Bris celebration

When Dr. Daniel and Naomi Kalatsky were blessed with a baby boy, named Tzion Shlomo, they immediately set about planning the bris. As they started to put together their guest list, they knew one thing for sure. The family’s beloved maternal grandmother, Thelma Wadler, would have to be there.
At the time, Wadler, who will be 92 on July 31, was receiving restorative care at the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica. Wadler’s doctors informed the family that she would not be ready to leave the rehab center on the morning of the bris, and so would not be able to attend the event.
The family was disappointed, but not for long. They decided that if great-grandma couldn’t come to the baby’s bris, then the bris would come to her.
The Kalatskys called Linda Spiegel, Director of Public Affairs at the center, and explained their predicament. The staff at Margaret Tietz is dedicated to the happiness and well-being of its patients and their families in every possible way. So they offered to host the bris at the center.
The happy parents were thrilled. So were their parents, the Kalatskys and the Rebacks. They called Main Street Bagels to cater the event and Rabbi Paysach Krohn to perform the bris.
Abraham Wadler, Thelma’s husband, who will be 95 on May 4, was bestowed the highest honor an individual can have as a participant within a bris ceremony. Rabbi Schonfeld, Rov of the Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills, attended, as did close to 100 other guests from all across the borough.
“In a place that usually deals with the elderly and the end of life,” said Daniel Kalatsky, “our bris celebrated new beginnings and the spirit of new life.”