Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
I am writing this Shabbat message to you from my new office at the Adolph & Rose Levis JCC at 21050 95th Avenue S. Same beautiful campus, totally different vibe. I’m so excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for all of us with this lovely building, its 22,000 square feet, plus an additional 9,000 square feet of outdoor space.
This Shabbat is the last Shabbat for the month of July. How are we already heading into August signaling the end of camp and the beginning of the new school year? As I come to the end of my 4th month on the job as your Adolph & Rose Levis JCC CEO, it is truly a joy to be engaging with our campers through the weekly Oneg Shabbat program and through Color War. This week we are also making the big physical move from our historic location on Donna Klein Boulevard to our new home on 95th Avenue S., aka the North Campus. Beginning this Monday, the move to our new location will be complete, however, Zale will continue to operate from its historical location.
As we enter the last week of July, I make reference to the baseball term “the dog days of summer,” a term used to describe the month of August as teams fight it out for a playoff spot before the MLB regular season moves to an end in September. After 7 years “away,” I am once again back in Florida during July, and it is everything I remember my previous 13 summers here to be. It is a particularly odd time to be moving from one part of campus to another, but that is exactly what we are doing. This week, our Marketing Department moved into their new offices in the new Adolph & Rose Levis JCC on the North Campus. Our other departments will follow over the next 2 weeks with our transition being complete after the first week of August. All the while, we continue to have a stellar summer camp season with only 2 weeks to go and 6 weeks already in the rear view mirror.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
This is the first week in in almost a month that Lori and I were not engaging in catching up with family. As you’ve read each week, it was so good to be with the people I cherish most, making memories and enjoying quality time together. That said, it really was nice, though, to spend a weekend here in Boca focusing on making our house a home: adding paintings to the walls, cute tables in empty spaces and even a cozy chair and ottoman for our sitting room. We also started to binge watch season 4 of Stranger Things (surprisingly spooky)! Quality family is precious; some “down time” is essential.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
There’s just nothing like family. This week marks the end of a great trifecta of special family time for me. As I’ve shared with you all, first I visited my mom in Queens to celebrate her 80th birthday, then Lori and I headed to Missouri for a visit with our daughter and son in law, and spent some wonderful time meeting our first grandchild. This week, our son Noah, who lives in Phoenix, came for his first visit to Boca Raton. These past three weeks have been filled with the special happiness that comes from spending time with the people you love most. Family is everything, and that also rings true at our Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
I’m writing this week’s Shabbat message while flying home to South Palm Beach County from my daughter and son in law’s home in Kirkwood, MO. What a wonderful long weekend it was! My wife Lori and I finally met our first grandchild, 2 month old Emi Lou. It certainly was worth the wait. All the things we were told by “seasoned” grandparents are absolutely true: there really is nothing like holding your grandchild for the first time. Emi Lou and I bonded during a 2 hour “contact nap,” and life will never be the same. I am filled with joy.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
As many of you likely recall, last week, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a long weekend with my mom celebrating her upcoming 80th birthday. Those of you who are my friends on Facebook know that a good amount of Jewish soul food, as well as other fabulous ethnic morsels, were enjoyed and then some. My fear is that I will need to soon have to get my suits tailored…or else purchase new ones!
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
This weekend my brother and I will be in New York, visiting our mom to celebrate her upcoming 80th birthday. It’s is a pretty major milestone for all of us. It is also my first trip out of South Palm Beach County since Lori and I moved to town 8 weeks ago. I am looking forward to a few days in Queens, and of course, enjoying some New York soul food -- Jewish and other ethnic delicacies as well. Pizza will definitely be involved!
