Last night was a special evening, celebrating as an Honoree of the Israel Bonds Medical and Dental Division. The cold, snowy, evening was brightened by the friends, relatives, and other supporters of Israel who attended. My co-awardees, Dr. Donald Hoffman and Dr. Lee Shulman, both spoke movingly and eloquently of their involvement and advocacy of Israel.

Following a lovely introduction from Barb, I delivered the following remarks:

Thank you Barb, and thank you to the friends and family who have gathered here this evening, and to the many more that could not attend but pledged to buy Israel Bonds. And thank you to Adam Grossman, the Herbstmanns, and the rest of their team for planning this wonderful evening and for honoring Lee, Don, and me. It is quite humbling to be part of such a distinguished trio. I hope to long remember this evening.

But memory is a tricky thing.  Neuroscientists can tell us what molecular transmitters are being invoked, and what areas of our brain will light up on a PET scan when we try to recall something from our past. Movies like “Memento”, “Inception” and “Arrival” twist the way we think about memories and time, asking if we can remember what has never happened, or even remember today what might happen tomorrow. We fear diseases that rob us of our memory and are saddened when those with whom we have shared memories pass away. With my parents and my sister Linda gone, no one will remember with me the many Sunday evenings waiting in line for kreplach soup at the Ashkenaz Restaurant on Morse Avenue in Chica

Memories may be fleeting, restricted to short term. Or they can be deeply embedded in our long term memory, staying with us throughout our lives. These memories influence our actions, our beliefs, and our behaviors. Although I was only a seven year old at the time, I share with many of you strong memories of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the events of that weekend in 1963. I remember Lyndon Johnson declaring in 1968 that he would not seek or accept another term as President. I remember Neil Armstrong and the first footsteps on the moon.  All Americans of a certain age remember those things, and have used them to forge their concepts of what this country is.

Yet I also remember things that are not part of the consciousness of all Americans. I remember sitting in my Hebrew school class at Congregation B’nai Zion in Rogers Park when the Six Day War raged. And I remember attending Holy Day services at the lovely North Shore Congregation Israel with a college friend, as news of the Yom Kippur War reached us. By the age of 17, I understood what it meant to have a Jewish homeland, and how tenuous the existence of that homeland could be.

I can’t claim that that understanding was the driving influence in the next phase of my life as I matured and married, becoming a family man. The memories from those days are from weddings, from births, from bar and bat mitzvahs. These were followed by graduations, and another round of weddings and impending ones. Yes, there were nights at JUF physicians dinners, and always contribution to the fund, but it was automatic giving, without real thought as to where the needs were greatest, what the money was to be used for.

Finally, eight years ago, Barb and I, accompanied by old and new friends, made the voyage to the State of Israel. We toured the country and we saw the cities and the historic relics. We kayaked down the Jordan River. We met some, though not enough, of the native people. It is remarkable how this blessed land of milk and honey has survived, despite the curse of being at the crossroads, and in the crosshairs, of so many civilizations and religions. Israelis have the resourcefulness and creativity that have made the country a leader in patent production and tech start-ups. Dr. Zarka will tell us of the advances in medicine, and in techniques for the preservation of life and limb, that have emerged from a nation that must always be in a state of defense.

Our children Michael and Laury, as well as their spouse and soon-to-be spouse Becca and Alex, preceded us in visiting Eretz Yisroel. So when Barb and I made it there we completed, in reverse, my favorite Hebrew phrase—l’dor vador—from generation to generation. And we pray this will go on for many generations to come.

Good enough reasons to support Israel and the Israel Bond project. But of course there is more that we must always remember As Barb mentioned in her introduction, the first time we met we were watching a local professor speak of holocaust denial; nothing less than an attempt to eliminate the existence of, and our memories about, six million Jews.  A few moments ago I spoke on the fragility and quirkiness of memory—because of the existence of Israel the holocaust is one memory we will never forget.

As we know, we cannot predict our changing national mood and behavior, making it all the more important that we, and the whole world, knows that Israel thrives. Israel Bonds is a great way to support the state of Israel while sharing that knowledge. I thank you all for this honor, for your attending tonight, and for making Israel Bonds an important and ongoing part of your portfolio.

It was a wonderful night, and if any blog readers are moved to purchase Israel Bonds, an interest paying investment that also makes a great gift, then drop me a line at les.raff@post.com. I will connect you with the proper people to make the sale. It will warm you up on the next cold Chicago winter night!

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