HAI-LIFE AWARD (continued from cover)
Second, I love the questioning spirit of Judaism. One of the people portrayed in the movie The Big Short is shown as a young boy driving his rabbi crazy by asking so many questions. That scene spoke to me. The person in the movie figured out what was wrong with certain investments because he kept questioning. We cannot understand unless we question. Judaism encourages questioning. Third, I like the mandate to repair the world. My father-in-law, Maurel Rothbaum, epitomized Hillel’s second famous quote,“If I am not for myself, who will be for me. If I am only for myself, what am I?” My father-in-law was president of everything. His obituary was on the front page of the Star. His influence pervades our whole family – it motivates us to be together for every auspicious occasion, it pushes his children and grandchildren to try to repair the world. My mother-in-law also epitomizes this quote. She always thinks of others, and is always there for her family and friends. I remember her taking soup each week for years to a friend who had had a stroke. As all who know her agree, she is as close to perfection as a human being can be. My mother skipped the first part of Hillel’s quote. She rarely thought of herself – and was totally devoted to her family – particularly her grandchildren. Donald and I were very lucky in our parents, who provided the foundation for our Jewish life together. I also love the rituals of Judaism. I feel the magnetic pull of the High Holy Days. Thanksgiving is a fine holiday, but it is no Passover. The ritual of bar mitzvah is brilliant. To have a child wrestle with the Torah, learn Hebrew, lead a congregation, do charitable acts – is a wonderful way to help a child grow into adulthood. And, to experience a bar or a bat mitzvah as a parent or grandparent is the greatest joy imaginable. Our grandson Meyer celebrated
June 22, 2016 The Jewish Post & Opinion – IN 11 his bar mitzvah last May. Adam, Simon, day schools. We must transmit the core Kiefer and Seth are on deck and will be knowledge of Judaism if we hope to see bar mitzvahed within the next year. Six of Judaism survive. And we must have warm, our grandchildren are here tonight, welcoming places where intense Judaism is a living presence in the world. including Zachy, Isaac and David. I would like to thank the Hasten I want to see Judaism survive. It has so much to offer to its own people and to Hebrew Academy for this wonderful the world at large. And, it cannot survive honor. A without repositories and transmitters of the core knowledge and practice of Judaism. To close, I want to do a riff on a quote that has stayed with me. The Warburg family was a prominent banking family in New York. The father was one of the people who helped start the federal reserve system. His children did not stay Jewish, and one of them said to his parents something like the following: “If you wanted us to stay Jewish you should have sent us to Horace Mann and Columbia instead of Middlesex and Harvard.” So, if we want Judaism to survive, we HAI-Life Distinguished Teacher Award cannot send all our children to “Middlesex Recipient Jennifer Blaine (center) with and Harvard,” as the Warburgs did. We third grade teacher, Amanda Mazelin (L) cannot even send them all to “Horace and art teacher, Mary Ellen Fellegy (R). Ms. Mann and Columbia” and other places Blain has been the physical education with a significant Jewish presence as the teacher at HHAI since 2003 and is also the athletic director for the school’s sports answer to perpetuating Judaism. Some of our children must go to Jewish team programs.
The Rothbaum family. Photos by Scott Romer.