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"Rabbi: I am grateful that I lead an active and very fulfilling Jewish life in Princeton, New Jersey, and want you to know that you had a great role in shaping the Jew I am today..."

Sandy Sussman

Rabbi: I am grateful that I lead an active and very fulfilling Jewish life in Princeton, New Jersey, and want you to know that you had a great role in shaping the Jew I am today. Okay, so my parents, sister, Rabbi Lee and many others had a hand in the process too, but as my first rabbi, you had more influence than I think you know. Certainly more than I appreciated at the time.

My memories of you are innumerable, so here’s just a sampling of them, listed in approximately chronological order:

Watching with amazement when my new friend from kindergarten class, Alona, ran to you,

leapt into the air and landed in your arms

Sitting on the floor of the temple sukkah and listening to you talk while ducking hanging gourds

and other greenery

Sharing our weakness for Affy Tapples (mine continues to this day!)

Rocking from heel to toe and back again, like you did (do?), trying to figure out how you got

so much mileage out of the motion without falling over

Listening to your thundering sermons and wondering if rabbis were related to God

Blurring the lines between family and friends when it came to my temple family (Mr. and Mrs.

Marbel, Mrs. Leifer and Slutsky, the Weissbergs, Holzers, Foxes, Fines, Sanders and so

many others)

Being so relieved to have gotten through my bat mitzvah responsibilities that I didn’t hear

a word you said when we stood alone together in front of the open ark, until you got to the

Priestly Blessing

Going to Lockwood Castle after youth group events with friends and their parents, ordering

more ice cream than us kids could eat, and giving the leftovers to the dads to finish off

Eagerly anticipating the Rabbi-led walks across the lake in Oconomowoc during Hi-Club

retreats and then being terrified when we actually did them

Feeling pride when my Rashi’s Rangers, friends and I studied with you on a Shabbat afternoon

Receiving your encouragement and endorsement when I applied for the Ma’ayan program

Catching up with one another on my occasion visits from college and, later, from Princeton

Discovering recently that we’ve both been studying Talmud for the past 10 years

Listening to and remembering every word of your blessing for Ron and me when the three

of us stood alone together in front of the open ark on the Shabbat after we were married

four years ago.