Newark Mayor Cory Booker Keynote Speaker SCHI Dinner Lakewood

ladies and gentlemen John [Music] [Applause] Crowley thank you everybody and good evening it is wonderful to be back with the shy community and the Lakewood Community it was a real treat for me two years ago to be given your man of the year award and to be able to deliver the keyote to addess when to go back to my kids to John Megan and Patrick with that beautiful statue and talk about what the evening meant to me in our relationship with the school I have a great privilege and honor this evening to introduce a great friend of mine the mayor of nework New Jersey Cory [Applause] Booker Cory is a remarkable man based on his resume and accomplishments in life alone a graduated Stanford University with a masters from Stanford a road scholar a football player at Stanford although as a Notre Dame graduate I will not hold that against him a law graduate from Yale law school who went on to choose a career in public service in 1998 being elected to the city council of new in 2002 standing up to the establishment and to the machine in newer and running for mayor of and losing and before he wasn't deterred and came back again in 2006 and was elected mayor reelected in 2016 that alone withington being here being a special guest of this community but I can tell you knowing Cory for many years there's much more to it and something that makes him even more remarkable in all of our eyes and that's his is dedication dedication now to the people of Newark and dedication to the people who don't have a voice and why I think and why I think it's so appropriate and so fitting that he is being recognized here this year and we have the honor really of having Cory speak to us because when you think of what shy means to all of us standing up for the weakest and the most vble in society those without a voice those who need help and that's what my friend Cory is dedicated his life to please join me in welcoming my friend Cory B thank you very much thank you very much I am I am grateful to be here I want to First and foremost uh thank John for that incredible introduction um I I've had the chance and the privilege of knowing John now for numerous years and while he's an eloquent speaker his true eloquence is seen through his actions his goodness and his kindness every single day now I I have to give uh some recognition to the other mayor in the room uh I know there might be a few Mayors here Meir but um I what this mayor I'd like to give a tribute to is my fellow brother mayor we you missed our secret handshake whenever mayor's me around America we have a secret handshake but Lakewood is very very very lucky to have such a dedicated focused energetic young man at the helm of this great City and I want to thank Mayan right now and I know it's not a good emotion but now I'm jealous CU I never get this kind of Round of Applause in my own City for my own they never po so look I know I know some of you might not have been expecting this but my role tonight is not to give a keynote address my role tonight is to give a thear tour you see uh it's been about 20 years uh since I've been doing regular tour study with a very muga Rabbi um that some of you may have heard of I heard I thought he was supposed to be here tonight but I think he's he's running on schie time uh but Rabbi schie B I met when I was kner and I I stumbled into a meeting with him uh at a Kad house in Oxford and a friend of mine told me to meet them at the uh and I I'm sorry that I can't pronounce the word at the time I looked at the word and I said the word was L chain they said me be at the L chain society and I I quickly found this place in L chain society that really um was weird to me and I I knocked on the door nobody answered and I walked into the door and it was a room that looked similar to this many people had black hats on and beards and everybody stopped and looked at me and I thought everybody in the room I thought they were wondering what's this large black man doing here and I was wondering to myself as soon as I walked in the room what's this large black man doing here but the wonderful thing about the spirit of Judaism the the beautiful thing about the spirit of Judaism is it is a spirit that exalts the highest callings of humanity that you should reach out to strangers that you should embrace them that you should welcome them at the table in fact if you know the song sung in the high holidays I mentioned this earlier he me May my house be a house of prayer for Many Nations this is the Jewish [Applause] spirit and so entering into this Kad house with a muga rabbi named Shi M we agreed that day that we would start studying each other's culture and from that day 20 years ago I've been reading and studying Torah so tonight I really want to make two points first I'd like to make a point about Rob is this [Applause] yeah but as much as I would like to give him my love and affection I really want to talk about the name of his son [Applause] elzar when I went to Yale University I I met another Rabbi named schy he and the two of us when we met there I met him on his 21st birthday we agreed that we would start a Jewish Society at y in the highest of Jewish Traditions that Society started with five guys around a Shabbat table now we have property about a half of the city block we own a building at Yale we have a a society and and the name of the society that we have in Yale the name of this this club this this wonderful organization is thriving at Yale University right now the name that we chose of this Society is the elezar society now why we chose it is very clear elezar was asked to find a wife for Jacob elzar went to the well and saw and saw at the well a woman serving water and when the woman not only offered him water but offered water to his animals and showed such profound kindness this is when elzar knew that this child this woman was the right wife to choose to me it goes to this core concept this core idea that is critical to all of humanity I love the word in Judaism this idea of good of you see it's this Spirit of goodness where Abraham was sitting wounded or having to circumcise himself gets up and sees three strangers approaching and runs to them as a says to greet them that's it's when Joseph is in a jail cell himself suffering and seeing two other people who are also suffering he extends kindness and offers how can I help you and he interprets their dreams it's this idea of of goodness of kindness is what the very name elezar stands for and to [Applause] me and to me that that is the beauty of elezar Rabbi I's son this young man his birth he is the spark that started this incredible school we celebrate today it is [Applause] appropriate it is so appropriate that his name is elazar because I am a big believer that one act of kindness one act of goodness one spark of light and hope can lead to a revolution of change and indeed is it not that one child and the vision and determination of Rabbi Iceland that has led to goodness and kindness spreading to so many hundreds of children and their families having the opportunity to take part in this incredible school this to me is worthy of Celebration not just Within one Community but in our entire State indeed an entire nation but I said two things that I want to say and the second is really about this week's tour of portion I'm sorry if I'm out rabing any rabbis here I apologize I'm just I'm just a black ey but I really want to talk about this paral read do you not know the par read Rabbi do you