Rosh Hashanah: 5775 and Counting

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Written by Len Abram

The Rosh Hashanah holiday observance begins at sundown on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 24, continues through Friday, Sept. 26.

The season is fall, with dead leaves under foot, a surprising a time to celebrate a new year. The traditional American observance for the new year is itself at the end of December. What we call the dead of winter, like the death of nature in the fall, may be just the right  time to express the hope of renewal.

Jewish people across the world are about to celebrate a New Year. From the evening of Sept. 24 in the evening through Sept. 26. Rosh HaShanah, literally “the Head of the (New) Year,” is celebrated for two days. These two begin ten days of life review, called the “Days of Awe,” or “Days of Repentance.” The awesomeness of the time might have something to do with tradition that the outcome of the following year, the fortunes and misfortunes for a person, may be at stake.

The Rabbis of old, for example, imagined a book of life and death, wherein is  written the fate of each Jewish person. Even as metaphor, the images reinforce the seriousness of the period, which end in a 25-hour dry fast. The Jewish calendar for the coming year is 5775. Traditional Jews count the years of earthly existence not by geologic time, but by their estimation of Creation in the Bible or Torah. This year is the 5,775th year since the words, “Let there be light,” were spoken, when a theological Big Bang set in motion what would become all that we see around us, including us.

The ten days of prayer and reflection lead to the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, “the Day of Atonement.”  This year it is observed from Friday to Saturday night, Oct. 3 and 4. Just like the traditional American celebration with its New Year’s resolutions, Yom Kippur  is often accompanied by vows to improve a person’s life. The Jewish community not only makes vows to improve, but also asks to be excused or forgiven for vows not completed from the previous year.

There may be historical background to the Kol Nidre or “All Vows” prayer, which begins the solemn evening with beautiful music. Jews ask to be forgiven for broken vows. During times of persecution, Jews were required to renounce their faith and take another. Although the prayer is hundreds of years older than persecution in Spain, the prayer fits the common theme of forgiveness.

When the prayer Kol Nidre is repeated three times, so as to give everyone in attendance the chance to participate, the vows referred to are individual vows. It does exonerate a  Jew from legal vows  or from vows between a Jewish person and someone not Jewish.

At this time of year, Jews are encouraged  to make amends for their mistakes and offenses between themselves and their Lord and themselves and their fellow human beings.  Repentance, prayer, and good deeds, such as charity, help in the process of cleansing the soul. The  end of the fast and a renewed spirit to do and be better are celebrated by a tradition several thousand years old,  the blowing of a ram’s horn, called a shofar.

This past year has been particularly difficult for Jews. Israeli Jews have been under rocket attack and have gone to war with Hamas in Gaza. In addition, anti-Semitism has increased, especially  in Europe, where virulent anti-Semitism contributed to genocide 70 years ago.  No doubt this will be one topic for the many sermons given at synagogues, as Jews look forward with hope to another year.

Services will be held across the Commonwealth and locally at Beth El Temple Center on Concord Avenue.

New Electrical Substation, Transmission On Line for Spring 2016 Launch

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After listening to Belmont Light General Manager James Palmer at public meeting Tuesday, Sept. 23, the best way to described the work to bring on line a new electrical substation and laying out a transmission route through town is “hunky-dory.”

Since being approved by Special Town Meeting in Feb. 2012, the town-owned electric utility proposal to meet the town’s increasing power requirements has been steaming along right on schedule, Palmer told a meeting of the joint meeting of the Belmont Light Board (made up of the Board of Selectmen) and its Advisory Board held at the Beech Street Center.

“Progress has been made, and we are hard at work to have this project up and running by the Spring of 2016,” said Palmer.

While the multimillion dollar project will effect everyone who turns on a switch in their home or business in Belmont, only a handful of rate paying residents showed up for the presentation which reviewed the steps taken so far by the utility and some of the challenges it could face in the future.

Since 2012, Belmont Light has moved on finding a location for the substation and obtaining the property, clearing regulatory hurdles and laying out the best route for the new electrical lines after securing easements and state approval.

“As you can see, we’ve made great progress in a short amount of time,” said Palmer.

