CAUTION: Your Future is Closer than It May Appear

I was driving in my car the other day, when I glanced at my sideview mirror and began to smile to myself. As do many mirrors, this mirror was stenciled with the words "CAUTION: Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear!" The meaning of this pithy little statement is that the mirror distorts the image somewhat and you might THINK you have more time to react to a car or truck, etc, indeed you may have LESS time as the object is truly closer than it seems.



And that is when I smiled to myself. This Shabbat marks exactly two years since we went public with the news of our impending Aliya. At the time, it seemed SO far away. And even as recently as a few weeks ago, it still seemed off in the distance. At times, our future appeared to me like a mirage in the desert...it was there but it was ephemeral. It still seemed so far off in the distance, that I still had some time to breath.



Well, that is no longer the case! Over the next few days, we will experience our last Shabbat in our house (tonight and tomorrow); our last few days in the house and the move over to my parents' home. We will experience giving a final cleaning to the house (if only the house were this empty just before Pesach!!). We will experience both the joy of moving on and the melancholy of saying goodbye to our home of the last 23 1/2 years. Yes, our future indeed IS much closer than it appears.



I find myself filled with so many conflicting emotions this morning. I think that what is helping to magnify that is the fact that I give my last Shabbat speech this week...for all those in the area, you are all invited at 8:30am this Shabbat to hear this final speech and join us for Kiddush afterwards. I look forward to greeting you personally.



Oh my Gosh! The future really, truly is closer than I thought! The countdown is in SINGLE DIGITS!!

9 days...1 hour...8 minutes...TICK...TICK...TICK...whoah!

Lists, Activity and Home-Ownership

Over the past two days, it has been a whirlwind of activities to continue closing up loose ends. I had on my To Do List literally a total of 32 things to do...and Bli Ayin Hara, I was able to get almost all of them done! These activities included: change of address at Post Office; termination of gas, electric, Comcast (internet); returning keys of other peoples' homes; arranging for rides to O'Hare for next Sunday's trip to NY (and on to Israel); giving away more "stuff," and on and on and on!

In the middle of all of this there were three significant events...it was 96 degrees yesterday (35.5C) and our air conditioning decided it was too tired and conked out. Thanks to Max, we got our AC back in three hours, but not before it got up to 84 degrees in the house. And all of this was going on as we were trying to get ready for my niece (Mindy)'s wedding that evening.

But the one event that made the craziness of the day seem a bit more palatable was the news we got from Israel: THE HOUSE LOCATED AT REHOV MITZPE NEVO 114/1 is now officially ours! Our engineer, Chaim Milun (if you need an engineer, I can give a fabulous recommendation) did his final walk-through and approved it to our (also) fabulous lawyer, Aryeh Rachlin, who then approved the final payment. What began two and a half years ago as a dream on paper has now materialized into reality. HODU LA'SHEM KI TOV KI L'OLAM CHASDO!

Today's focus turns back to getting more little and big things done as we approach our final days in the house. Everywhere I go, people ask me how many days left until we leave. SO...

...10 days, 23 hours and 36 minutes to go...TICK...TICK...TICK!

Butterflies, Timeline and Dinner

So much to report, so little time in which to report it.

1. Butterflies: This past Shabbat at Mincha, we began to read (here in Chutz La'aretz) Parashat Korach. As soon as I heard the opening Pasuk, I had butterflies in my stomach. I have known for months (longer) that this coming Shabbat, Parashat Korach, would be my last one at KJBS. BUT, knowing it and being faced with the reality that this week has arrived are two different things. And since Shabbat afternoon, I have found myself, on numerous occasions, feeling the sense of the butterflies in the stomach. It happens at moments that I do not expect it and can last for seconds or many minutes. But, it is all for good reasons...the time is REALLY drawing close!

