My last day as Youth Director at Congregation Beth Israel was on Friday, April 1, 2011. I helped lead the service with readings written and delivered by youth group members and songs sung by me, Rachael North, and even more youth group members. It was a very emotional evening, but my text can only do so much to describe the evening. Below are the videos of the event. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed spending my last Shabbat with my CBI family.
And here is the text of my remarks from the service:
There’s an old joke. What does it mean when a rabbi takes his watch off? Absolutely nothing. It’s fitting that today, April 1, is my last day. Of course, the guy that tells bad jokes has his last day on April Fools’ Day. Trust me, though. My leaving CBI is something I have taken very seriously and with great humility.
I was not able to do my job without some very important people. Thank you Rabbi Satz for being an incredible mentor, teacher, sounding board, and friend. Your support of my work has inspired me to become a better person and, hopefully, a better rabbi. Thank you Cantor Bernstein, of whom I cannot look at. I could go into why, but we both know I’d never make it through the end of the first sentence, and I have a few more paragraphs to go. Just know you have my utmost gratitude. To Rabbi Berk, Lesley Mills, Aunt Bonnie, Chrissy, Ava, Rabbi Katz, the entire religious school staff, Tammy Vener and the Preschool staff, and all the CBI staff, thank you for giving me so many opportunities to thrive here. It has been such a pleasure working and playing with all of you. I can only hope that my future jobs are as wonderful as this has been. I was privileged to get up every day and be thrilled to get to work. Sorry, Charlie Sheen, but for the last three years, I was winning. To Jessica, Sarah, Adam, David, and all of my wonderful Youth staff, thank you for helping make every event successful. I could not have done it without you. To my family, especially my incredible wife Sarah, thank you for being there for me at all times. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am that you have helped work family events around this program’s crazy schedule.
About 7 years ago, I stood right here and gave my final d’var torah as a participant in BITY and NFTY. I quoted lines from “The Sunscreen Song,” such as, “Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.” How true. I never dreamed I could come back here and lead a group that had given me so much inspiration to be the kind of person I wanted to be.
But enough about me, let’s talk about you for a minute. I want to thank all of you, the parents and participants of J2, NOAR, and BITY. You are what make CBI Youth so incredible. I merely put some events together. I appreciate your patience as I learned the ropes and your gentle lessons when I made a mistake. At it’s core, youth group is about finding yourself, growing, sharing yourself, and exploring your Judaism with your best friends. And these are friends that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Trust me. I married someone I met in BITY. Youth group is a place where you can be yourself. Youth group is a place where, no matter who the advisor is, you get to have fun with your friends.
Three years ago, I had huge shoes to fill. Michelle had built up the CBI Youth program to something that was completely, dare I say, inconceivable. And when I started, I was scared. Would they still come? Would the fact that someone else was in that chair be a barrier to someone’s participation? Fortunately, the answer was a resounding yes and no. Yes, you still came, no, having someone else in the chair didn’t stop people from coming. So now that I’m going to rabbinical school, what do I want from you? Keep coming. Stay involved. If it’s not exactly how you want it, run for BITY board and change it. Keep dreaming. Keep innovating. Keep the ideas flowing.
You are all the future of Judaism. If you care about the survival of the Jewish people, get involved. Judaism is based in community. While it is no means the only community, it keeps the ruach of living Jewish going strong in a completely informal setting. That’s community. That’s Judaism. That’s you.
While I am thrilled to be beginning this new chapter of my life, the impact that you have had on me is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. For the last few weeks, I have been thinking of what final words to leave you with. One song kept coming up: the finale from the show “In The Heights.” So let me say to you all, “I can say goodbye to you smilin’, I found my island, I’ve been on it this whole time, I’m home.”
And as a final message to you, Danny Myers is going to help sing this Craig Taubman song, because let’s face it, there’s no way I’m getting through it. Listen to its message. Heed its call. Whether you are in the sanctuary, the youth lounge, flat on your back during broom ball, on a double decker bus going to unknown places, or just jumping around, you are always on holy ground.
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