Emily Raij

This past weekend, I had the honor of attending my friend’s synagogue gala honoring his service as their rabbi for 13 years–a rabbinic bar mitzvah! I have known this friend since high school, and another friend and I traveled to New York to join in celebrating. From the second we walked in the door of the synagogue for Shabbat services Friday night, we were greeted warmly. The congregation’s executive director even recommended a hotel and restaurants to make our visit that much more comfortable. We instantly felt welcome, and there is just something about singing familiar tunes and sharing in Shabbat that makes me feel at home, even at a synagogue I don’t regularly attend. It was a synagogue I don’t belong to but never felt like I didn’t belong at.

That feeling of warmth and welcoming filled the entire weekend. It felt like a celebration of not only my friend’s career milestone but of friendship. People kept saying how wonderful it is that our group of friends has kept in touch for decades. We have a group chat in which we share our Wordle, Connections, and Strands scores, we try to Zoom regularly, and between vacations, family visits, and other celebrations (like our children’s bar and bat mitzvahs), we have managed to see each other in person almost every year. I truly cherish these friendships and am proud to have maintained them.