Lighting Candles for a Dream Home

Rose Lacher’s dream of raising enough money to buy a house in Orange County for developmentally disabled Jewish adults, including her daughter, is closer to becoming a reality in 2001, the 79-year-old activist said Sunday.

Lacher, who lives in Orange, is the founder of the Jeremiah Society, a 15-year-old advocacy group for Jewish developmentally disabled adults based in Orange County.

At the group’s annual Hanukkah party Sunday at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley, society members ate potato pancakes, sang Hebrew songs, took turns trying on a life-size dreidel costume and lighted menorahs together.

“These candles stand for all of you being proud to be Jewish,” said Rabbi Moishe Engel, who gave a spirited lecture to enthusiastic society members about Hanukkah, a holiday celebrating a military victory of liberation, which begins Thursday evening.

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of Jewish resistance to a Syrian ruler who forbade them to practice their religion more than 2,200 years ago.

A small Jewish army recaptured Jerusalem, according to the Hanukkah story, and reclaimed the temple, which had been defiled. The tradition of lighting the menorah symbolizes the rededication of the temple, when a small amount of sanctified oil is said to have miraculously burned for eight days.

Lacher’s daughter Amy, who has Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder causing medical and developmental problems, was there to celebrate the holiday and watched, wide-eyed, as Engel gave a simplified explanation for the meaning behind the candle-lighting.

“[They] are loving and compassionate,” said Lacher, who loved seeing the society members light up in tandem with the lighting of the menorahs. “They have lots of potential, and there’s a hidden element that we’re trying to bring out.”

The society, which was awarded independent nonprofit status in May, meets the third Sunday of each month with Lacher, family and friends at the Jewish Community Center in Costa Mesa.

With $200,000 in hand from five years of grass-roots fund-raising, Lacher said the group is close to its goal of $300,000. As she gets older, Lacher said, her worries grow that she will die without a good place for her 52-year-old daughter to live.

Lacher’s other two grown children, Sheldon Lacher of Long Beach and Hilary Sontag of Anaheim Hills, also joined the celebration.

“This was a one-woman show for a long time,” said Lacher’s son, who is a stockbroker. “But the community is starting to see the need to set up a home for developmentally disabled adults with a Jewish backdrop. The home would have Jewish values and a Jewish heart.”

Gail Averna of Fountain Valley got involved in the Jeremiah Society five years ago and now regularly takes her developmentally disabled sister, Linda Siebert, with her to activities, including the annual Hanukkah celebration.

“Rose is very compassionate and has tireless energy,” said Siebert, whose 49-year-old sister lives in a rehabilitation hospital in Garden Grove. “She’s concerned that a lot of these people’s parents will die and they’ll have nowhere to go.”

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Lacher said that all 40 members of the Jeremiah Society, who range in age from 18 to 57, have some kind of developmental disability, with Williams syndrome, Down syndrome and autism the most common.

Lacher said that some of the Jeremiah Society members are living independently. However, most live with family members and some are in more intensive assisted-care programs.

She said her vision for the home is a place where they could start out with six or seven full-time boarders with room to expand and a large-enough dining room where the Jeremiah Society could still host parties for Jewish holidays and other events.

“Rose is one of the real heroes of Orange County,” said Rabbi Stephen Einstein of Congregation B’nai Tzedek. “She has a dream and a vision. There’s a real need to serve this segment of the population.”