12/23/97 Faith helps rabbi find life anew Three years after his first wife died, Rabbi Ted Gordon fell in love again in 1986. So he married Florence Baskin--the woman Gordon's father had delivered in Minneapolis, the woman who had been a classmate of one of Gordon's younger sisters and the woman whose first wedding ceremony Gordon had performed in Baltimore 49 years earlier. Bound by Jewish faith, an appreciation of arts, a love of travel and the ambition to laugh as much as possible. Ted and Florence shared 10 years in southern Florida. "A wonderful 10 years," Gordon says. Then Florence died and, at age 88, Gordon stared at his own life--one richly devoted to teaching the liberal branch of Judaism--and wondered: Now what? He thought he would go back to the Philadelphia suburb he once called home. Far from family, he would rekindle friendships. He would accept the familiar daily routine at a Jewish retirement village he once helped create, but do so with one significant lament: He could not share it with Florence or his first wife, Beryl. But Gordon never made it there. For nearly a century, Gordon has given his life to the Hebrew faith. And when he expected it least but needed it most, Judaism returned the favor for the new interim leader of Bloomington-Normal's Moses Montefiore Temple. Hanukkah starts at sundown today. For the world's estimated 18 million Jews, this eight-day festival remembers when the Jews reclaimed their holy land from the Syrians in 165 B.C. But the holiday also offers the now 89-year-old Gordon another chance to celebrate a new home, a new life, a new job, new friends and family. "There isn't time (to mourn Florence). That's one of the blessings," Gordon says of his new job. Dealing with grief That rekindled relationship began when Gordon called Florence at her Coral Gables, Fla., home during a conference for retired rabbis in neighboring Miami during March 1986. They met and he felt goosebumps. Five months later, they married, vowing to do as much as they could over the next five years. "When the first five years are up," Ted joked with Florence, "we'll negotiate this with God and see if he won't give us another five years." She had been widowed for 11 years. He was finally recovering from the death of Beryl, with whom he shared 53 years. "I had companionship again," Gordon says. "I had a family again. I could do things not as a loner, but as a member of a family." But a yearlong fight with lung cancer ended March 22, 1997. Slowly and painfully, he endured the same sadness and emptiness he felt when Beryl died in 1983. Then, a return trip to Israel brought closure. This time, his children and Florence's children helped him deal with grief. His new life in Bloomington-Normal now soothes the pain, too. "I can think of Florence when I get off (work)," Gordon says. "Thoughts of her have crossed through my mind many, many, many times. But I can't say that I take time during the day to sit down and think about how much I miss her. "But life is too full to spend much time thinking of the past life. And I think that's healthy. I have by no means forgotten her. I don't have any reason to feel guilty when I don't sit and cry and mourn her death. I know how I feel. I'm just grateful that I have something to live for. Finding a new home His soft, storyteller's voice often trails to a hush when he talks about Florence or Beryl or speaks during services each Friday and every other Saturday. He tends to teach more than preach. Sermons are rare. More often, he'll pause to offer an anecdote or an explanation. Because he was ordained in 1933, he has plenty of anecdotes to offer. He directed Jewish student centers at a handful of university for 16 years, oversaw a congregation in Winwood, Pa., for 19 years and has led 10 tours to Israel. Though he planned to retire in 1972, he's since juggled a dozen other jobs all related to the Jewish faith. "I've been wandering all over the rabbinical lot," Gordon says of 64 years as a rabbi. But he suspects he may no longer need or want to wander. In Bloomington-Normal, he has worked through his grief, accepted the challenge of a 100-family congregation and enjoyed living in the same town as his son, George, an Illinois State professor for nearly 30 years. "He has brought a depth of understanding and a breadth of experience that we as a small community have not experienced," says Ann Cohen, who's in charge of a committee to find a new full-time rabbi for the Bloomington temple. Gordon has agreed to serve until someone else is hired. Though Cohen won't speculate on whether the congregation may already have its person, she admits Gordon's work has "been wonderful." Because he had visited his son in Bloomington-Normal several times, many at Moses Montefiore Temple already knew and liked Gordon. He helped celebrate his grandchildren's religious rite of passage--Dan Gordon's bar mitzvah and Rachel Gordon's bat mitzvah. Later, he helped perform the service for Rachel's confirmation. So after the congregation decided not to rehire Rabbi John Spiro last spring, they sought Gordon on an interim basis. Ten minutes after Alan Sender of Normal called him in Florida, Gordon ran the idea past his children with enthusiastic tone that had been missing since Florence's death. Although there are still boxes in his two-bedroom apartment that need to be unpacked, Gordon says he feels more comfortable about his life and his work each day. Because he lives alone, he can sleep late whenever he wants to. "But I have something to wake up for in the morning." He works at least a few hours every day except Mondays--generally his day off. He conducts adult study groups that introduce and teach the religion to Jewish and no-Jewish audiences. He works with preschool children. He helps boys and girls prepare for bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. "I'm serving a congregation and it's a challenge," Gordon says. "Because it's a challenge, it doesn't leave a lot of empty hours for me just to think back on what I had. So it's been emotionally a very healing situation."