A Meaningful Walk

I haven't written about any walks since May 26th, but I have been on many walks. My trip to the emergency room less than two weeks later for my bronchiectasis did slow me down, but I have been back at it. Today, I went on a 10 mile walk that was quite meaningful to me.

I was inspired by a book that I just read about the first 100 years of Congregation Beth Israel. This belonged to the parents of a good friend of ours, but I didn't read it for over a year. I was quite moved by the book, which discusses the old temples before the current one. The one that they left in 1967, when I was just two, is near our current home, with an address of 3517 Austin Street (at Holman). It is now the Heinen Theatre at Houston City College (HCC). I have ridden my bicycle (a while ago!) or walked by it many times without even realizing it. Here is the proof!

Here is a sign that explains the site:

I walked there today and also saw the building next door, which is still called the Abe M. Levy Memorial Community Hall.

I walked from there to Almeda Road and revisited a place I had been before, the post office near Cleburne. I wrote about this one here on Easter, which was 4/20, a good date for me. Here is a picture of a sign that explains what happened in 1960 there:

I really am glad that the students from TSU effected a big change that was very necessary. Speaking of TSU, that was my next stop:

From there, I headed west on Wheeler (which is Richmond) and cut to downtown, as I was heading for the Whole Foods on Waugh and Dallas. I continue to visit the Beth Israel Cemetery on Dallas regularly, and, unlike the synagogue, which is the 5th now, it has been there since before the temple was formed in 1854 by a decade. This was a big part of the book I had read! Of course, there is now an additional cemetery on Antoine, but this one remains active.

I wasn't planning to stop there, but I did. I enjoy talking with the security person there, John B. He asked me where I was coming from, and I told him that I didn't plan the walk at all. I had told him about the book that I had read last week, and today I told him that I visited the old temple and then walked to the old Weingarten's and then to TSU. I learned that his father was the manager of that Weingarten's in 1960! Small world!

I liked my walk today. Sure, the beautiful weather helped, but what I really liked was that I was finally able to see something that I should have seen much earlier in my life, Temple Beth Israel on Holman and Austin. I was able to see again something that I never knew about until very recently, the TSU sit-in location. I then was able to visit again the Beth Israel cemetery. I always enjoy talking with John, who works at Harris Health during the week, and I thought it was really cool that his father was the manager of that Weingarten's back in 1960.