Too much has been shared. Too many moments where I was witness to your deepest sorrows and highest joys. Serving you throughout the years as a teacher, confidant, mentor, reassuring presence, Jewish professional, leader and so much more; this was a job I was called to do, not paid to do.
My children were shaped by our experience here. You watched them grow. We came in 1994 when Yoni was just 3 and Shai just 18 months. Kivi quickly joined as our first Rose baby, and Vivi followed in 1997. Those were busy days and nights, raising a family while building a community. I focused on supporting my husband so he could serve you and stay in good health and educating my children to be good and kind people, surrounded by love and acceptance. In my spare time, I managed to work on behalf of our larger Denver Jewish community, as the first Jewish educator of the JCC, initiator of the Hebrew-Israel Immersion Program at what is now DJDS, President of the Board at Denver Academy of Torah, first employee helping to create Ramah in the Rockies. I led a Women's Mission to Israel in 2013 that helped me find my own voice, as it raised up the voices of those who joined me. Bruce and I led two other congregational trips to Israel, sharing our love of that special place to those who traveled with us. I rekindled my own spirit as we ventured forth to start Shir Hadash, which became a point of entry for so many to connect to our shul in a different and new way.
I am so proud of my husband and what he has built and accomplished here at the HEA. Working in deep partnership with an incredible staff and dedicated volunteer leaders, he showed up each and every day – determined to work through whatever came his way. Sometimes he used his rabbinical training – composing and delivering sermons week after week that would connect hearts and minds to Torah and the questions of the day. I was proud of his craftsmanship – reading books, probing sources, weaving ideas and original thoughts together to bring insight, guidance and comfort. He created his classes with the same rigor and discipline, using his intellectual gifts to search for meaning and enrich lives.
Other times, he relied on intuition and his own moral guide, as he raced to your homes in heartbreaking moments, to be with you as you experienced pain and sorrow. He officiated at your life cycle events, welcoming ritual into your lives. He navigated the politics that inevitably occur in organizations, deftly restoring peace when invested volunteers working on behalf of the shul, always with the best of intentions, complained, disagreed, felt dissatisfied or disenfranchised. Rabbinical school didn't teach him how to juggle the needs and demands of an institution that grew to almost 1,000 family units, while being a devoted husband and father.
The last few years have been challenging for us all. To be a leader in the Jewish community at this time presented challenges – managing fear, misinformation, toxic national politics, changing cultural norms, new technologies and social media platforms, and through it all keep the priorities in sight – connecting people to one another and to Jewish tradition. Keep the synagogue relevant. Reinvent. Innovate. Do something! Anything! Fix it! Fix the world and fix us. Do it while managing your own fears and doubts. Set a new course. Envision what we will need in the future. Raise more funds. And keep doing what you've always been doing…
It's time for new spiritual leadership, new melodies, new ideas. It's time for Rabbi and Tammy to give over this mantle of leadership to Rabbi Salomon and Melanie, embrace our growing family, inviting in new life partners for our grown children – Rebecca, Michelle and Ryan, at last count.
Bruce will spend the next period reflecting, resting, reinventing this new chapter of our lives. We're not going anywhere, and our HEA story doesn't end here. We may be absent for a little while to give the new leadership team space to set a new course. We are content and fulfilled. We are grateful for the opportunity to know you all and serve you. And we look forward to what comes next – for you, for us, and for us both together.
B'shalom, but really l'hitraot (until we see you again),
Tammy
With Bruce, Yoni, Shai and Rebecca, Kivi and Michelle, Vivi and Ryan
