Transitions

Time has flown by!

It is hard for me to believe, but as I write these words I am preparing for my last Shabbat at Bat Yam until September!

As I look back over this season, the passage in Genesis about Jacob’s first seven years with Laban come to mind:  “They (the seven years) seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her (Rachel).” (Genesis 29:20)

It seems to me that “but a few days” ago Vickie and I arrived on Sanibel in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.  The warm embrace of both of us by the Bat Yam Temple of the Islands family  made the past eight months fly by quickly.

The days between now and when we return a few days before Selichot (September 1) will be busy.

Mr. Adams

On May 5, I will speak (will have spoken) at the Memorial service for my beloved 94-year-old HS hockey coach and mentor Gilbert F. Adams. The service, most fittingly will be in the Hamilton College Chapel. It is so fitting that the service be there because I never met anyone who loved his alma mater as much as Mr. Adams loved Hamilton. He recruited me for the school and personally drove me there for my interview and campus tour. We have been in close contact ever since.

The next day I will speak and lead a study session at St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford. The church is across the street from our synagogue, and many years ago—long before my time there—Congregation Beth Israel invited St. John’s to worship in our sanctuary when a fire gutted theirs.

Return to Germany

On May 13, Vickie and I leave for Germany where we shall spend five weeks teaching together about the Shoo-in high schools and where I will speak in synagogues, churches and offer a seminar to rabbinical students at the Abraham Geiger College in Berlin. One of the highlights will be to celebrate Shavuot, the festival commemorating the giving of Torah on Mount Sinai, in Friedrichsstadt, the city where in 2015, I had the privilege of conducting the first Jewish service in that city since Kristallnachtin 1938.

In mid June we return to West Hartford. There we shall immerse ourselves in the innumerable details of transitioning to temporary residents of West Hartford and primary residents of Sanibel.

We already have our Florida drivers’ licenses, and we are very proud of our “Save the Manatee” license plate!