Home Is Where The Heart Is

Home is where you have history; the place your mind returns to no matter how far you’ve travelled or how long you’ve been away. Home is where lifelong relationships are created and enduring memories are made. Even though I retired as the Rabbi of Temple Beth El four years ago, Temple Beth has never been far from thoughts. Temple Beth El is and always will be my spiritual home-and you my Temple family.

This is why I am honored and excited to be serving as TBE’s transitional rabbi during the coming year. I will be spending a week each month at the congregation, teaching and officiating at Sabbath and holiday services as well as all life cycle events. During those days when I’m at my second home in North Carolina, I will be in constant contact with the staff and membership of Temple by telephone, zoom, and email.

Another important task that I’ve been asked to do is to help the Temple create a vision of what it would like to be in future and how best to choose a spiritual leader best suited to make that vision a reality. Our TBE family has so much to offer the Jewish community in our area. We are a warm and caring congregation, full of ideas and dreams. This is going to be an amazing year. I can’t wait until July when we will begin to dream and build together.

We’re all getting ready for Kayitz (summer). Children and grandchildren are packing their trunks for camp. Families are preparing for car trips to cooler climes. Some of us will opt for say-cations. South Florida is full of fun things to do in the summer. I will be doing something unusually challenging in August. I will be retracing the 135-kilometer trek of Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, who escaped from Auschwitz in 1944 on a mission to tell the world would was happening in the concentration camps in Eastern Europe. My journey will begin in Auschwitz and take me through the Tetras Mountains of Southern Poland and North Slovakia to the town of Zilina where Vrba and Wetzler gave their initial report. It’s estimated that their report saved the lives of 200,000 Jews living in and around Budapest, making them the greatest heroes of the Holocaust. During my travels I will be giving video updates on the Temple’s Facebook page. On November 1st I will give a lecture at TBE about these remarkable men and a share with you what I experienced on my travels.

Whatever you’re doing this summer, do passionately and safely. Stay in touch-see you soon-Rabbi Allan