Road Trip

by Rabbi Ilene Bogosian, March 2, 2015

About thirty years ago George and I drove all the way across the North America. We had a tent in the trunk of our car and everywhere we went, we slept in that tent. If we were lucky we found space in one of the national parks. Those nights were full of the hush of wind gently riffling its fingers through fragrant fir trees. Other nights we tossed and turned, hot and sticky, in some farmer’s pasture “camp ground”, breathing the scent of manure. Our passage across North Dakota was particularly trying. We traversed seemingly infinite fields of sunflowers, punctuated by grain elevators shimmering in the heat. You need to understand that in those days we did not have an air conditioning. Our Toyota had a so-called sunroof that did indeed let in the sun – and the stifling heat of the plains in August.

Then, one day as we glimpsed the jagged snow topped peaks of the Rockies poking over the horizon. We were sweltering, yearning for coolness, for snow. Once we reached the foothills all the days in the hot car watching the sun-flowers go by faded from memory. We hiked up to the tree line on Mount Edith Cavell. The air was clean and cool and we were refreshed. Up on the mountain we discovered a world we could not have imagined in the heat of the prairies. The journey was certainly worth the sweat and the nights with the cows.

Here at Solel we are approaching the end of a very sweaty – and of late frozen – leg of our community journey. We are about to enter a new world full of promise, excitement and fresh air with a roof that can shelter us from extremes of heat and chill. Spring is coming this month!

Soon you’ll meeting Rabbi Audrey Pollack. And – in a few short months I will have to say goodbye to all of you at Solel. It has been – and continues to be – a great honor to share your lives this year. During the rest of our time together I hope you will let me know how this interim year went for you so that I can carry your wisdom with me to my next interim congregation, Temple Israel of Dayton Ohio.

Aviv Tov! Happy Spring!

Rabbi Ilene Bogosian

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