2. Timeline: This last number of days left in Chicago is SO busy with (BH) smachot and events that it is becoming difficult to schedule our packing of suitcases! Two weddings, 2 Sheva Brachot, 1 dinner (Arie Crown), people taking us out, etc etc...we actually sat down to make a timeline of what will be occurring and how to schedule the next few days. Our last Shabbat in the house will be this week (!), as we will B'ezrat Hashem be moving out next week on Wednesday (to my parents' home). If all goes well, then Bezrat Hashem, we will close on our home and will be "homeless" by Thursday. Daven that all should go well!

3. Dinner: I mentioned above that we had the Arie Crown dinner to attend. Well, we just got back 15 minutes ago from the dinner. I have attended dozens and dozens of dinners over the years, but this one was different on one level: As soon as it was over, I realized that Andy and I were "officially" over at Arie Crown! Our relationship with the school goes back to the early 1960's as we BOTH attended the school...all three of our daughters went there and...as of tonight...we have finished our "physical" connection to the school. While our emotional connection will always be there, this is yet one more door that is closing for us in our waning days here in town. Our profound thanks to Rabbi Meir Shapiro (principal emeritus) and Rabbi Eli Samber (principal) for giving our children (and US!) a magnificent education. May you and all of the fantastic staff and administration of the school go מחיל אל חיל and may you continue to inspire children for many years to come!

Since things are not busy enough, my niece (Mindy) is getting married IYH on Tuesday. We are looking forward to this great simcha. It will be the last one of the family that we will be attending for quite a while. Emotional? Nah, not at all...yeah, right!

The clock looms quite large tonight. It is now 12 days, 10 hours and 46 minutes until we leave Chicago...TICK...TICK...TICK!!!

More "Lasts"

As the day draws nearer and nearer to our departure from Chicago, I am faced almost on a daily basis with "the last of..." experience regarding SOME event or activity. Some examples: Yesterday afternoon, I finished writing my last speech to be given at KJBS. Usually, once I write and finish a speech, I look it over once or twice before I deliver it but I have not "practiced" a speech (with rare exceptions) for many years. However, THIS speech was different...this speech will be the last one from the pulpit and I did, indeed, practice it yesterday. Needless to say, it was NOT an easy task. And on Shabbat, June 27th, when I deliver this speech, it will be even more difficult. I invite anyone who wishes to be there, to join us for Tefilla Shabbat morning, June 27th beginning at 8:30am, as we will have one joint Minyan that day. I hope to see you there!

This Shabbat, I will help celebrate the last Bar Mitzva that I will officiate at in Chicago. I recall when I saw this young man's name (Zeke Gillman) on the Shul calendar a long time ago, I thought that his Bar Mitzva was SO far away and the last one at KJBS while I was rabbi. Well, here it is, this Shabbat...my last Bar Mitzva.

My youngest daughter, Eliana, who was honored as both the Hebrew AND English valedictorian this week, graduated Arie Crown. Eliana is my last daughter to finish at Arie Crown, where we have been parents for 16 years. It is hard to believe that we will not be parents in the school anymore (but it is NOT hard to believe that we will not be writing any more tuition checks there!). We are very pleased with the education that all three of our daughters received at the school and wish ACHDS continued Hatzlacha in the education of all of its students!

This Shabbat will also mark the last time I will say Birkat HaChodesh in Chicago. This bracha, that announces the upcoming New Month, will be for the month of Tammuz, a month that is not the "happiest" in the Jewish calendar. However, this year, at least, the month of Tammuz will mark the beginning of a new life for our family, as we land in Israel (IYH) on 15 Tammuz!

And finally, one last comment...MANY of you have been asking me about job prospects once I arrive in Israel. The SHORT answer is that I do not yet have a job lined up. The longer answer, which I will not go into depth with here, is that I am working on it quite strongly but most places really do not want to "hear about it" until your feet are firmly planted on the ground. So, if you want to "help," always feel free to daven that I find a job asap!

Ok, back to work...still plenty to do!

17 days and 59 minutes to go...TICK...TICK...TICK!

WOW, What a Day!

So, today did not look like it would necessarily be anything special. I had a relatively quiet day planned with not too much in the way of hassle of headaches. Then, from the moment I woke up until now (7:40pm on Monday), there have been a whole series of things that have happened!

