Welcome Home JFX!

Welcome Home JFX! Our friend Moe Mernick tells of the time that he was flown in to be a guest speaker at a Shabbaton for a congregation in Calgary, Canada. His topic was how everything happens for a reason, and that even setbacks are in reality part of G-d’s master plan. He chose a sweet story to share with the audience about his family doctor from Toronto who was initially rejected from medical school, and how that turned out to be the best thing for him in the end. Unbeknownst to Moe, his doctor's wife had grown up in that very synagogue in Calgary! And as he was telling the story, in this synagogue, the doctor’s father-in-law was there in the audience! He took tremendous pleasure in hearing this personal story about his very own son-in-law. During our JFX Tisha B'av services on Sunday, I mentioned the story of the Jewish king Yehoash whose father, Amon, was a wicked, idolatrous king who allowed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem to fall into disrepair. Amon, was assassinated by his own palace guards, leaving Yehoash, the child, to inherit his father's throne. Eventually Yehoash began a campaign to refurbish the Holy Temple, and he made an incredible discovery: He found an ancient Torah scroll that was bookmarked at the portion of G-d's rebuke and admonition for trespassing the ways of the Torah. The young king intuitively felt that this was no coincidence, and that G-d was sending him a message to repent. Thus he began a remarkable spiritual renaissance campaign, nearly preventing the destruction of the Holy Temple. What is incredible about this story is that the young Yehoash saw the message of the scroll, and didn't dismiss it as a fluke, which would have made his life a whole lot easier. Instead he recognized the divine Hand of G-d, and courageously acted upon the message. Enter our new JFX building. The Talmud teaches us that the concept of beshert, "meant to be," applies not only to one's spouse, but even other things like one's house. They are also part of G-d's predetermined divine providence. G-d orchestrates and determines where and with whom we will spend our future lives well before the actual connections are made. I could literally write a small book with stories of how our new JFX building came to be a reality for us. With each step of the process, it felt like this was meant to be. From the people who didn't listen to the naysayers, and stepped in to support the purchase, to the people who assisted us with all of the details, our gratitude is huge and the divine presence was truly remarkable, from A-Z. Two weeks ago I spoke to Dave, the facilities manager from John Carroll University. He told me something incredible: When the college originally purchased the building in 2008, they planned on bulldozing the building and turning the entire 5.7 acres into one huge parking lot. Every time he wanted to make an update to the building, he was shot down by the administration and told that it doesn't pay to put money into the building because within 6 months they will bulldoze the building. For some reason, he has no idea why, every time they were going to bulldoze, it never went through for some reason or another. Then Covid came, and the college lost a lot of money due to decreased enrollment and they needed to sell the building quickly. At just the opportune time a developer put a bid on the building and we were given 4 days to match their offer or be left out in the dark. The urgency of this situation mobilized us to take action and pushed us to make the leap and put in a counter bid. We literally did not have the luxury to rationally think about it. Had we done that, I don't think we really would have made this decision, which we now see and feel in retrospect was definitely the right move for us and for our community. I now believe that when the building was purchased and the cornerstone was installed, well before most of us were born, God was already paving the way for us and preparing the building as the future home for Torah, prayer and personal growth for our community. Our mystical tradition teaches us that all synagogues operate as divine embassies of the Holy Land, and in the future, when the Messiah comes, they will all be transported to the land of Israel as part of the redemption process. This has clearly been in the works for a while! Next year in Jerusalem in our new JFX home! Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Koval