In just a few weeks, several members of Knesset will be traveling to Pittsburgh as part of a delegation of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federations of North America. They will visit Toronto and Detroit, in addition to Pittsburgh. The goal of this journey is to educate Knesset members about our Jewish lives here in North America and how Israel plays a role in our community. We are really pleased that our Pittsburgh Jewish community, and specifically our Federation, was handpicked as part of this initiative.
On a totally different note, working in the Oakland neighborhood of the city has some wonderful benefits and some drawbacks. Both took place this week with the moving in of students at Pitt and CMU. Traffic has been a nightmare with out of town parents driving down Forbes and not knowing where to go. At the same time, I’ve been watching the Facebook feed of our Hillel Jewish University Center with all their events welcoming new students and welcoming back old ones. Those same parents lost on Forbes were in the Hillel building learning about the depth of activities that our Hillel has to offer their children. By the end of this work week, the parents will be gone and traffic will get back to normal, but those students will be left here by their families for our Hillel and our community to care for them. They are in great hands! (I will be watching the Facebook feed from our Day Schools over the next week as these students return to the classroom.)
As someone about to drop off my first child at college, I wanted to share what I thought was a beautiful piece by Rabbi Ed Feinstein on this move of our children from High School to college. I hope you will share it with your children and grandchildren marking this major milestone.
I hope to see all of you on Tuesday at 7 pm at the JCC in Squirrel Hill for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Annual Meeting. We have much to celebrate, to showcase and to be thankful for. We will honor some special volunteers and thank some great professionals.
Shabbat Shalom.