The new Belmont Light substation. (credit: Belmont Light)

The new Belmont Light substation. (credit: Belmont Light)

Palmer said the project’s most noticeable accomplishment can be seen at the substation’s new home off Brighton Street on Flanders Road. The building that was once the home of Crate Escape, the dog day care business, has been demolished as the location is being readied for construction.

The town issued a Request for Proposal to build the $5 million, 10,000 sq.-ft. structure with bids due by Oct. 31 with a contract awarded soon afterwards.

“These are huge milestones,” said Palmer.

The new substation – which will house a new 115-kV single loop transmission line – is being built in partnership with the regional utility NSTAR. Rate payers will be on the line for $26.1 million in long-term bonding.

While out of sight, the transmission line bringing power from the substation to homes and businesses is also proceeding, although at a much slower rate. While Belmont Light will lay the line on the south side of the MBTA/Fitchburg commuter rail line, the utility will need to coordinate with the MBTA, which currently has a construction project at the site.

“This could impact our schedule,” said Palmer, saying it’s doubtful both projects could simultaneous work “side-by-side” at the same time.

As part of meeting the project’s regulatory requirements, Belmont Light made an initial presentation to ISO-New England, the independent, non-profit regional transmission organization that operates New England’s power grid and oversees the wholesale electricity market.

“If the project is deemed a benefit to the surrounding communities, which it is, then the cost of the transmission lines will be shared regionally,” said Palmer.

When asked by Slate Street’s Roger Wrubel if a positive ISO response to Belmont Light’s presentations would save either Belmont Light or NSTAR money, Palmer said both entities would benefit in the cost cut.

Moving forward this fall, Palmer said the town has issued a RFP for the transmission lines, and new major electrical equipment will be purchased along with the substation’s contractor named.

And while changing market conditions could increase the cost of construction, Palmer said he believes the contingency set aside in the budget will sufficiently meet any future “surprises,” said Palmer.

Belmont Residents Daily Commute Time Mirrors US

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At least when it comes to getting to work or school, Belmont residents are just about average.

That information is according to a new interactive map developed by the innovated data news team at New York’s WNYC which tabulated the average travel times (whether it is by car, mass transit, bike or walking) to work via ZIP Code by mining information from the US Census Bureau.

According to WNYC, a Belmont resident averages 25.9 minutes travel time to work or school, slightly higher – by just about 30 seconds – then the national average of 25.4 minutes. Just over the line in Arlington and North Cambridge, commutes are five minutes longer while in Waltham, daily travel is shorter by three minutes.

Just think how much shorter those times would be once all the construction is completed and the roads repaired?

Belmont Open Houses: Check Out Belmont’s Own Downton Abbey!

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It remains the most grandiose building on the McLean Hospital campus. The brick Georgian mansion – much like Highclere Castle, the grand house used in PBS’s “Downton Abbey” – formerly known as Upham Memorial Hall is finally getting its long overdue rehab by developer Northland Residential Corp. as it’s being transformed into several single-level million-dollar condominiums, one of which is part of an open house.

It’s a little bit of Manhattan housing in the Woodlands at Belmont Hill development. Yet apparently buyers will not have the advantages of living in a co-op. Just think, you and your fellow residents will have no say what Pete, Georgie or Dim will be living down the common hall. Oh, my dear!

What you will get living there is a new name for the abode, “Upham House,” with a most interesting and curious tag line in accompanying real estate ads: “Celebrating the Past.”

That would appear, at first, to be a wonderful phrase … until you dig a little deeper into the building’s past. You see, since opening in 1893 and for the next century, Upham Hall had served as the upscale home for a select number of wealth residents who were stark, raving mad.

In fact, Upham Hall was known as the “Harvard Club” since, as Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam wrote in this outstanding book on McLean Hospital, Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital, each of the nine suites was occupied by alumni of the great school who suffered from incurable mental illness.