1. Tofes-4: In Israel, when there is new construction, prior to the builder being able to turn over the keys to the new owners, the Municipality that governs that area must sign off on it indicating that they have met codes for building etc. In the USA, this would be the Certificate of Occupancy. In Israel, this document is the Tofes-4 (Tofes-Arba). Even if the builder had done everything and I wanted to take possession, I could not without that last hurdle. This morning, I received word from our (outstanding!!) lawyer that indeed we had received the Tofes-4 and were ready for the last walk-through and eventual key handover. It was a moment I will not soon forget!

2. Ida Crown Jewish Academy: Today, we had our End-of-Year meeting of the faculty and staff. I have been teaching at ICJA for five years. At the end of the meeting, I turned in my grades, my gradebook and my key for the last time. My tenure as teacher at ICJA came to an end today. As I walked out the building, I must say it was a feeling of sadness and emptiness that filled my entire being. I had the zechut of teaching MANY students there, and I will ALWAYS fondly remember my days engaged in the Chinuch of the next geneneration of leaders...and believe me when I say that there were MANY candidates that fit the bill of "next generation of leaders."

3. Chicago Rabbinical Council: I have had the fortune of being a member of the cRc for ten years. During that time, I have had the zechut of serving as Secretary, VP, President and Chairman of the Executive. Tonight, with the new election of officers, I was (for the first time in seven years!) not on the slate in some capacity. It was my last "official" meeting at an organization that has become an integral part of my life. I will miss the various committees, meetings and camaraderie that those meetings engendered. I will remain a member, albeit from afar.

4. NBN and JAFI Papers Complete! I received an official notification letter that I and my family have completed all of the necessary documents and supporting documents for the flight, the free ride to our final destination and to be considered "ready" (at least as far as the paperwork) to make Aliya!

5. Cell Phones: Prior to making Aliya, we are renting cell phones so we will be able to communicate with each other and the myriad of agencies we will need to be in touch with once we land. (After a period of settling in, we will find the best deal for our needs). I received the cell numbers today (to be given out VERY judiciously over the next 3 or 4 weeks!). So wonderful to now know our address and our cell phone number (at least for the short term).

Not bad for a "day's work." Don't know how I will top that tomorrow...stay tuned!

It is now 19 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes until we leave Chicago. TICK...TICK...TICK!!!!!!!

The Beginning of "The Three Weeks"

Traditionally, there is a period of 3 weeks during the summer that begins with the fast day of Shiva Asar B'Tammuz and culminates with the darkest day in the Jewish calendar, that of Tisha B'Av. That time period is known as "The Three Weeks." It is a time period of greater and greater "restrictions" and greater and greater levels of "mourning." It is a sad time...a time for reflection...a time to think about the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash/Temple.

For us, today begins a different time of "The Three Weeks." For three weeks from today, our family boards a plane to NY to await a flight the next day to our Home in Israel. These weeks will not be marked by mourning (B"H) nor by greater and greater levels of sadness. They will be marked by greater and greater levels of anticipation, excitement, trepidation and anxiety. It will be a time of introspection and one that looks not only at the FUTURE but also at our PAST. It is a time that we have been looking forward to for a long time, and we can not believe is now so close.

This year, the "real" Three Weeks begin two days after our arrival in Israel.

However, unlike the Three Week period of the last 2000 years, this one will be marked by joy and happiness and end with the jubilant re-building of the Bet HaMikdash. This year will be marked not by sadness and mourning, but by joy and elation as we all gather together in Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh to greet the Mashiach. If I did not truly believe that with every fiber of my being then I would not believe in the 13 Ikarim of the Rambam and of the coming of the Mashiach.

May we ALL be zoche (merit) to be together for this momentous moment in Jewish History, and may we all do our part in both Torah and Miztvot to see to it that this moment arrives speedily!

I am a D.P. in My Own Home!

