Dear Friends:
About a month ago, the Jewish publication Forward published a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article unveiling a major “scoop.” Over the summer, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff had spoken as a surrogate for his wife Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. Particularly when addressing Jewish audiences, he would discuss his Bar Mitzvah and the brown velour suit he wore on that day. But, the Forward article said, no picture of that suit had emerged -- until now.
I actually played a major role in getting that photograph to the Forward and in the genesis of the article. From news coverage four years ago, when then-Senator Harris was the Democratic VP candidate and then VP-elect, I learned that Doug Emhoff had grown up in the same synagogue as I had, Temple Shalom of Aberdeen NJ (at the time the town was known as Matawan) and that, based on his age, he would have been a Hebrew school classmate of my brother Peter.
Some time over the summer my brother and a few of his friends who had all grown up in the same town as we did (Hazlet), were discussing in a group chat the fact that none of them seemed to remember Doug Emhoff. (This is not actually all that surprising since at the time Temple Shalom had a lot of kids, and while we lived in Hazlet, the next town south of Matawan, the Emhoffs lived in Old Bridge, the next town north, and in New Jersey each town has its own school system.) At that point one of them said that he did remember Emhoff because they had shared a Bar Mitzvah date and he sent around the picture of the two of them with our rabbi, Henry Weiner z”l, which eventually appeared in the Forward. (You may recall that Rabbi Weiner was at my installation ceremony in 2012 and my brother discussed him in his talk at the ceremony honoring my tenth anniversary with Kehilat Shalom two years ago.)
Because I have some ties to the Forward (I have been friends with a number of its editors-in-chief) I contacted them and let them know of the existence of the photo and the name and contact info of Scott Bermack, my brother’s friend and classmate who shared his Bar Mitzvah with Doug Emhoff. Eventually they tracked him down, interviewed him, and he shared the picture and gave permission for it to be published. Interestingly, both young men in that photo grew up to become attorneys. The Bermacks lived about two blocks away from us and today both Scott Bermack and my brother Peter live in Montclair, NJ and still see each other on occasion.
Thanks to those of you who attended the first session of our class on Pirkei Avot last night. A video of the class can be found here.
Finally, I want to urge you to participate in the focus groups discussing Kehilat Shalom 2.0 if you have not already done so. A schedule of the remaining groups was in this week’s announcements. Please RSVP to Charlotte Strauss at 202-262-5085 or Strausscha@aol.com.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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