“On the Forty-Ninth Anniversary Of My Ordination”

   Today marks the 49th anniversary of my ordination. While it feels like it occurred yesterday, many milestones have transpired: the ups and downs of life have been made known to me; the world since June 3, 1972, is surely not the same place. But we know that such is life. Our job is to be resilient, to pull with the punches, as it were, and to strengthen ourselves and our resolve to protect those we love…and to be good citizens and good Jews. That’s been a message of my rabbinate.

   I say “a” message. Of course, rabbis have many messages, many goals reflecting hopes and dreams that propelled them – propelled me – into the rabbinate. When colleagues are asked why they chose to become rabbis you will find as many answers as there are respondents. My usual answer is, “My job is to enable Judaism to survive and thrive, not to give Hitler a posthumous victory.” 

   The Washington Heights neighborhood in upper Manhattan in which I grew up was the spiritual home of more survivors than in any other place in the world outside of Israel. My most vivid memory of my Jewish childhood was the packed sanctuary on Simchat Torah. I always wanted the kids in my Wilmington congregation to reflect back with similar memories, yet I always felt that I could have done better to encourage a more Jewish way of life for the hundreds at whose Bar and Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation I officiated. I don’t think I turned too many off to Judaism. In fact, I’m pretty sure I turned many on. One cantor and two rabbis were ordained in my years there, and I know there were others who became active in their congregations when they were ready to affiliate.

   The bottom line is that I never regretted my decision to enter the rabbinate, nor one minute of rabbinic service in these forty-nine years. To be quite honest, compared to far too many of my colleagues, I had – and am having – a darn good time in the process.