Graduation Speech by Charly Jaffe, Class of 2008 There are, in essence, three types of children. There are those who color within the lines, those who color outside the lines, and then there are those who, after taking one glance at the lines handed to them, throw them aside, put their hands on their hips, and stubbornly announce I m drawing my own lines! This third child, with spunk, originality, and the initiative to forge it s own path, captures the very essence of SDJA s class of 2008. The teen years are without a doubt one of the most, interesting, in a persons life. The ridiculous drama, searching for ones identity, not to mention the out of control hormones; just reflecting on my own teenage angst makes me more than a little nervous to raise one of my own someday. But to take up a career where the angst never ends, to devote oneself solely to the age group of temporary insanity? I couldn t be paid enough to take THAT on. Still, our teachers were there for us during this turbulent period of life, going way above
and beyond what could ever be expected of them. Never failing to meet with a student who asks for help, our staff works far beyond the classroom in order to help us succeed. When they notice we are looking upset or down, they reach out to us to make sure we are ok, and when you don t want to be bothered, they are the ones that risk rolling eyes and verbal attacks to let you know that they care and are always there to listen. You have served us not only as teachers, but as mentors, and have been there for us in both our academic and personal lives. Often times, you have literally served as our shoulder to cry on. So on behalf of the senior class, I want to say thank you. You have not gone unnoticed, and our accomplishments thus far, as well as the ones ahead, all pay tribute to the amazing guidance you have given us. Our journey through high school was certainly a unique one. But it is the ending that holds the greatest effect on me. Many people see our senior trip as an alternative to senioritis, but in all honesty, I feel as though we grew more as class in those five weeks, than in all of high school. Traveling through the death camps and destruction hidden behind Poland s beautiful exterior was an incredibly difficult experience. As we neared the end of our time at Birkenau, our counselor, Rueben, read us an excerpt from The Last of the Just, about a man Ernie and his girlfriend Golda, who accompanied children from an orphanage to Auschwitz. As we neared the end of the story and the two lovers ushered the children into the gas chambers, I saw the tears begin to pour from all around me. Ernie managed to spit up the needle of fire stabbing at his throat as the woman s body slumped against him he shouted against the unconscious Golda s ear, In a little while, I swear it! With dying arms he embraced
Golda s body in an already unconscious gesture of loving protection, and they were found that way a half hour later. I went over to embrace one of my friends in tears, and after a moment I looked up to find my best friends embracing and exchanging hand squeezes in order to communicate the I love you s we couldn t verbalize. Then, a mound of blonde hair slowly lifted itself from the pack. Somehow through the sea of tears streaming down her face, Alex managed to speak between sobs. If I was on my dying breath, she whispered as loud as she could, I would call out to you. This was no ordinary school trip, before you stands no ordinary class, and we hold no ordinary friendships. Traveling through the death camps and destroyed communities challenged us to the very core of our beings. But amidst all of this destruction, I found true beauty. I found love and support coming from best friends and mere acquaintances. I found a group of teenagers honoring the past by embracing the present. It wasn t an easy week, but this first week of our journey brought us all closer together. As we traveled through Israel, our class went from a close-knit grade divided by our groups, to a genuine family. I had a hard time finding the words to describe our class of 08 family, but as we sat together on our last Shabbat, I finally understood. When we sit together as a group, there is a sense of ease; we click effortlessly, fitting comfortably together like a giant puzzle with all the right pieces. You can separate us into groups, and we have beautiful friendships, but it isn t the same, it lacks that all encompassing feeling of togetherness hovering about us when we are all huddled around a guitar for an impromptu concert, or sitting around in a circle on Shabbat. Something is missing. We have grown to be one big functionally dysfunctional family, and it is bittersweet to have found our
perfect rhythm so late in the game. But it has made me realize that leaving all of you, and the beautiful relationship we have developed is going to be much harder than I thought. But before we end this era in our lives, I want to give something back to you, my fellow graduates of 2008. On my 18 th birthday Liz, one of those amazing family members you get to choose, gave me the most precious gift I have ever received: Oh, the Places You ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. It talks not only about the huge successes we will find, but the huge failures as well, reminding us of the choices we will have to face, and the time we will spend alone. In her family it is a tradition to give this book to family members on major, life changing occasions. Although I don t have copies to hand out, I want to pass this book on to you metaphorically, because you, SDJA s class of 2008, are my family. Pretty soon, we will be moving out and managing on our own, seeing both our chosen and given families only on summers and holidays. This is, without a doubt, the biggest transition we have ever faced. So now, as we take this huge leap in our lives, I implore of you to continue creating your own coloring books and keep Dr. Seuss s lessons in mind. I have no doubt you will move mountains. We will all thrive and succeed. We will all struggle and fail. But it is through this struggle, this failure, that success becomes so sweet. I am ecstatic for our futures ahead, yet simultaneously sorry to say goodbye. But, now that the time has come, I figure there is no better way to bid you adieu, than with the immortal words of the man who devoted his entire life to creating the pictures and pages of his own colorful books. May you continue to create images as original and vivid as Dr. Seuss s himself. So be your name Busbaum or Bisby or Bray or Mordecai Ali
Van Allen O Shea, you re off to Great Places! Today is your Day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!