"The Right people at the right place at the right time"

“The right people, at the right time, in the right place” – Our

school has been in existence for 65 years and with G-d’s help will be around for another 65 years.  But, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are here because some very selfless , committed people had a vision and were willing to see that vision through, and that in each succeeding generation, there were torchbearers to light the way for the next generation.  Once a year, during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a small group of dedicated fundraisers make their calls for our operational campaign.  They need to raise nearly $700,000 to keep our school running, and they do a remarkable job.  What always impresses me is the very significant number of contributors to this event.  Ninety-one families pledged at least $1000.  Scores more made smaller contributions.  This truly demonstrates the breadth of community support there is for our school.  Yes, we need more donations.  Yes, we need donors who can pledge and fulfill those pledges with larger donations. But, we also need to be thankful to all of those people who continue to support and work for our school’s success. 

Over seventy people attended a celebratory dinner last Thursday evening At Dr. Joe and Cindi Weinstein’s gracious home. A delicious repast was prepared by Heart and Soul Caterers.  Rabbi Feigenbaum extended greetings from the Vaad HaRabbanim and Dr. Joel Siegel spoke as President of the Board of Directors and I spoke as Interim Dean.  To lighten the mood a bit I began with “The top Ten Reasons to Be a Donor to the MHA/FYOS.  You can look below to see that list.

Let me begin this evening with the top 10 reasons why you should be a donor to the MHA/FYOS. Please forgive my irreverence. We’ll start in reverse order.

Reason #10:  So that we will have a school for the children of all the new Jewish doctors that Project Move to Memphis is going to bring to town.

Reason #9:  So that we have a school for the children of the next kosher gourmet restaurateur who comes to Memphis.

Reason #8: So that we can provide ruach to the Orthodox shuls on a Shabbat morning.

Reason #7:  So that we can provide the next, and the next, and the next   NCSY Midwest regional president.

Reason #6: So that we can have 1 good kosher steak dinner a year.

Reason #5: So that we can maintain a repository for gently abused high mileage vans and minivans .  By the way, we really appreciate them.

Reason #4:  So that we can provide Josh Kahane with the opportunity to pad his resume with 10,000 hours of volunteer-related work in his next profession, as CFO of a Fortune 500 company.

Reason#3: So that we can single-handedly keep the last remaining shop of spare parts for ancient air conditioners open and flourishing.

Reason #2: So that the community will have continuous opportunities to do hachnochos orchim -  to have teens from around the country and young men and women from Israel at their weekly Shabbos tables.

And, all kidding aside -

Reason #1:  So that we can provide an authentic Jewish education to the children of Memphis. Tennessee.