Sephardic High School may have closed its doors many years ago, but it is alive and kicking in the hearts and minds of the graduating class of 1988. The class held its 20 year reunion, recently, at Café Venezia on Coney Island Avenue.
While reminiscing at a party this summer, Michele (Yedid) Bernstein and Ruthy (Abed) Mann could not believe it had been 20 years since graduation! They realized the huge milestone had to be celebrated and decided that they would take on the task of putting this reunion together. They soon became inseparable, texting and calling each other at all hours. What began as a simple sentence—“Let’s plan a reunion”—soon became a huge undertaking as lists were made, email addresses were gathered and cell phone numbers collected. But these girls didn’t just “talk the talk”—they “walked the walk.” They were organized and methodical and before long, all the graduates were informed of this reunion.
They didn’t do this alone, as Soly Elyakim, Michael Gani, and Albert Zaccai were instrumental in helping to locate many of the seniors of the class of ’88. They used the Internet to their advantage and before long located graduates in Florida, Utah and California.
The night of the reunion was truly amazing. The faces had changed, but were, somehow, exactly the same. There was a very nice turnout; some graduates brought spouses along, others decided to leave their spouses at home. Some were unmarried or divorced. Some grads even brought their yearbooks and old photos.
The class of ’88 laughed until they cried that night, telling old stories and singing old songs. So many people said that the years seemed to melt away and they were truly 17- and 18-year-old kids again! The truly amazing part of the night was that the awkward teenagers had disappeared, replaced by mature, witty and intelligent adults, who are just big kids at heart.
The evening was enjoyable on so many levels and the class of 1988 didn’t want the night to end. In fact, at midnight the lights were finally dimmed in an effort to get everyone to leave, as the staff could not be heard above the laughter and noise.
Many of the graduates have already contacted Michele and Ruthy about throwing a 25 year reunion, because who doesn’t want to laugh so hard your sides hurt and you feel like a kid again (for the night, at least)? We’ll report back in 2013 and let you know all about it!
