group's friends,
Margaret Alperstein, moved to Florida
and another, Judith Magid, suc-
cumbed to breast cancer — all before
we jelled enough as a group to name
ourselves the ICC-8.
This month, our eight former tod-
dlers graduate from high school. And
the JCC-8 will watch them move on
to the next life-stage — college — just
as we've done for more than 16 years.
From the Miss Sandie class came
Doris Schey with Sam, Nancy Triest
and Jonathan, Miriam Medow and
Michael, Elizabeth Zerwekh and
Rachel, and I and Alison. Gayle
Bialick joined us in June 1984 in Miss
Bessie's class with Alayna, and Denise
Rodgers and David and Florence
Steinberg and Jonathan completed our
octet that September.
"The JCC-8 has been a wonderful

Mazel Toy!

constant in my life," said Rodgers.
"It's funny how I still think of us as
the `Mother-Toddler Group,' even
though we scrapped that title a long
time ago for obvious reasons."
"The coalescing thing," recalled
Medow, "is when we all stayed for
lunch, getting the sandwiches and
soup and bringing it back to the room
and the kids playing together week
after week." Fond memories of tuna
and egg salad sandwiches on challa,
split pea and mushroom barley soup,
all from the JCC kitchen of the late
Resi Moritz!
"I loved our Friday lunches, where
we could relax a little bit," said Triest.
"Sandie said we could use her room.
We'd bring our trays back to the class-
room and chat, giving our kidS more
time to play. We got to visit and talk
about child-and-parent issues."
Schey, whose stepdaughter Rachel
was 11'/2 at the time, said initially she

was not enthusiastic about being an
older mother attending class with her
preschooler. "The only reason I started
at the JCC was so Sam wouldn't be
alone." She was delighted when the
women hit it off.
- Bialick noted how "we're always
sharing the next stage ; " whether it's
talking "over decisions about toilet
training, decisions about nursery
school or decisions about elementary
schools."
Steinberg remembered "all of us sit-
ting there in those teeny chairs, all the
mothers, and the usual conversation ,
about the trials and tribulations about
the Terrible Twos. Bessie Levin said,
`The years fly by, but there will be
many long days.' When I think of the
years that have flown by, the words
have been golden."
Attempting to explain the attrac-
tion of our mothers' group, Medow
said, "With so many of us having our

first child, it's like a new subdivision
and everyone's moving in at the same
time and we wanted to all have that
connection. With the second and
third child, there's not the same pull;
we have other responsibilities by
then."
Steinberg acknowledged that when
she -and Rodgers enrolled their tots at
the JCC, Diana Steinberg and Teddy
Rodgers were starting kindergarten,
and going to moms-and-tots class
again seemed like a case of "been there,
done that." But, she said, "we liked
everyone so much, we came every
week." Gaining a new group of friends
"was completely unanticipated."
While our children were young, we
held a Chanuka party every year with
the whole family (three moms have
three children; the rest have two). We
gathered several times at the Medows'
and also at other locations, including
the JCC, Huntington Woods
Recreation Center, Workmen's Circle
and the former Tamarack Adventure
Center.
"We met at parks, for holidays, had
play group at each other's houses,"
Schey said. "We went to the DIA
[Detroit Institute of Arts] and
Marquis Theatre, and did it all togeth-
er for years. Even as the kids grew

From mother toddler class to high school graduation,
eight moms have shared each milestone.

The JCC-8 moms (minus
Miriam Medow): Esther
Allweiss Tschirhart, Denise
Rodgers, Doris Schey;
Elizabeth Zerwekh, Nancy
Triest, Gayle Bialick and
Florence Steinberg.

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2000

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