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
This week, I had the pleasure of giving the D’var Torah at Donna Klein Jewish Academy’s Board Meeting on Tuesday evening. I was truly honored to be invited to set the stage for their meeting, especially since I am so new to this community. My comments focused on the subtle differences in a scenario of hell versus one of heaven. In my example, hell is a banquet table set with lovely china, exquisite silverware, and elegant table linens. Around the table very hungry people are seated, each with a steaming bowl of delicious-smelling matzah ball soup at their place. The problem is that these people have no elbows, and are therefore unable to feed themselves. They are perpetually starving, though food is right in front of them. In my example of heaven, it is the exact same scenario. The people still have no elbows, but the key difference is that they move their arms to the left and to the right – they feed others, and others feed them. No one goes hungry.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
It’s hard to believe that this is the first Shabbat message of June, my first June in Florida in 7 years (I spent 13 years in Sarasota before moving to Arizona). After 7 years of extremely dry conditions, I have become quite grateful for the daily deluges we can almost count on here this time of year.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”
- Forrest Gump’s momma
Well, as so many of you now know, my wife Lori and I were so hoping to see our first grandchild for the first time this weekend in St. Louis. Then life got in the way. I tested positive for Covid, so this trip will be delayed several more weeks.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
Next week at this time, my wife Lori and I will be on a plane to St. Louis to meet our new granddaughter, Emi Lou. It really is so exciting for us. A longtime friend and colleague of mine recently told me that when one becomes a grandparent, they go from being a descendent to becoming an ancestor. I actually thought that was a pretty interesting concept.
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
We often refer to “2 degrees of separation” that might seem to separate us from our fellow Jews. In reality, these “2 degrees” are such strong connections! This proves true for me in my first 5 weeks here in South Palm Beach County. My first Shabbat dinner was sent to Lori and me from Ben’s by a former Jewish communal colleague I have known for decades. The second visit to our new home was from a woman and her family -- I hired her for her first Jewish communal job in Cincinnati also decades ago. I had Shabbat dinner at the home of someone I dated in our teen years, when we met at NCSY in New Jersey more than 40 years ago. Lastly, I just found out that one of our wonderful Levis JCC donors recently had dinner with my very first boss from when I was 15 years old, and who is also a close personal family friend, essentially my entire life. WOW!
Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),
It has now been one week since my wife Lori and I became grandparents to our first grandchild, sweet Emilia Louise Pajda, and are so excited to see her in person at the end of this month. Everyone has been such good sports as I have inundated Facebook with pictures of our delicious Emi Lou. I promise to ease up on the photos now!
It’s hard to believe that I am already writing my third Shabbat message to you. The days fly by; these first few weeks in town are moving at warp speed for me. I have already had so many wonderful experiences, meetings, and have attended such wonderful events. My wife Lori and I are overjoyed that just yesterday, our daughter Danielle gave birth to our first grandchild. We are thrilled to welcome Emilia Louise Pajda (Eliana Liora) into the world! I know she will bring so much joy to Danielle, our son-in-law, Colin, and to us! This week, I also experienced my first Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County Annual Meeting, and all I can say is WOW. I feel so fortunate to be an agency partner with such a strong and vibrant Federation.
As I complete my second week here in South Palm Beach County, my wife Lori and I have so much to be grateful for. To begin our new lives here by being invited to not one but two beautiful Seders was incredibly comforting for us.
Also, thankfully, our things were delivered to our home via our moving company. Yes, some things were broken, and other things were lost, but the important thing is that we are here, together, and ready for this next chapter. We are happy to have this phase of this adventure behind us. Now we are focused on unpacking and getting rid of all those boxes!
After beginning the recruitment process in January, being offered the position of CEO of the Adolph & Rose Levis JCC, accepting the position, resigning from my position in Phoenix, selling my house there and buying a house here, then driving with my wife Lori and our dachshund Marley in two separate cars over four days, we finally arrived in South Palm Beach County in time for our closing on April 7th. I finally began my new job here this past Monday. The welcome I received from staff and volunteers alike was simply sublime. I’ll never forget the warmth that has been sent our way. It’s simply unprecedented to me.
