by Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback
My oldest daughter phoned from college the other day, reminding me that this Shabbat marks the eighth anniversary of her becoming Bat Mitzvah. I shook my head in disbelief—it can’t have been that long already.
I felt a mixture of emotions: a longing for her to be closer to us; a bit of sadness about the passing of time; and—overwhelmingly—a feeling of gratitude for how lucky I am… To have a daughter who phones me (so often!) to share her life with me; to have the memories of that glorious day in Jerusalem when she read so beautifully from the Torah and Haftarah, delivering her d’var Torah in perfect Hebrew; to live in such a time when our daughters can stand proudly before us, chanting the sacred words of our tradition, being counted fully as adult members of our community.
So much of our tradition is designed to make us more thankful. So much of our worship is simply about saying “thanks” to God for our many blessings—health, wisdom, community, food on our tables, a roof over our heads…
So many blessings.
So many things for which to offer our thanks and praise.
This Shabbat there are two special reasons for gratitude. On Friday evening, we welcome to our community Rabbi Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi. She’s a gifted teacher and scholar and she’ll be speaking on the topic of gender and power in the Jewish community. And then when Shabbat ends, this Saturday evening, we’ll join together for our Wise Gala honoring three extraordinary couples who’ve done so much for our community: Jodie and Steven Fishman; Andrea and Glenn Sonnenberg; and Tamar and Phil Koosed.
It’s good to give thanks. It’s even better when we do it together.
