Today I am in New York. I flew in early this morning to attend the alumni professional development day and ordination of the newest group of rabbis from the Academy for Jewish Religion. Two of my dear friends, Rabbi Eliana Falk and Rabbi Julius Rabinowitz became rabbis today. Yesterday I wrote about the process of becoming. For Eliana, it was a journey. She started at the campus on 86th Street in Manhattan. She is the last of the 86th Street students and I have now passed the torch handed to me by Rabbi Alan Kay z’l of the student who took the longest to be ordained. In truth, the amount of time it takes does not matter. Life intervenes. This is, as I said yesterday, the public affirmation of what is already true. Each of the five rabbis ordained today was already a rabbi. Now we can officially call them rabbis and as Eliana said last absolutely glowing, was “This is amazing, totally awesome, beyond words,” as we hugged a cried.

Rabbi Julius Rabinowitz and I are both marathoners. We too hugged. We also found ourselves unable to speak in the moment except to compare the process to running a marathon and it is not clear to either of us which is harder. I have always wanted to run one more. My daughter and I had been talking about it the Friday before the Boston Marathon. We were actually looking at the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Then again we were talking about it the morning of the Boston Marathon. After the bombing there was no doubt where I would be next year. Julius said he is joining me. We could in fact field an entire AJR team with Rabbi Laurie Gold, Rabbi Julius Rabinowitz, Rabbi Doug Alpert and I am sure there are more. Training for a marathon is another example of a process. It begins with a single step, a great deal of persistence and dedication. Training to be a rabbi is a marathon. No question about it.

Being at ordination was terrific. I got to see old friends, see the new campus of the Academy in the Otis Elevator building in Yonkers, do some text study, buy a new kippah. From the moment I walked in with Simon in the middle of downpour, I felt welcome. “Welcome home,” Helene said. Later Rabbi Jeff Hoffman said the same thing, “Welcome home.”

The alumni meeting was interesting. Some students and alumni are still having a hard time finding jobs. I understand that. I am now one of the lucky ones. Others have become entrepreneurial rabbis. They are stringing things together and making it work but that can be much more stressful. Still others are wrestling with the high cost of health insurance, disability insurance and long term care. They wonder in the words of an old Peter Paul and Mary song, “Is the struggle worth the cost?” The song answers the question, “Don’t give up on the dream. Don’t you let it end. Carry on sweet survivor.”

The speaker, our Alumnus of the Year, Rabbi Chuck Lightner wonders about the long term health of liberal Judaism. He, himself, is consulting in Texas with a software company. The people there are very devout Christians and he thinks Christianity has a product, heaven and salvation, and we have a process. A process may not be very comforting. It requires work. Lots to think about. The discussion that followed was fascinating. We do have a product and that product may be the process, or it may be community or it may be G-d. It was very heartening.

Then came the centerpiece. Ordination itself. We processed in, ordinees, betei din, faculty, alumni and students. We looked resplendent in our black robes, kippot and tallitot.  The sign that hung over the bimah read “May your mouth speak wisdom and your tongue compose song.” Berachot 17a. That’s what we rabbis and cantors are, people who speak wisdom and sing. People who blend our traditions, rituals, laws with modernity and find the access ramps for others in the Jewish community. There were two lines (at least) that I turned to Rabbi Heidi Hoover sitting next to me and said…”I can use that. That would be good for installation.” But can I remember? No.

Later I went out for dinner with my chevruta parter, my very dear friend Rabbi Linda Shriner Cahn and her husband David. It was a free flowing, easy conversation about lots of topics. Our jobs, our kids, our perceptions of the Jewish community, our hopes for the future. We wound up sleeping at Linda and David’s home. I think Linda and I could have stayed up all night talking.

It was well worth taking the time and making the effort to be at ordination. A very, very special day. I leave New York more committed than ever to the kind of community we are trying to create in Elgin. I leave more committed than ever to being a rabbi, to being there rabbi.