The year is 2009. Lucy and I joined our daughter’s family for Simchat Torah at Congregation Beth Israel of West Hartford, CT. It was a beautiful celebration, full of genuine warmth. Rabbi Stephen Fuchs led the ceremony, and I walked around with my camera capturing as much of it as I could. I took a lot of photographs that day. One picture I kept coming back to became my favorite, and I printed several copies, among them one for Rabbi Fuchs and another for the Temple. Then life moved on, and for some reason I never published the images or even looked at them again.
Not long ago, I received a very kind message from Rabbi Fuchs telling me how much he and his wife still treasure that photograph. Hearing that encouraged me to revisit those old files. So I dusted off the archive and decided it was time to finally share the joy of that day.
Here are a few images from the 2009 celebration.
Here it is, the photo that became my favorite: