Rockland, Part Two

I can’t believe I’ve been in Israel for two months already and that I’ll soon be back in Rockland for another amazing year!

Over the summer I’ve been hanging out with friends, seeing a lot of my family, traveling, and going to weddings and planning bachelorette parties. Yes, a lot of my friends are getting married...I’m at that age!

After all the time away, I can look back and see things much more clearly. All of you who invited me for dinners, gave me leftovers or took me out; those of you who showed me new things and places, who smiled at me when passing my office or asked about my life and how I was doing...You, more than anything else, made my experience what it is.

I’m so excited about coming back to Rockland! I can’t wait to see you all, to hear about your summers and to start a new year. I have a lot of plans and dreams for the year ahead, and I know most of them are possible.

I hope this year will be about the community even more than last year. We each have our own circles – schools, neighborhoods, synagogues – but it doesn’t mean we are not part of something bigger, something wider. WE ARE ALL JEWISH ROCKLAND and Federation brings us all together. My main goal and hope for this year is that this sense of community will be stronger than ever.

I have other goals as well. I feel like my journey in Rockland isn’t even close to the end. I mean, I just got to know the kids in the Hebrew schools as well as at RJA and all I did up to now was just “breaking the ice!” My schmooze group at the JCC will have so much to talk about this year with all that went on over the summer in Israel. And the students at RCC’s Hillel will have a lot to talk about regarding Israel also!

Not to mention I’ll be teaching my own Midreshet class at Rockland Federation! A big and new step for me!

Now that I’m listing it all, I’m getting nervous. It’s a lot to do, and a lot of responsibility. I can’t do this on my own of course. I will need your support, just like I needed it this past year, and maybe even more.

Soon, my office will be open again and you’ll be able to come by and chat. Rockland Part Two, here I come!

— Timna Mekaiten, Community Shlicha
Jewish Federation of Rockland County