Remembering Nuccia Hernan

Nuccia was the consummate home-maker.  She served God by making home wherever she went.  She was the one who knit people together-- her own family, her temple community, her neighborhood.  She was a mother hen to everyone, of all ages.  She cared for us, fed us, played with us, and loved us.  Through her personality, her warmth, her caring, she made home wherever she went. 

Nuccia made her house into a home.  And she did the same thing at Temple.  She poured her boundless creative energy into projects for the kids.  She was never so happy as when sitting on a chair, encircled by young shiny faces singing with them “Put a chicken in the pot..,” coming up with funny ingredients, dipping an imaginary spoon into the finished product.  When the Nursery school closed, she and I created a Tot Shabbat/Early Childhood/PJ library program together.  Nuccia touched the lives of so many of the children and families of Temple as the Director of our Early Childhood Program for the past two decades.  She tried to retire about five years ago.  We let her, but then when we needed help two years later, we convinced her to come back.  She developed so many creative projects for the children to do!  She was thrifty, she could reuse old calendars, or scraps of fabric to make something new and exciting for the kids.  And of course there was her baking.  Homemade brownies for shabbat, chocolate matzah crunch for Passover, sugar cookies in the shape of masks to paint and decorate for Purim. 

Nuccia was a wonderful woman and brought joy to so many. She was such an integral part of our early childhood program. She will be missed by her Temple family .

May Nuccia's love and legacy continue on through us all.

- Excerpts from Rabbi Randy Sheinberg's Remarks