questions for

10
What types of flowers do you get?
250 yards of cedar roping, ten flowering plants, and ten floral arrangements. We own about 300 silk flowers, and we rent eight large potted plants and four 6-foot tall fichus trees.

Rachel Bachrach

Avram Gutmann has been in charge of the Shavuos decorations in Khal Adath Jeshurun (Breuers) in Washington Heights, New York, for 35 years.

Avram Gutmann
The night before Erev Erev Shavuos, we build the frame some call it the chuppah over the bimah. We used to need several hours, but its gotten easier over the years and now it takes under an hour. The next day, we put cedar roping all over shul. The frame is the most difficult, because the arches are flat and need to be covered on both sides, and you want to make it look nice and thick. We also cover the crown thats on top and place silk flowers all over the frame and crown. On Erev Yom Tov, we get the delivery from the florist. The plants and trees go in front of the aron kodesh, and we put arrangements by the ladies windowsills, on top of the aron, and by the front windows. We place smaller arrangements by the side windows and hang roping by the Tachanun lights. In all, its two days of manual work.

6
7

People always offer to come, but most of us basically have our set jobs. The shamash and I do the frame over the bimah. He has it all written down with numbers: what goes where, what connects to what. The aron kodesh is very high, and my wife has given me strict instructions not to get up on the ladder, so I let the custodians take care of the arrangements and roping for that. My son does the roping around the balcony. He goes from upstairs and lets it down. He used to have someone downstairs tell him if the arches are even, but by now he knows which parts of the mechitzah to hang them from.

How many people are involved?

4
104 M I S H PAC H A

What does the decorating entail?

Ive been working for the same boss for 33 years, and he knows I take off the two days before Shavuos. My son, whos my biggest helper right now, e-mailed me recently that hes taking off work, too. I was very touched Id like to be doing this for a while still, but its good to know its going to continue.

How do you fit it into your own work schedule?

Good ones! When I was little, the head gabbai was in charge. He was one of those old German men, and we were all a little afraid of him. A little bit higher, a little bit lower, hed say with his accented voice Ill never forget that. When the shul moved years ago, they took the frame theyd been using in the old shul, but the bimah here is much bigger. Somehow every year we managed to make it fit, until we just couldnt get it up anymore. One man in the kehillah was studying to be an architect, so he made detailed plans for a new frame. Another gentleman in the shul, his business was custom-made metal display cases, and he built it for us. I was only 15, but I went around arranging the new frame. It was a big responsibility.

What memories do you have, being so involved in your shul from such a young age?

When we made the new frame we also made a new crown, but it was too heavy and it almost came down on me. I had to form a makeshift one out of a mound of leaves. The next year, we took the lighter crown from the original frame, and weve been using that since. Also, the first year we used the florist, they sent blue and orange flowers the colors looked really garish. Since then, I try to tell them what colors to use.

Have you had near disasters?

Years ago, Id go to the plant district downtown to buy the flowers, but forget lasting through Shavuos by the time we got back to the Heights, they looked terrible! Now we use a local florist. She knows our measurements, I place the order about three weeks in advance, and shes on top of it all. I tell her to give us the freshest flowers, ones that maybe havent opened so much on Erev Yom Tov when we set up, so by the first day of Shavuos, theyre really opening. I also water everything as much as I can before Yom Tov.

How do you get stuff that doesnt die, especially for a year like this one where you need it to last four days instead of the usual three?

I base ours on a famous Shavuos picture of the shul in Frankfurt am Main, our mother kehillah, so to speak. Its basically the same look every year, but its gotten more elaborate as our arrangements have gotten bigger. One year I wanted to add a few fichus trees, but someone said the Vilna Gaon says not to bring trees into a shul so I asked Rav Shimon Schwab. He got very excited he said thats how they did it in Germany and the kehillah even used to send a tree to his house for Shavuos. A few days before Shavuos that year, my mother told me, Rav Schwab is on the phone for you. I got nervous, but he told me not to worry, he called to make sure Id gotten the trees!

Is the design the same year after year or does it vary?

Its surprisingly quick. The janitorial staff is here with their wire clippers and ladders as soon as Aleinu is finished, and within an hour, everything is down. If Motzaei Shavuos is Thursday night, the custodial manager tells me we should leave it up for Shabbos. I always tell him, no, people come the next morning, and dont expect to see it. Once Shavuos is over, it loses its chashivus.

Is cleanup also a big job?

10

A previous chazzan had hay fever, and his seat by the front wall was right behind an arrangement. He always told me, Just no flowers at the amud because I dont want to sneeze when Im up there! so I put only roping there. Now, the spot where the choir conductor stands is under one of the arches. He wears a homburg on Yom Tov, and he needs to move a little so he doesnt get stuck because it hangs low. But the reactions are generally positive. When you come to shul that first night of Yom Tov, theres no doubt in your mind its Shavuos; the shul is converted into a whole different place. You see it, you smell it, and you feel it. You think, maybe this is what Har Sinai looked like.

Do you get complaints about allergies or that the decorations are too much?

2 Sivan 5772 | May 23, 2012

M I S H PAC H A

105