“One thing I asked of Hashem, that shall I seek: That I dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life; to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to contemplate in His Sanctuary.” (Psalms 27)

It was in 1998 that my dear friend Anita (Hana Olivensky), may HaKadosh Baruch-Hu bless her eternally, first brought me to Adat Yeshurun, to an amazing Perkei Avot class taught by Rabbi Wohlgelernter, whose theme was Mishna 1:4, Yose ben Yoezer, “Let your house be a meeting place for Sages” and 1:5, Yose ben Yochanan, “Let your house be open wide”. B”H I have been here ever since, dwelling in this blessed House of Hashem that is Adat Yeshurun, contemplating in His Sanctuary the holy words of our Sages through the Torah of our Rabbi and our Rebbetzen and all our visiting Rabbonim and Rebbetzens, and beholding His sweetness in our precious kindele and in the beautiful faces and even more beautiful actions of our members!

My parents, Guadalupe Lopez Carrasco and Serapio Rivas Mendez (may his neshama be elevated), immigrants from Chihuahua in northern Mexico, raised a large family in a small rural town in Texas near the Rio Grande, and even though we were poor by U.S. standards, our home was always open to taking in people from their home towns who needed shelter or strangers who came hungry knocking at our door. From a very young age we were taught to share, no matter how little we had, to be kind and charitable and to show hospitality to all people.

It is in their honor, and in my grandparents’ memory, Inocenta Lopez and Jose Antonio Carrasco, and Juliana Rivas and Francisco Mendez, and with great appreciation to Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlgelernter and Congregation Adat Yeshurun, that I gladly join the Adat Chai Legacy Circle. May the spiritual benefits of this legacy also accrue to my children, Ramon and Laura Xochitl, and to my grandchildren and my descendants be’ezrat Hashem.

With love and appreciation,