Displaced Person...I keep going into the Dining Room to work at a table that does not exist there. I keep opening a drawer to remove a non-existent fork and spoon. I go to reach for a Sefer that is no longer on a bookshelf, that is no longer there either. I feel displaced under my own roof. It is strange. This afternoon, I was not feeling well, so I was laying on my "bed" (a mattress on the floor) and contemplating all that has transpired this week! The packing up of all of our posessions, the lift being packed, Ayelet's graduation, getting our Entry Visas to Israel and, most recently, the Farewell Dinner from KJBS and the Community last night.
I must tell you that the dinner was a wonderful success. Due completely to the hard work of the dinner committee and the adbook committee, the dinner was a fabulous event! Over 250 people were in attendance and all of the speakers spoke so beautifully!

I want to express my thanks to the Dinner chairpersons:
Adina Aaron, Iris Bass, Dena Broekman, Judy Daniels, Aliza Frank and Leo and Sylvia Feigenbaum.

And to those who worked on the ad book: Mrs Debbie Kahn and Mrs Shoshana Benditzson. Thank you also to Mike Nussbaum for his eloquent words and to Judy Daniels for her wonderful tribute to Andy. Also, my Hakarat HaTov to Craig Frank and Rabbi Leonard Matanky. I was thrilled to receive a Flip video camera which will enable me to post VIDEO to my blog now, as well!

Below is the text of my speech from last night.


Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

I find it very difficult to believe that I am standing before you tonight addressing a gathering of people saying good bye to us prior to our Aliya. It is a very surreal moment in my life and that of my family.

Before I begin, I would like to say a few words to one other individual here tonight who is also going through a very exciting time...Rabbi Aaron Leibtag. As you know, Rabbi Leibtag was just elected as the new Rav of KJBS. Rabbi, I want to offer you my sincerest wishes of Mazal Tov to you and to your Rebetzin, Ayelet. The responsibility is huge, the days are long and the demands are many. However, being a Rav of the Shul indeed is one of the most rewarding things you will do in your entire life. I pledge to you publicly that which I have told you privately...I will do whatever needed to help smooth your transition to the Shul and offer you whatever aid and assistance you may wish to have. I am grateful to Rabbi Frank who has helped me over the years, and I hope to be able to do the same for you. Mazal Tov and much Hatzlacha!

I want to express my thanks to the Dinner chairpersons:
Adina Aaron, Iris Bass, Dena Broekman, Judy Daniels, Aliza Frank and Leo and Sylvia Feigenbaum.
And to those who worked on the ad book: Mrs Debbie Kahn and Mrs Shoshana Benditzson. This evening did not happen overnight, and I want to publicly thank ALL of you for all of your hard work and hours spent putting this together.

At the beginning of Parashat Lech Lecha, HKBH tells Avraham Avinu:
Lech Lecha Me’artzecha U’milodetecha U’mibeit Avicha el Ha’aretz Asher Ar’eka
The Or HaChaim comments on the order of this Pasuk in the command that Hashem gives to Avraham to leave his homeland to go to a land he did not know of.
He points out, that the command to leave his homeland was easier than to leave his birthplace and leaving his birthplace was easier than leaving his family. Finally, leaving his family was the toughest part of all.

In that vein, I would like to address three audiences tonight. I want to speak to the community at large; I want to speak to the members of KJBS and finally, I want to speak to my family. Rather than being a “farewell” speech, I want tonight’s words to be a form of Hakarat Hatov to all three of these groups.
To the members of the Chicago Jewish Community...we have shared so much together. You have enabled me to not only share in some of your life cycle events, both good and bad; not only to allow me to serve the greater community in some of the various organizations with which I was proud to be associated; But you also enabled me to grow beyond the four walls of the Shul I so dearly love. As a member of this community virtually my entire life, I am so grateful that I have been afforded the opportunity to be a part of this thriving and growing Torah-based community. Whether I am sitting with the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz or with the Rosh Kollel of the YU Kollel Torah Mitzyon, I have always felt welcome and appreciated in every place I have been.

