30 Weeks and Counting/ Sparkles of Hope

Dear Friends,

So many of you have been encouraging me to be more joyful in these blogs and to try to capture Sue's joy and the essence of her spirit.

You all know how much I miss her so let me share with you a number of things that have been resonating with me lately.  Perhaps it is the excitement of a game seven in the World Series, or perhaps it was the joyful way in which our neighbors and I exchanged jokes for candy last night during Halloween, or perhaps it was the encouragement of a colleague, or perhaps, it was the love of our children, grandchildren, and relatives and friends,, or perhaps it was the support of my friends and colleagues at George Mason, or perhaps it was a young person's comment last night when I asked them how one could tell it is a bad Dad joke and they responded, "because you told it" which had me speechless ( a rarity)...

At any rate here goes and please read this entire blog which is lengthy.  I hope you will be glad you did.  

First of all, a recollection from my last High Holiday sermon that I gave the fall before I retired from being a full time congregational rabbi.

Last night I had the first really pleasant dream about Sue and without giving out too much information, when I told her how nice she looked, she said "I love you so much" which reminded me of all the times she said that.  You know I didn't verbalize it, but apparently she felt it through my actions and that brief exchange in the middle of the  night in my dream reminded me that we truly had a wonderful life and that despite all the heartbreaks it truly was a wonderful world with her.


YouTube LouisArmstrongVEVO
Aug 20, 2020
As I have been reflecting on what I miss so much about Sue, the following came to mind and reminded me that although no relationship is perfect, ours reminded me of the following song which I hope inspires all of us to be hopeful.


Sue would have been very active in working on the upcoming election and her goal was to create a world where kindness would return.  

One of the final texts I received from Sue (as I think I have mentioned numerous times) was in response to my question about how she was doing in the ER as I drove over to meet her.  She said, " I am staying alive, staying alive, ooh ooh ooh, staying alive."

Who knew that this would be our last email conversation? 

So...in loving tribute and in honor of the hope for Camelot and to fulfill her ongong belief that it could once again be a wonderful world, please click on the following link to learn about an ongoing series in her honor and memory. Hopefully through a variety of programs with people who are working to bring people together and create reconciliation, we can create a world where we can keep hope for conversation and dialogue alive.  You are invited to attend and please register if you are able to join us.


There will be people from all perspectives who will be sharing their work of reconciliation.  We will not always agree with all the speakers but hopefully in Sue's honor, we will listen, we will dialogue, and we will change the world.

I am particularly grateful to the leadership of George Mason University, my colleagues in Religious Studies and the Honors College, and so many supportive people from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution for their love and support in helping us put this together.

Perhaps most meaningfully to Sue, would be the love that so many of my  students who hopefully are reading this blog, have provided me over the past six months.  This year's honors class has helped us find ways to make this program meaningful.  Sue and I talked about how important it is to make things into teaching moments and so my hope and prayer is that our program on Nov. 11 at 5pm in Fenwick A will begin a process of creating a better world.

Finally, as we read today's Torah portion, we learn that Abraham was called by G-d to go forth to a new land and be a blessing.  May all of us be inspired by the following words which are among my favorites, to go forth and make our lives a blessing.  What better way to pay tribute to Sue.  Perhaps it is time for all of us to step from behind our olive trees and keep our eyes upon a star.  Stars can sparkle, Sue's engagement ring continues to sparkle, and perhaps we can make our world sparkle again.

​YouTube · broadwaydream15
26.6K+ views · 12 years ago
The Olive Tree (Kismet) - Howard Keel. 26K views · 12 years ... And his acting of the lyric is flawless in this and all of the other songs.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Bruce Aft


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