June 2020
FROM COMMANDERY No. 2
Sir Knights,
While the Sacramento Area continues to deal with uncertainty due to the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown and now protests and riots, I want to reach out and make sure you know that we are here for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are in need of a helping hand or just someone to converse with.
Most importantly, Sir Knights, please take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Stay informed. Be safe. We will get through this together.
Harvey J Holcomb
Commander
FROM COUNCIL No. 1
Companions,
We are living in interesting times. It has been since March that we were able to come together in person in friendship and Brotherly Love. We may still be physically absent from one another, but we are still united and strong, although in a rather informal format, via electronic medium.
It is good to hear and see one another through these means but I look forward to the future when we can once again be among Brothers in person, in peace and in harmony. Until that time arrives, be cautious, stay healthy and do not hesitate to reach out to a Companion. We are here for you.
Sincerely,
Joseph Wallach
Illustrious Master
FROM CHAPTER No. 3
Companions,
As you already probably know, our magnificent building was attacked during the last weekend of the month of May.
The front doors of the Temple had already been boarded up since Saturday, so very little damage was caused to us, but our tenants, most severely Miosa Bride and Tony’s Delicatessen, had doors and windows shattered to pieces, both stores being completely destroyed.
Tony's employees have created a GoFundMe page for Elias Silhi, the owner, to help him with recovering after this brutal incident.
If you wish to donate, please click HERE.
I want to show my gratitude to all Companions and many friends who stopped by on the morning of June 1st to help pick up the glass from the sidewalk and clean the mess left behind by looters and evildoers. Thank you so much for your kindness and support!
Stay safe and healthy! Happy Father's Day!
Fraternally,
Francisco Marques
High Priest
THIS MONTH
Saturday, June 13th
9:00 AM
Chapter No. 3 of Royal Arch Masons
Commandery No. 2 of Knights Templar
Join Zoom Meeting HERE
Or call (669) 900-6833 to join via phone.
Meeting ID: 896 0507 2723
Saturday, June 13th
10:00 AM
Petaluma Chapter No. 22
of Royal Arch Masons
Presentation by the Grand Lecturer
of the Grand Chapter of R.A.M
Steven R. Goad
Join Zoom Meeting HERE
Or call (669) 900-9128 to join via phone.
Meeting ID: 841 9060 8139 - Password: 592786
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, July 11th
9:00 AM
Chapter No. 3 of Royal Arch Masons
Council No. 1 of Cryptic Masons
Audio / Video Teleconference
Stay tuned for Zoom Meeting Information
ANNOUNCEMENT
California Grand York Rite Sessions
The Grand Officers and Trustees met by teleconference on March 25th and voted to re-schedule Grand Sessions to July 14th-16th at the Wyndham in Visalia. This, of course, is conditional on the Grand Master removing his restriction on masonic meetings. As this is a weekday event, there will be no "frills" - no Banquet, no Drill Team, no Vespers program, no Royal Arch Widows degree. Grand Commandery will have all day Tuesday, the 14th, to accomplish its tasks; Grand Chapter will have all day Wednesday, and Grand Council will have all day Thursday. As the practice has been the last few years, the Corporation will meet Monday night, and again on Friday morning.
The Grand Sessions Committee will be refunding all registration payments sent in, either by check or PayPal, and a new registration document will become available early next week. Check the website as early as Tuesday morning: www.ca-gyrs.org. The Grand Presiding Officers have been tasked to produce a new schedule for each day by Monday, March 30th, when there will be another teleconference. So check the website on Tuesday morning.
Please distribute this information to everyone in your orbit who may have already registered for Grand Sessions, or may do so in the future. The Grand Sessions Committee will arrange with the Wyndham to cancel all reservations made for May in our block of rooms. If anyone made a reservation outside that block, or at another hotel, they will need to make their own cancellation.
These developments are a considerable inconvenience for everyone involved, and we can only ask for your understanding during these unparalleled times. Keep in mind that the Grand Officers have gone to considerable time and expense to plan Family Dinners, Installations and Receptions. It would be a nice gesture on your part, if you can make a mid-week event, to come, participate, enjoy the fellowship (however we may prefer to greet one another and at what distance!), to honor these Companions and Sir Knights who are, indeed, struggling mightily to preserve our institution and its practices.
