This is the first of a three part journal series previewing this Sunday’s Israeli-Palestinian speaker event “One Land, Two Worlds, One Painful Hope”

Dear Hevreh,

I’m very excited for this week because it’s the leadup to…the first game of the NFL season! Ever since I can remember I’ve been a big football fan, particularly of the Philadelphia Eagles :). Every year there is the triumph of success and (unfortunately more often than not) the pain of failure. Though there can only be one Super Bowl winner each year, most teams have at least one Super Bowl-like game of the year — a litmus test for how good the team is compared to a (rival) team that is thought to be much better than they are. Probably one of the earliest of these litmus test games I remember in rooting for the Eagles was the moment they beat the Cowboys in 1995 because of this play. Even though the Eagles didn’t win the Super Bowl, passing the test of beating the Cowboys felt like winning the Super Bowl.

Though we still have a long way to go in reaching our “Super Bowl” as a vibrant and thriving Jewish community in Perth Amboy, this Sunday’s incredible Israeli-Palestinian Speaker Event “One Land, Two Worlds, One Painful Hope” provides an important litmus test for our community. Not only are we hosting an internationally acclaimed advocate for peace and understanding; not only will the media be covering our event; and not only are we hosting an event co-sponsored by Jewish Federation and many other local Jewish organizations in Middlesex County, but we are doing this while also planning the High Holidays! As I write you this email I’m sitting in the Beit Midrash at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to work on a (hopefully) incredible and meaningful High Holiday experience with Rabbi/Cantor Bronwen Mullin. Tomorrow during our Board of Trustees Meeting we will be working on how to warmly welcome our members and guests to our community for the High Holidays. And in addition to all of this, many of us are in the final stages of preparing a major event for our community this Sunday. In other words,I believe we have enough energy, enough volunteerism, enough capacity to share responsibilities and do more than one amazing thing at a time. That is a litmus test for our community to see just how much we can do together.

So please help us pass this litmus test with flying colors. Please email the office (officebethmordecai@gmail.com) to let us know if you plan on attending and if you can help with any volunteering (picking up speakers from Newark Airport and/or driving them to Brooklyn after the event, helping with refreshments, ushering/welcoming, parking help, etc.).

As I often feel at the beginning of a week in the Fall…I can’t wait for Sunday.

Kol Tuv,

Rabbi Ari Saks

Category : Beth Mordecai in the News Rabbi Rabbi's Journal
Tag : Beth Mordecai in the News community Eagles Jewish Federation litmus test rabbi rabbi's journal Super Bowl