by Yiftah Leket
It’s been a while, and I’ve missed y’all.
Some truly amazing things happened this summer, with one of the highlights being at Tamarack Camps for the entire summer!!
As we settle back into our home and into a grown-up, normal life (which is not as fun as camp😊), we are concluding our second year here in Detroit, bringing the dawn to a third, exciting year ahead.
As much as it’s exciting, it’s also the beginning of my 40th year on this planet. So, this year, Rosh Hashana will be very special for me. It’s time to reflect on this incredible journey called Shlichut, and it’s time to reflect on life as a whole and start dreaming up the next chapters. It’s scary, to be honest. But there is no way around it. We need to choose who we are, what we want to be, and where we want to live when we get back to Israel.
They say, “Misery loves company”, so if you ask me, we are all in a mid-life crisis. We are all in a state of transformation, where self-definition is needed. Our political systems, our divisive societies, and our environmental issues all indicate that we are in some sort of a crisis. The benefit of a mid-life crisis is the fact that you can still take the reins and make a change. We need change. We need hope within our Israeli political system, we need to have a healthier relationship between the partners of our society, and we need a deeper discourse between our American and Israeli Jewish communities. We need so much more, but let’s start with something. If I sound dramatic yet vague, it’s because that’s what a mid-life crisis looks like! But rest assured, we are working hard to bring new ideas, programs, and opportunities to our community, strengthening ourselves with an amazing team (the four Shinshiniot!), and collaborating with more community partners than ever before.
I wish us all meaningful high holidays, where we dream, define and act within the beauty and the limitations we have as people.
And I wish you personally a year of Health, Love, Humor, and Compassion.