I therefore turn to the entire Chicago metropolitan community and say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

To my home away from home...Congregation KJBS. Ten years ago, you took a chance on someone with no pulpit experience and someone who many of you knew as a little kid. BOTH of those were also risks taken by ME. Would I be up to the challenge...would those who knew me as “little Zev” from the early 1970’s come to see me as the Rav of the Shul. Perhaps this is the area in which I feel the greatest sense of Hakarat HaTov. There was not a minute over the last ten years that I felt someone was looking at me as the little kid who grew up in the shul. (If you did, I never felt it!) The respect with which I was treated from Day One until today I imagine is the envy of other Rabbanim of Shuls. What I lacked in experience, there were plenty of people to give me advice along the way. Sometimes, that advice proved VERY valuable while other times, it proved EXTREMELY valuable!

Over the years, I have watched as our shul and its members have grown in their level of Torah and Mitzvah commitment..it has been a beautiful journey to behold. I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address so wide a variety of issues both in the shul and outside the shul. I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to teach at Ida Crown. I thank you for allowing me to bring so many groups to Israel. I thank the officers and board of KJBS whose names are too numerous to list. I thank each and every one of you for being a unique individual, who collectivley make up a DYNAMIC and thriving shul. Without YOU, I would not be who I am today.

And finally, to my family. I want to repeat something I said from the pulpit on the Shemini Atzeret before I became Rabbi. While the shul was without a Rav, I was asked on a few occassions to pinch hit and speak. For various reasons on that day, I chose to quote filmmaker, Steven Speilberg. After winning another of his dozens of awards, I watched him take his trophy in hand and declare: “All too often, I have watched people stand at this podium and say their thank you’s. And all too often when they mention their parents, they look heavenward and say thanks mom, thanks dad. And I,” continued Speilberg, “ I am able to thank G-d look at my parents HERE in the audience and say to THEM: Thanks mom...thanks dad.” I am grateful to HKBH that I too am in that same position. Mom and Dad, your unconditional love for all of us and your emotional support can never be re-paid. Katonti Mikol Hachasadim...but do know how much we love you and will miss you!

To my brother, sister, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews and neices...It has been phenomenal to have been able to live in the same city and to have been able to be so involved in each other’s lives. MY Hakarat HaTov to all of you is boundless, as you actually CHOSE to daven at KJ, in spite of the fact that I was the Rav! We will sorely miss all of you, as well.

To my three beautiful, precious daughters: Daniella, Ayelet and Eliana. No words could truly express how grateful I am to you for YOUR support, not only as the Rav of the Shul but also as your father. I have told you on literally hundreds of occassions that YOU GUYS come first, and I hope that I have been able to keep my word. I have learned so much from the three of you. I make a promise to you that our family’s dream of Aliya will not become our family’s nightmare. With Hashem’s help, Mommy and I will do all that is in our power to make our Kelitah (our absorption) into Israel as smooth as possible. It will not be easy...but who said that fulfilling any mitzva was easy!?

And finally, to my eishet chayil, Andy. What can I say? To say thank you sounds to trite. Your support of me and your constant encouragement have made all the difference in the world. It never amazes me how you are ALWAYS right! It makes me crazy, but you indeed are always right. Your suggestions and your critique of anything I do has literally helped to change lives, not the least of which is MY life.

Your involvement for TEN YEARS as Sisterhood president has set the standard for the next president...there will be a “next” one I hope! Whether coming in every week after Shabbat to package leftovers for the needy of the community, staying on top of every single simcha, or lending an ear to a needy person, you are the quintessential Rebbetzin.

Andy, many women marry Rabbis and become a Rebbetzin. I married a Rebbetzin and became a Rabbi. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
As I said at the outset, tonight was not about a “good-bye” speech. For that you are all invited to KJBS in two weeks, on Parashat Korach. Tonight is about gratitude to ALL of you. Once again, let me say thank you to all those who are here tonight; those who could not be here tonight and to all who made this evening possible.

May Hashem repay your kindness a hundred-fold and may He shower His brachot upon you all in health for 120 years.
Thank you!