The Common Vein

Copyright 2009

 jonstein@bellsouth.net  Phone  561-994-2082 Florida USA

You have asked for a bio?mine is going to be presented in a slightly different fashion (that is if you want to put it on the website). It is not of course a formal bio, but anyone reading this should catch the drift. I am submitting a speech I made (Dec.16,2008) when I was given at award for scholarship at a dinner reception given in my  honor (I kid you not!) by JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary)

 

JTS  Speech 12/16/08

A couple of days ago I was thinking about how I was going to say what I want to say to-night & while listening to National Palestinian Radio I decided to take a cue from a news pundit who was giving his analysis of the current white house incumbent  ;  this NPR commentator, quite poignantly, I thought, said  & I quote :?he may be a lame?duck,  but he can still quack?

I would like to thank all of you for coming to support JTS and for taking time out of your busy lives this evening.  I want to thank Chancellor Eisen for flying out of New York to be with us tonight.  I would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all the JTS professionals and the volunteer committee who organized this event.  Without Carolyn Kantor, Director of the JTS Florida Regional office, this evening would not have been a possibility.

What can I say to Rabbi Mathew Berkowitz?

He journeyed from Jerusalem so that he could be with us tonight. This is truly an honor for all of us.

Matt Berkowitz is the quintessence of a rabbi/ ROV, Rov being the Talmudic generic term for a teacher & in fact Rabbi Matt  is a teacher par excel- lance . This is exemplified by our year- long study of the  Rabbinic period in our history  as seen in the context of Elisha Ben Abuya , who is referred to in the Gomorrah with contempt as (???, Acher) literally  the?Other One? and from whom the subsequent Yiddish euphemism for a really bad dude emanates, that is a ?dover acher? which literally in Hebrew is DAVAR ACHER or ?another thing?.   He, &  I?m now talking about Rabbi Matt, has exceptional imagination & wonderful sense of humor that he brought to his workshops on movies as they relate to the American Jewish experience. One need only look at Rabbi Berkowitz?s recently published Haggadah to realize the breadth of his artistry & creativity.

The good that is JTS came about because of like-minded people who share dreams and visions of a future and the greater good of yiddishkeit in America.  The affiliated Rabbis and teachers of this organization blend their teaching with humility and a desire to learn from others rather than forcing others to their viewpoint.

Almost all of you here tonite know that I have been given a ?bad break.? These particular words are not mine but those of Lou Gehrig given at his famous farewell address at Yankee stadium one month after he was formally diagnosed with his disease.  With Babe Ruth, his arch-rival at his side, Lou Gehrig then made the most remarkable statement : He said that he considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I never did fully understand this statement until tonight.

Mr Gehrig gave this address on July 4^th 1939 at the time the U.S. was still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, Hitler?s Anschluss of Austria had occurred over 1 year previously, the Nazi?s had marched into the Sudentenland 3 months earlier  & the ominous clouds of war were covering  Europe.  3 Months later with Hitler?s invasion of Poland WW2 was formally declared by Churchill ,Sept.1,1939. Until Pearl Harbor was bombed, Dec 1941  FDR & Congress did not have the cajonos to join the war effort.

When I look at everyone here I believe I understand Lou Gehrig.

I am not equipped to talk about the current economic fiasco but I don?t believe there is anybody else on the planet who is equipped to do this either.

All of us here tonite are fully aware of  the very existential threat Israel currently faces; I believe however that Israel is the proverbial canary in the coal mine because Western Civilization  as we know it is profoundly  threatened by the rise of organized Radical Islamism.  In fact the more I think about it , the term ?Radical Islamism? is truly an anacrism  because if one reads the Quoran or sees how it is practiced, one quickly realizes that there is nothing moderate about their religion. Other than mention this threat I will not speak further about it;  I remember my parents admonition to me: if you have nothing nice to say about somebody, don?t say it ; so I won?t!

Nonetheless I do believe that I understand Lou Gehrig because tonight I feel that I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

I have a wonderful and beautiful and courageous wife, Patricia. I have two great kids, Victoria and Gregory, and I am immensely proud of them. I do regret that I am leaving before I will have had the pleasure of seeing my children reach all of  their goals but I do have the satisfaction in knowing that they are well on their way to reaching them. Their achievements have been all that I could ever have hoped for my family. I also take great pride in their brave forging ahead in the shadow of my illness.

My family and I have been fortunate with our connection to this very special community here tonight. I have never received anything but kindness, encouragement and good humor from my rabbis, teachers, colleagues, and co-congregants in this shul. After living in St Louis for five years I had never even heard of Boca Raton until I came here for my job interview 28 years ago. Incidentally, when I returned to St Louis after this interview and I told my colleagues about Boca Raton and mentioned to my professors that my only reservation about moving here was that Boca Raton did not feel like the real world. The response I received from my learned professors was: ?Who the?with an unmentionable expletive? wants to live in the real world? ?  This is a question that I should have the asked the rabbis!

 Botox Raton which was at first, was truly very foreign to me has become my home. All of you here tonight are truly part of my extended  family, you are a strong and warm community of friends.  For this, I am extremely grateful.

I would like to think that when Mr Gehrig said he considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth that he was actually saying more. He was reflecting with pride & joy on the richness of the lifehe had already lived to the fullest.

What would it have mattered to him at the time of his farewell   address that he was gravely ill with an existential disease?

Did he have any reason to envy his colleagues or wax nostalgic about his lost sports prowess?

Did he have any reason to envy the young for their good health?

Did he have any reason to envy them for their possible futures?

 I believe not. He had lived a fulfilling and rewarding life.  And so have I.

Instead of possibilities I have had opportunities and these opportunities have become the realities of my past. These realities are not only of work done and of love loved but of the rich rewards that come with suffering. Although suffering is not to be envied, there has been opportunity for closeness with family, there has been opportunity for meaningful time and depth of conversation with friends and there has been opportunity for  learning life?s valuable lessons through difficult times.

I want to end off with a quote from the  Jewish sage  Ms Gilda Radner, one  of the original the comediennes on Saturday Nite  Live , who in the terminal stages  of her illness said the following ,  & I quote:  

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I?ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don?t rhyme, and some stories don?t have a clear beginning, middle, or end. Life is about not knowing, life is about having to change, life is about taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what?s going to happen next.

Once again to all of you here, thank for your warm support.

 

Obituary