I'm Feeling Thankful

 


What do I feel thankful for?  For many people, Thanksgiving is a cherished moment in time.  It's an opportunity to spend time with the people closest to them, and share a real, three course meal together.  For that same reason, to many others, it is a time of loneliness.  Think of all the people who don't have anyone close to share this special time with.  Worse, some people have close family to spend it with, but choose to spend the holiday with friends because they don't feel comfortable with their family.  Possibly the only thing worse is indeed spending time with family, but loathing every moment of it. 

I am thankful to have a family and I'm doubly thankful that I love spending time with them.  Even better, I feel thankful that this special feeling of togetherness is not just a once a year affair, but a weekly one!  As I went shopping this morning, I could see people's shopping baskets full, in the holiday spirit.  As I walked around the block with my children this afternoon, we could smell delicious aromas emanating from the homes.  It's so beautiful to see people celebrating, and I'm so thankful to have at least the same magnitude of a meal every week on Shabbos!  

Another thing I'm so thankful for is you!  Natanya and I have been here for four years now, and are raising our family in a city where we are different, but you make us feel welcome.  The whole reason why we don't live in a big religious community like Brooklyn or Los Angeles is because we want to be near you!  We want to share the light, warmth and joy of life and Yiddishkeit with you, and your acceptance of us is something I'll be ever thankful for. 

I'm grateful for your support.  Like Jetblue used to say, "Without you, we'd just be flying a bunch of televisions cross-country!"  We're here to lead the community, but without your encouragement, vision, volunteering and monetary contributions, we'd be getting nowhere!

Thank you for being part of our wonderful community, and I look forward to many more happy, healthy and wealthy years together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outreach

Image
A few months ago, in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday, I made a resolution to get back into the habit of going every Friday to do some outreach, visit some Jews and do mitzvahs together. Especially tefillin for men, and Shabbos candles for women. Today Hashem taught me a lesson about this. I was planning to go a bit later in the day, but had to run to Lowes for a couple cans of paint. While pulling out of our driveway, the thought crossed my mind to bring a pair of tefillin with me just in case I meet some Jews, but I brushed it off, saying, “I’m going to do some outreach later today anyways.  How many Jews will there be at Lowes already?” Sure enough, I walked up to the ProDesk and two Israelis were sitting right there. Hopefully, they’ll put on tefillin like they promised, but it’s a reminder for me to always be prepared for mitzvahs that Hashem lines up in my path. This Shabbos is the “Vision Shabbos”, when G-d shows us all a vision (at some level) of the Third Temple we are waitin...
Read more

Lag Baomer In NY

Image
The Jewish Children’s Pride Parade was an invention of the Rebbe and a brilliant idea that changed the course of post-Holocaust Jewish America. It features the most inspiring Jewish and Torah themed floats, Jewish children marching bands, and a Jewish wonderland. About ten years ago, I begged my father to attend with me and our 3 toddlers. He reluctantly came but was busy doing some work on his phone during the procession.  He thought it would be a regular children’s event, ie boring for adults. But once I tapped his shoulder to asked him to watch the floats and the children, he stood up and watched them march by for hours , with tears streaming down his cheeks. In the early 1950’s the Jewish people were not in great shape.  The American Jews were very few and assimilated.  The European Jewish immigrants were refugees and broken from the Holocaust. In those days, the saying, “S’ iz shver tzu zayn a Yid- it’s hard to be a Jew” was common. Jews were not holding their heads ...
Read more

I Really Mean You!

Image
The Great Lag Baomer Parade in NY was absolutely fantastic! It was a lot to schlep the whole family, but it was totally worth it. When we returned, I spoke with Ron. He asked about the parade, and I invited him to come with me to NY another time, which he immediately jumped on with excitement. I asked him why he didn’t come with us for Lag Baomer, to which he responded, “I wasn’t sure if I was invited”. I told him that we really wanted to bring a Temecula delegation with us, referencing my email asking the community to join us, and showed him my to-do list, highlighting “bring group” for Lag Baomer. It really was a priority to bring a group with us. It was my intention to call everyone I thought might like to join, but I really am busy and sometimes proactive one on one communication just doesn’t happen, even though I really want it to.  Just like I wrote this email last Wednesday, but got interrupted and only am sending it now… What I want you to know is that whenever I write, “yo...
Read more