The First Day of School
It was the first day of term. The usual rush — kids in uniforms, parents juggling coffee cups and car keys, the chaos and excitement of a new beginning.
As I walked through the school gates, a mother stopped me. She smiled and said,
“Rabbi Yossi, I want you to know — you’re the reason I’m here today with my children.”
I paused, unsure what she meant. “What do you mean?” I asked.
She went on to tell me that a few months earlier, I had officiated at her father’s funeral. Her children had come along, and afterward, they told her how proud they felt to be part of something so deeply Jewish — the prayers, the stories, the unity they felt in that moment.
“After the funeral,” she said, “my kids turned to me and said, ‘Mum, we don’t want to be in our non-Jewish school anymore. We want to go to a Jewish school.’ And so, we enrolled. That’s why we’re here.”
I was lost for words. In the midst of grief, this family had found something — a spark, a reconnection, a sense of belonging. What began as a farewell became the beginning of a new Jewish journey.
Moments like this remind me why I do what I do.
You never know which encounter, which story, which prayer might awaken something in someone’s soul.
And sometimes, the most powerful seeds of Jewish continuity are planted in moments of loss — growing into something beautiful, alive, and enduring.
#StoriesThatStayWithMe #JewishPride #Community #RabbiOnDemand