Who were these men and women who previously occupied Upham? Here’s an excerpt from Holly Brubach’s review of Gracefully Insane:

“Louis Agassiz Shaw, a murderer and a snob who inhabited a book-lined suite in Upham Memorial, and Carl Liebman, a paranoid schizophrenic unsuccessfully analyzed by Freud, are cheerfully presented in the context of a cast straight out of a 30’s screwball comedy. Shaw, who had strangled his maid, acquires a sidekick, ”a Bible-thumping companion” by the name of Joan Tunney Wilkinson, daughter of the famous boxer Gene Tunney and sister of Senator John Tunney, accused of killing her husband on Easter Sunday, 1970. ”At McLean,” Beam writes, she ”came under the sway of the Christian revival group the Way. . . . At hall meetings . . . Wilkinson was wont to say, ‘Louis, we must confess our sins.’ His inevitable answer: ‘Oh, Joan, no.’ ” Liebman, whose conviction that he was being followed by detectives was cited by his doctors as evidence of his incurable paranoia, was in fact being followed by detectives, who had been hired by his family.”

By the 1950s, Upham Hall had became “a dumping ground for chronically ill, elderly patients — practically all of them rich — whose families had cut lifetime financial deals with the hospital. There was little incentive to ‘cure’ the Uphamites because their families had paid good money never to see them again,” writes Beam.

That’s some history to be celebrating.

But while its past might not be the expected lure for prospectus buyers as Northland is hoping, there is one small piece of its history that could: in 1966, Upham was the involuntary home of the great blues and pop performer Ray Charles. Rather than send him to prison for five years on a heroin possession charge, a judge said Charles would receive four years’ probation if he entered McLean for observation and a drugs test.

While there, Charles would play the grand piano in the ground floor living room with his fellow “guests” including a “classical cat, who could really wail.”

So what will you find when you attend this weekend’s open house?

The suite up for sale has seven rooms, 2.5 baths, an open floor plan with a nearly 10-foot tall ceiling and more than 2,800 square feet of living space. It offers an outdoor veranda, a private elevator, garage parking and dedicated storage room.

“The home is well suited for entertaining” as the living and dining rooms share a double-sided fireplace and the kitchen will have a commanding stone-topped island and state of the art appliance package (Subzero, Wolfe, Asko). The design provides for a luxurious owner’s suite, a walk-in closet with built-in-closet system, a grand marble shower and double vanity with stone countertop, as well as two additional bedrooms and a spacious den with access to the veranda.

Hardwood flooring (that would be a wooden floor) and distinctive millwork executed by a “master craftsman” will further distinguish this residence. A wide range of customized appointments is available through our in-house design expert.

No mention of any spirits of former residents who ended their days in the “Hall” included in the listed price of $1,495,000.

The open house, located at 20 South Cottage Rd., takes place on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20 and 21 from noon to 4 p.m. 

Sold in Belmont: Big Bucks for Brick Ranch

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 22 Vernon Rd. Side-entrance Colonial (1934), Sold for: $717,500. Listed at $749,000. Living area: 1,841 sq.-ft. 6 rooms; 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 62 days.

• 17 Bartlett Ave., #2. Two-level condominium, Sold for: $515,000. Listed at $479,000. Living area: 1,828 sq.-ft. 7 rooms; 4 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 90 days.

• 27 Common St. Brick English Tudor (1930), Sold for: $1,242,500. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 2,705 sq.-ft. 9 rooms; 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 124 days.

• 59 Tobey Rd. Side-entrance Colonial (1930), Sold for: $780,000. Listed at $699,000. Living area: 1,632 sq.-ft. 7 rooms; 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 40 days.

• 110 Crestview Rd. Post-war brick Ranch (1960), Sold for: $1,122,000. Listed at $1,100,000. Living area: 2,251 sq.-ft. 9 rooms; 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 98 days.

• 24 Eliot Rd. Garrison-Colonial (1950), Sold for: $666,500. Listed at $699,000. Living area: 1,418 sq.-ft. 7 rooms; 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 123 days.

• 96 Country Club Lane. French Colonial (1937), Sold for: $1,480,000. Listed at $1,495,000. Living area: 2,993 sq.-ft. 11 rooms; 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. On the market: 107 days.

• 115 Winn St. A pretty Cape (1942), Sold for: $706,000. Listed at $649,000. Living area: 1,267 sq.-ft. 6 rooms; 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 36 days.

Summer’s Going and Fall is at the Belmont Farmers Market

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The summer harvest is past and fall produce is showing up at the market including apples, winter squash and some early pumpkins on Market Day in Belmont, Thursday, Sept. 8. Stock up on the last of the peaches, green beans, summer squash and blueberries.

The Belmont Farmers Market is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Claflin Street municipal parking lot off Cross Street in Belmont Center.

