Florence's Final Address to the Directors

The following are remarks written by Florence Melton, delivered by her son, Gordon Zacks during the February 4, 2007 event honoring 9 Mini-School directors who have served for 10 or more years, and Florence Melton’s 95th birthday.

I can never express in words how proud and grateful I am of our site directors who have honored us for ten years or more with their talent, passion and dedication. You hold the keys to the door that leads to a room with many windows that open to the wonders and beauty of Torah and Judaism.

The interacting ideas from text to teacher to learner to teacher enrich the lives of our learners and affects lives beyond our immediate circle. This well conceived, well planned and well organized drama that is the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School could not have been produced without the committed and creative leadership of Yonatan Mirvis, Betsy Katz, the staff, the site directors, faculty, the curriculum writers, the Hebrew University, the board of directors all working together for many years.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for creating a new sense of wonder and excitement about adult Jewish learning. We have done it together - no one can do it alone. Last of all to the learners, I am grateful for the impact they will have in connecting to our people, to our heritage, history, tradition, values and to Israel and to God.

There is no doubt that God has created this moment in time for all the wonderful people who have prayed for me and sent me their love. I think that the words that I have used many times are fitting for this moment - "If I have touched your life my friend remember that you have touched mine. If together we have changed this world a bit - we've all been touched by the divine". Let the miracle continue. Thank you and God bless you all.

L'chaim

Florence Melton

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