עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב, וּקְנֵה לְךָ חָבֵר Aseh lecha rav, u’knei l’cha chaver Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend. (Pirkei Avot 1:6)
Almost three years ago, on the Shabbat of erev Tisha B’Av, Danny Kraft, who had recently just moved to Memphis with his then-fiance Brittany Usiak, came to shul. At kiddush after shul they received the classic “Beth Sholom Welcome.” That night, for our Tisha B’Av program and reading of Eicha, Danny returned to the shul. I remember thinking that he seemed like someone who would be a great asset to synagogue life.
That was an understatement. Though we were in a bind at the time without an Education Director, Danny Kraft became far more than a band-aid. In an extremely short period of time, Danny became an integral component of our youth and adult education program, and on the eve of his departure from our shul and from Memphis, I want to share just a few ways that Danny affected our synagogue as our Director of Education and Youth Engagement.
Danny significantly expanded and professionalized our religious school and Shabbat offerings. At the same that Danny arrived, our shul was experiencing exciting growth, and he was able to expand the way our religious functioned. He ensured our teachers were prepared, created a teacher’s manual, and created expectations for our program that allowed it to flourish. Danny ensured that we had a Tot Shabbat program every Shabbat, which we will be continuing. And most especially during the last many months of the pandemic, Danny ensured that religious school classes still ran, that our students had the option of one-on-one Hebrew tutoring, and that our teen educational program still gathered once a week on Zoom. To those of you without children in our education program, these accomplishments might have gone unnoticed, but they have been crucial to our success as a shul in the last few years.
Danny helped our students develop a real, personal connection to prayer. I was especially impressed with the way that Danny led our junior congregation, our weekly service that brought together Bornblum students with those in our religious school. He not only taught our students the mechanics of prayer, but he modeled for them and helped them cultivate their own understandings of God and how to connect to the Divine through prayer. He brought Torah to life for them and demonstrated that they are entitled to an ongoing, meaningful relationship with the sacred texts of our tradition.
Throughout all of this, Danny treated our students as human beings with souls who are capable of serious learning and spiritual enhancement. Our students in relationship with Danny knew that they mattered and he always took their thoughts seriously. Danny was their teacher and in that relationship, they found a friend. And so did I. Danny has been a wonderful colleague to me and Geo, a thought-partner, a collaborator in any project. Our shul is better because of Danny’s commitment, efforts, and employment these past three years, and I know that the impact he’s made on our students and families is long-lasting.
Danny, thank you for everything you’ve done for all shul and all the ways you’ve helped us grow. We’ll miss you.
I hope you’ll join me in expressing your well-wishes to Danny, who can be reached for the next few days at Danny@BSholom.org.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
Please click here to join our Shabbat morning service, live-streamed from our sanctuary at 9:15AM on Shabbat morning as we celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Elijah Schaffzin. We are at full capacity in the sanctuary and hope that you'll join in their simcha online.