Guest vendors: Fille de Ferme, first-time at the Belmont Farmers Market, joins Westport Rivers Winery, DC Farm Maple syrup and Seasoned and Spiced. They join all of the usual weekly vendors.

No food truck this week.

In the Events Tent

  • Seta’s Cafe, one of Belmont’s newest restaurants and a winner of a Best Cheap Eats category from Boston Magazine brings samples at 2 p.m.
  • The Belmont Public Library hosts stories for preschool and older children from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  • Singer/songwriter (and comedy reviewer/critic) Nick Zaino returns to entertain us from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Sports: Boys’, Girls’ Soccer Still Unbeaten, Volleyball Ace Spartans, Harriers Empty Watertown

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A busy – and successful – two days for Belmont High School athletic teams:

Soccer: Unbeaten on the field and between the posts

Belmont High’s Boys’ and Girls’ soccer remain undefeated and not scored upon after tussles with Reading Memorial High School.

Not that Belmont Boys‘ Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane was all that pleased with his charge’s 3-0 victory over the Rockets in Reading Monday, Sept. 15. 

“We did not play very good in the first half,” said Bisceglia-Kane, whose team has advanced to 4-0-0 after scoring three goals for the third consecrative game. “We played better in the second half but we have areas of improvement.”

“Peter Berens was the man of the match as he was outstanding. He kept us in the match,” said Bisceglia-Kane of his senior goal keep.

Midfielders Nick Andrikidis, Charlie Frigo and Ben Lazenby scored for the  Marauders.

In their first real test of the season, Belmont Girls‘ Soccer waited until the final minutes of both halves to score, beating the Rockets, 2-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Harris Field.

“We were a little flat especially in the second half but I am proud how they played together. This was a real team victory,” said Paul Graham, Belmont’s long-time head coach.

Much of the credit for the tightness of the game rested on Rocket senior goal keeper Meghan O’Brien who was a rock in net, making two brilliant saves including a diving stretch to palm the ball off the line off a header by Belmont’s Alex Dionne midway in the first.

Belmont broke through when freshman scoring machine Carey Allard slide the ball into the net after a scramble out front with three minutes left in the first.

The Rockets played with renewed spirit in the second and took the majority of the play against Belmont. It was the Marauders back three, led by senior center back Lucia Guzikowski, that pressured Readings forwards into erred shots. 

When they got through, senior goalkeeper Linda Herlihy made two outstanding stops on her right post.

The final goal came within the final two minutes off of Belmont’s favorite corner kick. Junior Katrina Rokosz, who just came off the bench, struck the free kick which was headed by midfield star Lizzie Frick finding a poaching junior forward Kristin Gay who roofed the ball past O’Brien. 

Next up for the Marauders will be a clash of undefeated against hosts Arlington High School on Thursday, Sept. 18.

Aces up as Belmont ups record to 4-2

That was close.

“Wow, we nearly blew that,” said Belmont High Volleyball Head Coach Jen Couture after her team was sent into extra points in a fourth set after dominating the Spartans in the initial two sets.

“We were working on some new set ups that included a new setter and libero. And they were doing well until they got frustrated when they lost a few points,” said Couture, seeing the team drop the third set, 20-25.

And Couture’s team was nearly stretched to a fifth set when, after leading 24-20, they dropped four points to see the score tied, 24-24. But a service ace and a Stoneham mistake in setting a return saw Belmont take their fourth match of the young season, 3-1 (25-11, 25-11, 20-25, 26-24).

It was a special afternoon for junior Kabita Das as she broke the team’s record for aces in a game with 11. In addition, Alex Davis made numerous plays out front, helped by the team’s new setter, junior Faye Regan. 

“We are seeing a lot of great hitting and that’s what we wanted at the start of the season,” said Couture.

Up and running and winning

Belmont’s harriers took a quick trip to Watertown and easily put second victories in their column as both the Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams won going away. Both teams won 19-42 with the Marauders taking first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth places.

Next up for the squads will be at powerhouse Reading Memorial next week.

A Return to the Halls: Belmont High’s School Resource Officer

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There’s something new at Belmont High School this school year: a Belmont police officer.

“The first thing [students] asked me was ‘what did we do wrong to deserve this?'” said Dr. Dan Richards, Belmont High’s principal.

Not that Belmont Police Officer Melissa O’Connor is a stranger to the school; the 2001 Belmont High graduate and former captain of the soccer team use to roam the hallways with her friends and teammates.

“It doesn’t look that much different since I was here,” said O’Connor – a seven-year veteran of the force – standing in the central entrance as the final classes of the day are being dismissed.

There remains a perception that whenever a police officer enters a school building “it means there’s trouble inside,” said Richards.

But to the town, school and public safety officials who supported a dedicated school resource officer, those days have changed and with it, the role of the police and schools.

“The law hasn’t come to the hallways of Belmont High School,” said Richards, noting the high school is one of just a few in the area not to have an officer in the halls.

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The re-introduction of the resource officer – one was assigned to the district until budget cuts about a decade ago ended the program – has now less to do with law enforcement than an added hand to assist educators with nearly 1,200 students at the high school, O’Connor and Richards both said.

A 2013 Congressional Research Service study on school resource officers concluded that schools with law enforcement officers did not see any greater reduction in crime or offenses than in the general school-age population. Belmont High has a very low rate of serious incidents compared to schools statewide, which itself is one of the least violent in the country.

Rather then spend her time patrolling the halls targeting minor offenses – a policy the Congressional Research Study calls out as detrimental to students – O’Connor will be supporting the work of the administration and staff, said Richards.

“[O’Connor] will be assisting the administration. The school has a student handbook that we go by, and Melissa doesn’t trump those regulations. When we need further assistance, she’ll be invited in to help us,” said Richards.

“Being a resource to everyone in the school is the most important thing we are trying to do in addition to building relationships with the students,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor’s “beat” now includes being in the hallways, in the cafeteria, at sporting events; seen but also available to anyone, be it student or staff.

“I’m here so the kids can ask me questions in an environment where they are safe and comfortable and can I build relationships with them,” said O’Connor, who holds an MA in legal studies from Curry College.

And within the first week of being at BHS, O’Connor was asked to assist with two female students who had rekindled an argument from the previous school year.

As the assistant principals mediated the issue, O’Connor added a “real world” element to the resolution: “if you continue making ‘bad’ decisions, this is what will occur to you legally. Don’t go down that road,” said O’Connor.

“That’s something no assistant principal has the background to express,” said Richards.

More than resolving disputes

Nor is O’Connor there to work only on dispute resolution. Teachers are approaching her on education subjects, including one who asked her to discuss criminal procedure in the “You and the Law” class.

“For example, I told the class how should kids act and what should we say during a police stop or if the police shows up to a house party. I gave them my take on the matter,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor arrival occurs after a summer filled with images of the militarization of the law enforcement and the reaction to alleged police misconduct.
Yet O’Connor believes being a presence around campus will breed a familiarity and create an openness with the student where “they’ll be seeing me in a different light.”

“I believe soon she’ll be pulled in all sorts of directions as people get more comfortable with [her],” said Richards.

While O’Connor’s role is expected to expand, the question brought up at this year’s Belmont Town Meeting was the appropriateness of removing a police officers from servicing the entire town and into the school, a role that could be performed with an additional counselor or assistant principal.
Richards counted the argument saying that a councilor “can not respond to certain things that Melissa.”

“In this day and age, threats do exist and are part of the everyday life of kids. We are bringing in expertise or insurance to make sure things are safe here,” said Richards. As an example, a councilor can not review the school’s lock-down procedures or be as effective in a stay-in-place emergency as O’Connor.

“She will also bring a new set of eyes to the school’s overall safety and show how we can be safer if you do this and take away what’s wrong,” said Richards.

In the rare case of a major crisis, “I think she will take the lead role and we’d step aside,” he said, hoping that the administrator’s expertise rubs off on O’Connor to where she gains in the education aspect of the job and the administration can view the school through a public safety lens.

O’Connor has been seeking an opportunity to reestablish the position at the high school, noting that she was a sports coach at the high school and Bentley University and “enjoyed creating relationships “because as a student I had a coach or adult who I could talk to to figure out issues.”

After an admittedly “cool” start, the students are beginning to warm up to O’Connor, said Richards. “At first they were a little shy but that’s changing,” said O’Connor.

“They no longer are asking about police duties but the ‘I have a question’ question,” she said.