Temple Shir Shalom of Gainesville, Florida - Gainesville's Home for Reform Judaism

Special Message from Rabbi Michael Joseph:

Dear Friends:

Once a person has reached a certain stage of life, everyone has months like the one I have just had. It is one of the surest and saddest signs of maturity, after all, when you realize that more and more of the people you know and care about are people who are no longer living.

The biggest loss, by far, was the death of my mother-in-law, Debbie's stepmother of more than 30 years, Joan Frieder. Debbie's father, David, died just fifteen months ago, just before Ben's bar mitzvah. Joan didn't feel very well, either, during the last few months of his life, but we all thought it was just the physical and emotional strain of taking care of her husband. She finally took herself to the doctor in July 2006, to find that she had an advanced case of the same lung cancer that had killed David. But whereas he lived almost five years past his diagnosis, most of it with a pretty reasonable quality of life, Joan just declined and declined and died nine miserable months after diagnosis.

On top of that there was Charlotte Levy, a friend from my years as rabbi in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Over the years I had known her, Charlotte lost one grown son to AIDS, a second grown son to a never-solved murder, and a teenage granddaughter to a sudden, fatal, heart infection. Yet Charlotte remained the most optimistic and least bitter person you could imagine, a legendary teacher to generations of students at a private high school in Wilkes-Barre.

And on top of that there was Bonnie Schulmann, long-time secretary and office manager of URJ Camp Harlam in Pennsylvania, where I spent many happy summers as a child and again as a rabbi. Bonnie exhibited what was possibly the worst telephone manner in the universe, but when you took the time to know her, she was a wonderful person who cared passionately about the Camp and the children that it served.

And on top of that there was Rabbi Sam Sobel, a friend and mentor during my years in Norfolk, Virginia, who, in his day, was the highest ranking Jewish chaplain in the Marine Corps, and whose image is engraved on the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC in recognition of his bravery under fire and the overall quality of his military service.

And on top of that there was Tom Bigler, who was absolutely the dean of journalism in the Wilkes-Barre area and in many ways the conscience of his community. Tom took me under his wing when I was a very young rabbi and taught me what it meant to serve an entire community, not just a synagogue.

The point of all this is not that anyone should feel sorry for me at the end (I hope!) of this string of losses. After all, I am the lucky one -- I experienced the blessing of knowing all these wonderful people. The point, really, is just that -- perhaps our greatest blessing in life is in the people we know and care for, during their lives and no less when they are gone. It is deeply sad to lose them, of course. But to know them to begin with, to be able to call them friends, that is the true beauty of life that each and every one of us can enjoy.

Yours truly,

Rabbi Michael Joseph

Rabbi's Keynote

Special Message from Rabbi Michael Joseph: