....the next chapter....

Adam....I am so grateful to Hashem that I was afforded the privilege of returning to Philadelphia to witness your graduation from the Barrack Hebrew Academy.

That my visit home was for but the evening....as my doctor's instructed me to return to New York City the following morning....this only served to magnify the pride and pleasure I experienced in having had the z'chus to have been present.

This chapter of your life has now moved firmly into memory....and what a chapter it has been.

What a foundation you have built for yourself Adam.

And now you are off B'H to Yeshivot Eretz HaTsvi and then back to the Wharton Business School....Amazing!!

We have often discussed the goal of creating a true harmony and balance in our lives....and your actions show that you are constantly striving to do just that.

Adam....Friday night I had the privilege of sharing Shabbos dinner with a small group of young Israeli soldiers who had been brutally wounded in terrorist incidents in Gaza, Nablus, and the second Lebanon campaign.

These young men....all only five or eight years older than yourself are transitioning into new chapters in their lives as well.

As I listened while some spoke of the details which caused their injuries I was overwhelmed and truly moved to tears by their deep humilty, their sweetness, their gratitude....their very happiness.

Amazing to me that not one....not one...would have changed anything should they have been able to rewrite the events that brought them to where they are today.

It then dawned on me that your graduating class and this brigade of young men shared something of the utmost importance at the core.

Unity!!

The unseen bond that you and your friends share....built on the foundation of G-d, Torah and a love of Israel is your strength. This is the glue that bound those young soldiers....and this is what you have in common with your Barrack friends.

This is what was absent in this week's Parsha where we saw Korach and his coconspirators....allow their egos and jealousies lead to a dissunification amongst the Jews and to their ultimate destruction.

Always remember your essence....Always remember what is at your core.

Hashem....His holy Torah....Israel.

As the journey of your life continues....always work in an effort to unify that which comes from heaven with the physical world and avoid participating in anything that might cause a rupture in this harmony. In this way....by always searching for Hashem's light ....your world will be illuminated....and any and all darkness will be overcome.

Continue to learn this well my most precious son....

I love you so.
papa