January 2, 2025

Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),

I remember sitting with friends in Cincinnati on New Year’s Eve of 2000 and waiting to see if the world would come to an end. The dreaded “Y2K” was predicted to wreak havoc globally. As the clock struck midnight, we all breathed a sigh of relief as the new millennia dawned. We enjoyed our get together with friends, and of course, life went on. A quarter century has passed like the blink of an eye. Our children are grown and married, and Lori and I have 3 beautiful granddaughters! We live in South Palm Beach County now and it is my great privilege to lead the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center into a new chapter of its long history. A quote I’ve heard our community icon and leader Larry Feldman say, “how blessed are we”?

Entering this new year is a blessing indeed, as was being in our Beifield Auditorium yesterday for another phenomenal concert featuring incredibly talented performer Jenna Pastuszek in “Get Happy! Celebrating 100+ Years of Judy Garland.” What a happy way to start the New Year! With so many exciting events planned for the coming month, I hope you’ll join us – and get happy at the Levis JCC! Please check our website frequently, sign up for our newsletter here or come in for a visit or a tour.

Our signature annual event is one of the ways we celebrate all that our Levis JCC does, the broad reach of our programs and services, and the wonderful way we touch so many lives in our community. I am looking forward to a fantastic “blast from the past” at our Marisa & Matthew Baker Jeans Jewels & The J Neon Nights – Rockin’ the 80s, when we will proudly honor community leaders Nicole & Josh Ruderman and Lauren & Mark Gotlieb. I hope you’ll join us for this very special evening coming up on January 25th at Boca West Country Club. Click here to register.

This week’s Torah portion is Vayigash (And He Approached) in the book of Genesis, the first in the five books of Moses. In it, Jacob comes to Egypt with his sons and their families—seventy people in all—and is reunited with his beloved son after 22 years. On his way to Egypt, he receives the divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” In the last 25 years, my family and I have gone from Cincinnati to Detroit to Sarasota, Scottsdale and finally here to Boca Raton. Our journey obviously pales in comparison to the journey Jacob and his family made yet like Jacob’s family, mine has also done so for the greater good of the Jewish people. I hope each of your journeys these past 25 years have taken you to better and better adventures, and may the next quarter century take us all on even greater and prosperous journeys. I wish each of you a very happy and healthy 2025.

Light candles Friday night at 5:23 pm
Shabbat ends on Saturday night at 6:19 pm

Shabbat Shalom
Am Yisrael Chai!

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Marty