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12/21/2016 07:30 AMEven though Sherman Katz was raised Jewish, he and his family were always open to learning about other religions. While he always found learning about other religions “enlightening,” he began to wonder why Judaism wasn’t represented on the town green during the holiday season.
“About three years ago, I said something to [First Selectman] Mike Freda about having a Christmas tree on the green but the town never putting a menorah up,” says Sherman. “He thought it was a good idea and issued the order to put it up.”
For the past several years, the Town of North Haven has lit the menorah in honor of Hanukkah. This year, though, in addition to just lighting the menorah, Freda wanted to take it a step farther. He requested Sherman lead a ceremony to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.
“He asked if I’d light the menorah with my family,” says Sherman. “I feel honored to do that.”
Sherman, his wife Sally, his children, his grandchildren, and friends will gather on the North Haven Green on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 4 p.m. for a short ceremony for the first night of Hanukkah candle lighting. The prayers will be said over the lighting, first in Hebrew and then in English.
Sherman noted that because the Hebrew calendar is 13 months, Hanukkah falls on a different date each year and that is “very unusual” for the first night of the holiday to fall on Christmas Eve. Hanukkah continues for eight days.
“It’s a religious holiday if you follow the story of how it happened,” says Sherman. “There was a temple in Palestine that was trashed and in the whole [temple], there was only enough oil left to burn for one day, but it lasted eight.”
Sherman and Sally have two children who grew up in North Haven and the family has lived in town for nearly 50 years. Their son still lives in town and has four children and their daughter lives in Stony Creek and has a daughter. They always celebrated Hanukkah as the children grew up, though they have added to their traditions over the years.
When their daughter got married, her husband celebrated Christmas so their family now celebrates both holidays. After the Katz family leads the ceremony on the North Haven Green, they will go to their daughter’s family’s house for a Christmas celebration.
Sherman grew up in New Haven, spending time in the Navy before returning to Connecticut to raise his family and start a career. He worked as a general manager for a manufacturing company in East Haven for 27 years and then as a manager at Connecticut Container in North Haven for 10 years before retiring.
After retiring, Sherman spent several years spending time with his wife. He took a part-time job doing car swaps for car dealerships. He would drive a car from one dealership to another in another part of the country and return with a different car.
Five years ago, he took a part-time job with the Board of Education accompanying special needs children on their bus rides to and from school. He works with two teenagers and five pre-k students.
“I make sure they’re safely buckled in and enjoy their trip to and from school,” says Sherman. “Some of these children are so much fun to be with, especially the little ones.”
Sherman has also been involved with town politics over the years. His next venture with the town is being on an exploratory committee for the fire department that will discuss the needs of the town and the department.
“We will look at how we can better help the people and the department and better help them to do their jobs,” says Sherman.
He has also served as the chairman of the Senior Tax Relief Program and being involved with the Planning and Zoning as well as the Zoning Board of Appeals. He also regularly attends Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance meetings.
“It’s important for all citizens to be involved with politics and the needs of the town because this town is governed by the town body and the administration can do very little without the support of the people at a town meeting vote,” says Sherman. “We’re going in a good direction now. We have good leadership working hard to advance the town economically and socially. There’s not a lot of room for criticism, but always room for suggestions.”
Sherman has seen those suggestions taken seriously firsthand as he looks forward to the inaugural ceremony for the first night of Hanukkah to be held on the green after he had questioned why the town didn’t have a menorah three years ago.
“The ceremony is open to everyone of all denominations and everyone is welcome to come and participate,” says Sherman. “I know a lot about many, many religions. I grew up in home where we were very open and I lived in the inner city with people of many races and religions. We learned everyone had the right to their own thing.”