Shavua Tov
As we begin the week of Thanksgiving, my heart is filled with profound gratitude for this remarkable community and for the sacred work we share. This season invites us to pause, take stock, and renew our awareness of the blessings that sustain us. Here at the Tucson J, those blessings are abundant.
I am grateful for the extraordinary work of our J for the ways we bring people together across generations, backgrounds, and stories. Each day, our campus hums with learning, movement, creativity, compassion, and the unmistakable feeling that we are building something larger than ourselves: a vibrant, resilient, joyful Jewish community.
I am deeply grateful to our Board of Directors whose leadership, partnership, and wise counsel guide us toward our highest aspirations. Your commitment ensures that our mission is not only upheld but strengthened. Your dedication is a source of inspiration for all of us.
I am grateful to our unbelievable Team the heart and hands of our J. You bring passion, talent, professionalism, and love to everything you do. Whether teaching a child to swim, supporting an older adult, coaching a team, guiding a conversation, or welcoming a new member, you remind us that community is not an idea; it is an action. You embody that action every day.
I am grateful for our community partners, our agencies, synagogues, and organizations across Tucson. Together, we weave the fabric of Jewish life in this city. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l taught that “Community is the place where we make blessings real for one another.” Your partnership turns that teaching into lived reality.
Our tradition captures this spirit beautifully. The Psalmist writes:
“Hodu l’Adonai ki tov, ki l’olam chasdo Give thanks to God, for God is good; God’s lovingkindness endures forever.” (Psalm 136)
Rabbi Sacks z”l often reminded us that gratitude is not merely a feeling it is a spiritual discipline, a way of seeing the world. Gratitude trains the heart to notice the good, to lift others, and to affirm the blessings that come from being part of a people bound by memory, responsibility, and hope.
As we enter this week of Thanksgiving, I am profoundly grateful and deeply honored to serve as the CEO of this remarkable JCC. You, our donors, leaders, board members, staff, volunteers, partners, and friends make this work meaningful. Thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility and for allowing me to walk alongside you in building a community where everyone belongs. I share the blessing of Modeh Ani, it expresses the most essential Jewish gratitude: Waking up, being sustained, and being given another day.
I am pleased to share with you What a wonderful world by the incomparable Louis Armstrong. Its lyrics capture the essence of gratitude for the everyday wonders that make life meaningful.
May this Thanksgiving bring you moments of rest, reflection, and connection. And may gratitude continue to guide us as we build a future worthy of the generations yet to come.
Cochenu b’Achduteynu | כחינו באחדותינו | Our strength is in our unity.
Am Yisrael Chai | עם ישראל חי
Bring them Home Now I מחזירים אותם הביתה עכשיו
Todd Rockoff
President + CEO, Tucson J
