Welcome to the 44th annual installation of Forestdale Heights Lodge. I would like to welcome Ruth's sister Liliane and her husband Gary Budd and all of the guests of our incoming President, Ray Moscoe.

This past year has seen some changes in the Lodge, both positive and negative. We had guest speakers at four of our monthly meetings, a sizeable increase over the past couple of years. In November, Lesley Belows, from the City of Toronto Department of Public Health, spoke to the Lodge about the facts and fictions concerning the H1N1/Swine Flu "crisis".

While there was a lot of public information available, Lesley explained what was really going on, how to stay healthy, and what to expect in the future.

In February, Alex Gropper, a teacher at CHAT, a columnist for The Canadian Jewish News, and the president of the Society for Mediterranean Studies spoke to the Lodge about the process of getting the Dead Sea Scrolls to Toronto. While most of us had seen the display and knew something about the history of their discovery, few of us knew how they actually got to Toronto, and Alex explained his role as a leader in that process. Especially interesting were the many little "coincidences," such as the scrolls being discovered on exactly the same day as the UN voted to establish the State of Israel.

Continuing on, in March Rabbi Yechiel Benayon explained to us the differences and similarities in the customs of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, particularly at Pesach. While some of us were aware of some differences (some eat rice, some don't), most of us did not know why the customs were different, or that even among the Ashkenazim and Sephardim, customs vary from country to country. Rabbi Benayon's talk went a long way to explaining these differences.

Finally, in April, the Lodge viewed the movie Conflict: The Power of Propaganda. This movie showed in stark detail the propaganda war being waged by the Palestinians against Israel. Even to us, who thought we knew what was going on in the Middle East, the movie was shocking and terrifying. We have seen the results of revisionist history before and we are seeing it again today.

As a result of these programs, attendance at the Lodge meetings was the best it has been in a long while, with almost 100 % of our active members attending. Thanks to Bonnie Kates, Jeff Rosen, Barry Gordon (and myself) for making arrangements for the speakers. It will be a challenge to our incoming president, Ray Moscoe, to continue to bring in speakers of interest, but I know that with input from the membership, he will be up to the task.

Other programs to which the Lodge has been committed continued with much success. Jeff Rosen, Harvey Silver and a host of columnists continue to provide both a print and electronic version of Kol Echad which are unsurpassed. Carl Zeliger once again made arrangements for our annual Megillah reading at 4300 Bathurst Street, with many members and their families helping to serve the residents. It is sad, however, to see the number of residents participating actually dropping. This year we continued to provide, along with Don Mills Lodge, a weekly bingo also for the residents at 4300 Bathurst Street.

Many thanks to those who helped out: Sandy and Barry Gordon, Ray and Rosalie Moscoe, Ruth Pupko, and especially to Richard Kotzen who has participated every month. More thanks to Michael Kates for his continuing help with the B'nai Brith Chanukah and Purim parcel deliveries; to Harvey Silver for arranging for the delivery of boxes of cookies to EMS workers during the Christmas holidays; to Harvey Silver, Michael Kates, and Jeff Rosen for showing up at 7:00 a.m. on a cold October Sunday morning to help at the Toronto Marathon. On the social side, thanks to Bonnie Kates for once again making the arrangements for our outing to Woodbine Racetrack.

Of course, all of these programs take planning and much of this is done at our monthly meetings. Attendance this year has been excellent, partly because of the speakers, partly because of the excellent dinners arranged for by Albert Ohana and Harvey Silver, but mostly because we like each other and this is an opportunity for us to get together on a regular basis, have a relaxing evening together, and actually get some work done.

As you can see, CVS is the theme of our Lodge, but CVS requires two things: money and commitment. Our main source of funds has been the sale of Entertainment Books and Stan Horowitz and Michael Kates have done an excellent job coordinating the sales. But unfortunately, sales are declining as many other groups are getting involved and are undercutting the "official" price. So we are forced to find other funding. Two years ago Rosalie Moscoe generously donated the proceeds from the sale of her book to the Lodge.

Also two years ago, Bonnie Kates and Jeff Rosen designed Lodge tribute cards which members can buy and send to someone to celebrate a simcha. This year, Bonnie Kates arranged for us to sell musical cake knives. All of these raised some much needed funds, but we need more, so it will be up to Ray, his executive and Lodge members to come up with some new ideas.

The second component of CVS is commitment of the membership. It is disappointing that membership participation in our programs is declining. Whether this is a sign of an aging group, more grandchildren to spend time with, or simply indifference I don't know. But the facts are that we put money into an account for donations to needy groups and the money is not spent because no one makes any suggestions. The facts are that we make donations to B'nai Brith Canada for Chanukah and Purim parcels for needy families, and only Michael Kates shows up to help (this is not only a Forestdale Heights problem). To quote Michael in his Kol Echad article: "Maybe we have to start shaking things up a bit, make people feel more enthusiastic to do CVS. Isn't that what the backbone of Forestdale Heights has been all about? We used to be the C.V.S. Lodge of the region." This shows up not only in CVS While the Woodbine social was well attended, the number of FHL members who were there decreased from the previous year. It seemed as if we were running a program for guests.

This is not only an FHL problem. At the monthly Toronto Regional Coordinating Committee meetings all the lodges complain about an aging and declining membership and are looking for solutions.

So here is your challenge Ray: to find a way to revitalize the Lodge, to get members interested in CVS and social activities again.

You have an excellent, experienced executive to work with, and a membership which, I believe, will participate in programs that are new and challenging (hence, interesting). With everyone's help, new ideas and new programs can be found.

In closing, I need to say thank you to many people: To Ray and Harvey for taking over on those days when I couldn't get to a meeting. They did an excellent job of keeping things going smoothly. To my unofficial advisors, Bonnie, Jeff, and Albert for their suggestions during the last two years when I wasn't sure what to do - I didn't always agree with them, but their input always helped put issues in perspective. Of course, the official though un-appointed advisor was Ruth who always "suggested" what I should do whether I asked or not.

But she was always there when I needed her, always supportive, always understanding. She made the tough times of the last few years much easier to deal with, and I can never thank her enough.

A few years ago, Forestdale Heights Lodge honoured two outstanding members for their contributions to the Lodge. Unfortunately, these awards have not been presented for the past few years, and last year I said that I hoped to reinstitute the awards this year.

The Norm Aronson Award is given to the member of the Lodge who has contributed in all aspects of Lodge activities. It was very difficult to decide on this year's recipient because there are many who contribute to the success of the Lodge, but this year the Norm Aronson Award is given to Jeff Rosen. Jeff this year has been Lodge historian and has taken many pictures to record our activities. He has been a participant in the Toronto Marathon and Megillah programs. He has provided me with much valuable advice. But mostly, Jeff is communications. Not only does he maintain the Lodge website and the electronic and print versions of Kol Echad but he also is responsible for getting information to the membership, whether it is a reminder about meetings, an announcement of programs by other lodges, or anything else that members need to know. Jeff gets it done. Congratulations to Jeff as this year's Norm Aronson Award winner.

The Al Reiter Award is given to the member of the Lodge who has made the greatest contribution to the Lodge CVS programs. This was an impossible decision, but in the end a decision had to be made and the recipient of this year's Al Reiter Award in Harvey Silver. Harvey has been the heart of CVS for many years. He has participated in Lodge programs and for the past couple of years he organized the Lodge's EMS program and the Lodge's participation in the Toronto Marathon.

Congratulations to Harvey as this year's Al Reiter Award winner.

So now I need a vacation, and I have already had Nate sign a couple of blank cheques. See you in June.

Irv Pupko
FHL President 2008-2010