Sincerely and fraternally,
Phil Hardiman
Grand Secretary-Recorder
Book of the Month
A Useful Guide To The Structure And Ruins Of The Second Temple In Jerusalem (Gate Of Heaven)
Jerusalem’s Mount Moriah has been a focus of world attention since the dawn of history. Acclaimed in the Bible as the “Gate of Heaven,” it was home to a succession of Holy Temples from the time of Israelite King Solomon. Widely revered as the House of the Lord, its Temple was a prized place of offerings by members of many nations.
Its innermost sanctum housed the now lost Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Lord’s Presence rested on the Ark, which was a conduit of immense Divine power. It had cleared a path through the Biblical wilderness, split the Jordan River, and leveled the walls of Jericho.
The Temple’s monumental reconstruction by Judean King Herod was one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. Destroyed by Imperial Rome in the year 70 CE, its shattered remains are hidden beneath centuries of alterations and additions by successive dominating powers.
This book compiles a multitude of surviving clues from trusted sources old and new, and provides extraordinary illustrations that bring the Temple ruins to life in vivid detail. They give rare visual access to even the most inaccessible or restricted of the Temple’s remains.
The copiously footnoted work helps resolve long time uncertainties about the original structure and its ruins, and unexpectedly reveals many astonishing secrets. They include the likely last hiding place of the sacred and powerful Ark, before it vanished into the realm of legend and dreams.
ISBN-13: 978-1548832438
ISBN-10: 154883243X
EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT
Video of the Month
TONY’S DELICATESSEN & CATERING
Elias Silhi has been a tenant of the Sacramento Masonic Temple since 1991. He is a good man with a kind heart and a beautiful soul. Truly a “Mason Without Apron” - a term some of us use to describe a gentleman who was never himself been initiated a Freemason, but certainly deserving of being called a Brother nonetheless.
Over the last weekend of May 2020, Tony's Delicatessen & Catering was looted, vandalized and completely destroyed. All windows and doors were smashed to pieces, tables and chairs shattered, refrigeration systems destroyed, kitchen appliances and a safe stolen. The deli and basement were flooded, causing water damage.
“I've been here 29 years, going on 30 years.
My life is here. What can I say?
This is not good, this is not the way to do things.
Why did they do this to me? What have I done to them?”
“This weekend my life work was shattered by looters. 29 years of work taken from me in just two days. We were already closed for 8 weeks because of COVID-19. We had just reopened under the new guidelines for restaurants, hoping to make up the lost revenue. It would be at least a month before we can reopen, if not more. That is three months of no income, but ongoing business costs. I have retained all my employees, who have been with me for a long time, and don't want them to worry about the future. I don't know how to recover from this and rebuild. I am devastated.
I don't know why this happened, but I know that God will provide the path forward. Thank you to everyone who showed up to help clean the damage, the support means everything to me, my family, and my employees.
Many have asked how to help. Donations in any amount to help us survive the next couple of months as we rebuild life would be a blessing. I'm sorry to be in the position to need to ask. Thank you for your business these past 30 years, it has meant everything.
God bless,
Elias”
Link to KCRA3 Article: Tonys Deli Destroyed After 2nd Night of Looting
Link to SacBee Article: Everything Stolen Big and Small
TO HELP ELIAS REBUILD OUR BELOVED TONY'S DELI PLEASE GO TO
About Me: I am an immigrant who came to America as a young adult searching for the American dream. My wife, Norma, and I have raised my family here, and I have worked in downtown Sacramento for 40+ years. I put my life savings into starting Tony's Delicatessen & Catering 30 years ago this year and have never looked back. I love my business and everything it stands for, and I love my customers and helping in my community.
RESPONSE TO COVID-19
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
California Department of Public Health
Grand Lodge - Masons of California
Grand Commandery of California
Grand Encampment of Knights Templar
Sacramento-Sierra York Rite Association
SACRAMENTO YORK RITE WEBSITE
Sacramento Chapter No. 3 of Royal Arch Masons
Sacramento Council No. 1 of Cryptic Masons
Sacramento Commandery No. 2 of Knights Templar
Companion Adept of the Temple Program
Sacramento York Rite NEWS
Monthly Publication
Sacramento Masonic Temple
1123 J Street
Sacramento CA 95814
Francisco Marques
Editor
SacYRnews@gmail.com
(916) 832-8357
Richard Wilson
Editor Emeritus