Robert Bogen's Speech

MJBHA 2011 Graduation Speech:

Navigating Uncharted Waters by Robert Bogen

Let me start by saying how honored I am to be speaking here tonight at this auspicious occasion. My relationship with the graduating class of 2011 goes back three years to when I first arrived in this country. Now it is my turn to welcome you into the New World; the big wide world that awaits you as you turn your tassels and leave the supportive and familiar environment of the MJBHA. It would seem that our destinies are intertwined as the time has come also for me and my family to continue our journey and embark on the next stage of our life in Israel. Indeed, life can be seen as one long journey; and so I have jotted down a few compass points that I hope will help us all navigate safely through the uncharted waters of the future.

North to the freedom trail

Now some of you may have noticed that I have a slightly foreign accent. In truth it is ruse, a crude cover. Like many of the people sitting here tonight I am a third generation covert Polish refugee. I conceal it well, but underneath this tea drinking, misspelling, Union Jack waving, Royalist exterior is a borscht slurping, kugel craving, Yiddish speaking displaced Pole. We should never forget our roots. Not that coming from a tiny mud ridden village half way between Krakow and Warsaw is anything to write home about; yet so many of our relatives left these places to escape political and social oppression. Never take for granted the rights and privileges granted to us as citizens of a democratic country. Vote in every election, read the newspaper, exercise your right to peaceably assemble, petition the government if you so wish but never forget just how blessed we are to have these rights and privileges.   

With freedom and rights also come responsibilities; responsibilities to family and friends; to our community and the community at large; to our country of residence; to our nation; our religion and God. Do not allow anyone to deny you your rights, do not stand idly by while another human being is being denied his rights and at the same time do not forget your responsibilities.

South to Mount Sinai

We have a beautiful and rich cultural heritage. From this day on it is our joint responsibility to ensure its continuity. 

Moshe’s parting words to the Jewish people, on their graduation day, as they are about to leave the relative safety and security of the desert and enter a new phase of their national journey in the Promised Land, provides an enlightening description of the religious experience which is Judaism:

"וְלֹא-נָתַן ה' לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת, וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ, עַד, הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה" (דברים כ"ט:ג)

 The very definition of seeing, hearing and feeling is directly related to the events that you experience in your journey through time and space. The Torah encourages us not just to learn about Judaism, but to feel with it, to see through its lenses, to taste by it and live it.   Judaism is not a spectator sport – get on court and play! 

The path to happiness

In the search for the path to happiness don’t forget to appreciate what you already have. Rarely is true happiness to be found in objects. Spend time with your family. Invest in friendship. Indulge yourself in the company of others. Splash out on social capital. There is nothing that warms the human soul as an honest chat, heart to heart, with a good friend.  

East to School

There is a tendency for students to feel that they will never again use the knowledge they had to learn in school once they have completed their final exams. The Talmud teaches us that when we are in our maternal womb we are busy learning Torah; only to have all memory of our learning removed at the moment of birth by the touch of an angel. Today you will leave the comfort and security of the nurturing womb for a second time. This school has facilitated your emotional, intellectual and religious growth for one of the longest gestation periods in the animal kingdom. The final stages of labor are almost complete and for your parents sitting here today there has been no option of an epidural. Please do not misunderstand me; I do not mean to suggest that this time, like the first time you should forget all that you have learned in this wonderful establishment! Rather, I believe that what the Talmud is hinting at is that the outside world requires a different form of learning, not so much academic theory as personal growth through application of what you have learned, by using the paths you have paved in school and further developing positive traits and sound habits.

In the words of Eton Master William Cory:

“…you go to a great school not so much for knowledge as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression…for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the art of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, discrimination, for mental courage… and above all for self knowledge.”

To put it in simpler terms there is a lot more to schooling than learning information. The skills that you have learned and refined in this school whether academic, Jewish or social will stand you in good stead for the next stage of your journey.

West to the Galapagos Islands

In 1859 Charles Darwin changed the world by publishing an idea that had come to him many years previously while on a long sea voyage. The idea would later be known as the theory of natural selection. In The Origin he states that: 

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals.”

When I hear those words I am reminded of a pivotal moment in the relationship between David and Shaul as relayed in שמואל א:פרק כ"ו . Shaul hunting for David, his nemesis, makes camp and falls asleep. David and Avishai sneak into the camp. They see Shaul fast asleep and unprotected. Avishai encourages David to seize the moment – and kill Shaul; thus putting an end to all his problems and at the same time would allow David to claim the throne. But David would not do it, David would not harm Shaul. Though with one swish of the knife he could have propelled his career onto the next level, he prudently chose not to.

When you approach such a junction in life; faced with different options be careful which path you choose. Though we do live in a dog eat dog world, and resources are limited and competition intense; make a conscious effort in your struggle for success to stop at the junction; look carefully left and right and only proceed when it is safe to do so. 

In short:

Appreciate what you have.

Invest in friends and family.

Live your Jewish life with all your five senses.

Trust your schooling,

and above all…

Don’t do anything to hurt yourself or any other human being.

Finally, on a more personal note: to each and every one of you, whether you will be in Israel over the next academic year or not, on behalf of Judy and myself - consider our home to be your home - and please God we will share many more good times together.