A Night to Remember

Friday night, May 17, 2013.  It was a 7 p.m. "family" service.  Dad was down from Cape Cod for Andrew and Jackie's wedding, Andrew and Jackie were there for their aufruf, their Torah honor and special blessing before their marriage, lots of Jackie's family was there for the aufruf, all the teachers were there for Teacher Appreciation Shabbat, lots of grandparents were there for Grandparents' Shabbat, and I was there for "Honoring Rebecca McVeigh for her 10 years of service" night.

O.M.G.  It was amazing.  Ari was singing with the adult choir, the junior choir sang, for the first time ever my kids had a grandparent to go up on the bimah with for the grandparent blessing, we had a cartload of teachers and aides on the bimah for me to thank, and then they started thanking me.  I tried so hard to be "in the moment," as we tell our Bar and Bat Mitzvah parents to do, but boy oh boy, that was tough. 

Lucky for me, we had started live streaming our services and they were saved in archives so later (much later, like last week) I went back to the archive video and actually watched what had swirled around me.  There were flowers, my friend Terry, who NEVER speaks in public, got up and spoke, there was an album of notes that people had written to me...

Then there was a plaque, such a beautiful plaque, and so heavy I still haven't figure out how to hang it up - but I will!

And there was a beautiful tallit, which I do not have a photo of, yet, but it's all soft purple with photos of Rod and the boys and it has a quote taken from the famous "A Woman of Valour" text.

The fact that this was happening on this night was not a surprise.  After all, they needed to know I'd be there, right?  But all of these things - they were surprises.  Such thoughtful, lovely, loving surprises.

And so I had to thank them back:

My teacher Rabbi Mosbacher says we should never waste an opportunity to thank people, so….

Thank you to all my partners in this work, which includes the teachers and aides, students of all ages, and the lay leadership. In particular I am grateful to the presidents of our congregation during these years: Harvey, Ranan, Art, Harvey, Ritch, and Harvey….  My dad says I’m crazy to actually enjoy what he calls “temple politics,” but I don’t think it would be quite so enjoyable without the kind of leadership we have. HARVEY – thank you especially for being the one to let me in on all the fun.

Thank you to Iris, whose personal AND professional advice is pretty much always correct.  Lisa, you help me remember my priorities when things get a little crazy, which is so helpful.  Walter, some days the most important thing is the logistics, and you make sure the school is good to go, even if I don’t always know where that is.

Thank you to everyone involved in planning tonight, and for successfully keeping secrets despite the fact that not much goes on in this place that I don't know about.  Thank you to teacher/friend and advisor Terry Sitomer, and her able successor as chair of the Education Committee, Lauren Einhorn.   Between the two of you, I never feel like I stand alone.

Cantor, I have told you this before, but like the word that means both wind and spirit, ruach, you too embody both.  Your beautiful voice and ready humor lighten the load and enrich the spirit.

I would not even be up here tonight without Rabbi Mosbacher, who convinced me in the summer of 2003 that taking this position would be a good idea. I only said yes at the time to help out until we could find someone who was really the "right person."  Rabbi, you thought that person was me all along, and apparently, you knew something I did not.  Thank you for your continued confidence in my abilities.

To my 3 brilliant and beautiful “EMs” – Ellen Mass, Evelyn McGilloway, and Elyssa Mosbacher – you and your families’ friendship over the years means so much to me.  I am wealthy beyond measure in your steadfast affection.

Thank you to Andrew, Alex, and Ari who are the most loyal, loving sons a mother would want. I could not even begin to imagine what I would have hoped for in my children, but whatever it was, you have made it come true.

Thank you to Rabbi and Laurie Weinberg of blessed memory who greeted our family as friends 16 years ago when we arrived as strangers.  He encouraged me to get involved in the education committee as if he could see what was coming.  Rabbi Weinberg taught the intro to Judaism class Rod and I took before we were married.  So I really, really wouldn't be here today without Rod. 

Thank you Rod, for bringing me here, for supporting our children’s Jewish identities, for enabling my renewed Jewish identity, and for helping me through the ups and downs in every part of my life.  Your love has helped me to not just BE, but to thrive, and to not just DO but to love what I do.  

 Thank you.

And I very nearly didn't make it through without crying.  Frankly I was crying at everything during those days; getting ready for the rehearsal dinner/wedding (5/19 and another blog post) Alex graduating from college (5/24) Ari graduating from Kadimah (5/21)  it was really one big sobfest waiting to happen.  So I decided to just look down at the paper and "get 'er done," to quote one of the Blue Collar Comedy guys (which one, I no longer remember.)

It was such a joyful evening, I hope that the families of younger children who optimistically thought they'd be out of services within an hour managed to hang in there.  And Iris ordered me a most beautiful cake for the oneg :)

It was all really quite perfect.  I bet my Grandma and Grandpa, my Nana and my Pop-pop, and my mom (especially my mom) would've loved it, too.