"60+ is Fun," Getting Together Talking About Wars

Salute to Israel Parade, New York, 1970
NCSY Dance Group
That's me holding the flag. (photographer unknown)

Here in Shiloh new genres of social activities are developing as we get older. One of them is the "60+ is Fun," which can also be called "empty-nesters." Few of us still have children at home, and the children who live at home are adults, too. The group includes retirees and those still working.

There are two reasons for these activities. One is that as the house empties, we find ourselves with empty evenings. And the other is that so many young families live in Shiloh now, we are no longer the "face of the community," meaning that our interests/experiences/needs are different from Shiloh's young mothers of today.

Some of our activities are also for men, but every month or so we gather around someone's table, which fills with nosh, for some discussion or other activity.

Last night we celebrated Yom Ha'atzma'ut, Israeli Independence Day by reminiscing about the 1967 Six Days War. About half of us were in late high school at the time, and we all had very clear and different memories of the war and the tense weeks leading up to it.

We also come from a number of places; half were raised in Israel. I brought these two pictures to show my friends in order to try to give them an idea of what it was like to be a "Jewish activist" and Zionist fifty years ago in New York.

It's a shame that the discussion wasn't recorded, since it had very serious historical value. It was led by a retired History Teacher.

Salute to Israel Parade, New York, 1970
NCSY Dance Group
That's me holding the flag. (photographer unknown)