Temple Beth Israel singles gather for lunch

Members of Temple Beth Israel gathered for an outdoor lunch for single people of the temple on Jan. 27 at Bayfront Park, their third such lunch since late 2020. 

Gloria Feibus and Maxine Tauber are the co-chairs of the event and have been organizing the lunches to occur about every other week. Still in its infancy, the singles club about seven to 10 people come and bring their own lunches, eager for any sort of human interaction. Before the pandemic, the temple had a healthy calendar of social and educational events, but in the wake of COVID-19, the calendar was wiped clean and has stayed that way ever since. The lunches are the first thing that temple members and friends have done in person since March.

“We wanted to give people a venue where they can safely meet other people,” Feibus said. 

Feibus and Tauber thought of everything, from a forehead thermometer to hand sanitizer to the distance and spacing of the tables. If you split a picnic table at Bayfront Park in half diagonally, that the diners on opposite corners are six feet apart, so tables are limited to two people.