not know true true mom not know this week's partial reading is is one I really love and I'll never forget the first time I studied it because it has some strange words in Hebrew in there's a Commandment that God gives in the desert he says to build a tabernacle to build a holy place he says build this Tabernacle build this holy place and I shall reside in them not reside in it but reside in them to me this was a curious thing for some boy from New Jersey to read in New York in England and I couldn't understand why it says God will says I will reside in them well to me this is the idea this is the calling that we celebrate here you see this this Temple this Tabernacle that God commands us to build we cannot think of it simply as a physical place but we also must think it as the heart and the spirit of God himself within each individual that we must build within ourselves a Sacred Space for the SP spirit of God to reside in all of the noise and the distraction of the secular World in which we live we must build that Sacred Space with all of the filth on TV and the internet we must build that Sacred Space [Applause] all with all of the distraction of the modern world which want seek to pull us away from a focus on higher things we must build within ourselves that Sacred Space but what space is more sacred what space is more important in all of humanity than the hearts and the spirit and the purity of our children now more than ever God call upon us to protect our children so that his Spirit May reside within them to insulate our children from this world that often can be so degrading and so pornographic to insulate within our kids to build the Tabernacle so that God May reside in them you see this to me is what is so special about this school is it recognizes with the each child not just hidden intelligence but the spark and the light of God does it not say in the cor is it not a Jewish ideal that with the birth of every child the hope of the world is renewed not just some children but the birth of every child this to me is why today I feel so honored to stand with you right now because I know for my own life experience that there is no grow away children that every child is special every child has strength every child has dignity every child has Beauty every child is God and that we are called by God to honor that spark of light and Life to honor that to honor that every child my father was born in the Deep South to a mother that could not take care of him he would have been lost to this world the cruelty of the streets but it was people in a segregated town in the mountains of North Carolina in a community that said that is a Sacred Space we shall build for that child we shall build for that child a tabernacle of hope my father was taken in by the community a family that put food on his table and a roof over his head and every step of his journey every step of his journey it was the community that was there he didn't think about college or or going on to graduate school but the community said you must my father to this day I'll never forget 2 years ago as we were going around a table of Thanksgiving and he said what he was thankful for I will never forget that he started crying and say say to me son I can't remember the names of the people in that Community who put dollar bills together so that I could afford my first semester tuition at college and I'll tell you this that's what this room represents to me in this room here is a conspir iracy of love in this room here are the same Spirit of the people that were there from my dollars the the the generosity that is in this room the Seda the kindness the generosity this is evident the truth we know what it says in the Psalms if you raise a child in the way that he should go in the path that he should go will not depart from it we see here today in this school that we are honoring that Spirit from the song that we are honoring the spirit of the Torah that we are honoring that strength and so I want to give you with my deepest appreciation I want to celebrate this community for answering the call of our ancestors whether it's a town in the mountain of North Carolina or for honoring the traditions of the Jewish people I want to thank the people in this community for understanding that Judaism is not just about Jews it is being as Isaiah said a light unto other [Music] nations as John was saying to be a this table as the governor of the state of New Jersey came to this school in a humble way this school is becoming an example not within the Jewish Community but within the entire state of New Jersey about how we should care for and Empower all children this school is a model this school is a symol this school is indeed Isaiah's life unto Nations about how we must care for children [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and so I stand proudly now understanding that this is the call of Judaism as a whole not an insular Faith this is a call of Judaism not a faith about just Jews this is the call of Judaism to do what is so critically needed in this broken world we live in to ton along to heal the world and so as I stand before you today with a heart of gratitude I want to challenge you here I don't want to end with just niceties and let you all know that you've given this boy from nework a lot of nothing as you have given me PR I want to challenge you now you see the continuous of this this school the growth of this school the development and growth of a camp for children to give parents 6 weeks of repri to give children a lifetime of memories this growth of this school and this Camp must continue I challenge you tonight I challenge you tonight to understand that we live in an imperfect world we live in a world that is broken there are too many families facing uphill battles there are too many families shaking with fear and worry that there is work to do you see God calls upon us to stand up in the face of Injustice and pain and hurt and Brokenness and to stand up and say that I will be a cure to that this is the calling of the Jewish people I'll never forget my Torah study with Rabbi boa when he told me something that I couldn't understand what crazy faith is this in Judaism where Moses himself would stand up and yell at God when he threatened to do something that he thought was injust and Moses says if you destroy those people that erase me from your book this is the call of judis it's a calling that says even more important than the Torah is ethical action and the ethical action needed today is that the school like this must grow in strength a school like this must grow in Impact a school like this must grow with its light shining ever brighter as a Beacon of Hope and promise to all those who are worry to all those who are in fear and to all those who are in need I believe that 10 years hence from now I will be if I'm so privileged to be invited back that the work that you all do by continuing to grow this school by continuing to show others a path and a way by continuing to ensure that this kind of education is available to more and more families it is my belief that you all will create a more just world where righteousness does roll down like water and Justice like a mighty stream and in the pursuit of that dream in the pursuit of that Vision with a body of work that you've already done with a goodness and kindness with the and the S with the values that are you are living I simply want to end by saying to everyone here as a boy from nework wood yha Cola thank you very much [Music] [Applause] w