I don’t know why, but for some reason, I’ve always enjoyed those special moments in my life. You know… when your car’s odometer reads 76543, or when you are pumping gas and the gas pump stops right at 12 gallons without you doing it. Or when you are checking out at a store and your total is $75.00 exactly. These moments make me smile, and I feel joy and bliss to have witnessed and experienced them.

Marking moments is important. And for me, another one took place just last week. On Friday, March 1, I began my 20th year working at our Jewish Federation. While I wasn’t the Executive Director back on March 1, 2005, which would come later in October 2018, it was still a momentous moment in my life because I was fulfilling, or I would soon be filling, a lifelong dream to be working to enhance Jewish life in a community. As I have mentioned in this column previously, I had wanted to be a rabbi for much my life. When I applied to rabbinical school in 1996, I asked a longtime friend to write me a letter of recommendation for the program. Now, I have known him since I was five years old. He responded that while he understood that I wanted to be a rabbi, he thought I was much bigger than serving just one synagogue and that I really should be working for a larger community. How prophetic he was, more than 25 years ago, that I’d be sitting here at my desk as the Executive Director of our Jewish Federation.

Throughout my time working at our Jewish Federation, I have seen so much change in our community for the good and some struggles. Through it all, I have appreciated the relationships I’ve built and the impact my staff and I have had on our community over these last many years. As I know you are aware, our Jewish Federation is celebrating our 30th anniversary, which is fun because I get to mark another special occasion. During this year, I’ve been spending time looking back at the programs and services we have brought to the community during these last 30 years and the impacts we have made to this point. I will be touching on many of these during our 30th Anniversary Celebration Brunch on Sunday, June 23. I hope you will join us for this momentous occasion and celebrate with us.

I am proud to be able to do what I do each and every day, working to fulfill our organizational mission - to build community by strengthening and enhancing Jewish life - because I know the positive impact we are having on the lives of our community. Thank you for helping us make this possible.

Oh, and next time your car’s odometer hits a milestone of any kind… enjoy it for me.