The week was filled with glorious moments, from our Leaders of Labor celebration to my youngest grandson Hudson’s Bar Mitzvah! What joy!
I have learned in life to celebrate happy moments to the fullest and then keep them in my memory bank forever.
Terrace on the Park’s Penthouse, overlooking the spectacular NYC skyline, was the site of the Leaders of Labor celebration, our salute to the industry’s extraordinary leaders.
It never ceases to amaze me how grateful our honorees and their guests feel and share those feelings with me.
I call our events the “Ultimate Networking Events,” and they are exactly that every time. Meeting new people and reuniting with old friends is what the night is about.
From the joy of honorees walking, strutting and dancing down the red carpet, to the joy and surprise as they receive their recognition, the room rocked with pure, unadulterated happiness.
From that high, my whole family found our way to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to celebrate my grandson Hudson’s Bar Mitzvah. It was a three-day celebration beginning with a Friday night Shabbos service at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue.
We all checked into the Moxy Hotel, not far from the celebration venues.
It was the end of Sukkot, the Jewish holiday in which we are reminded of the old-age desire to know God. The Torah, the sacred scroll of the Jewish faith, is at the heart of the Jewish tradition. The same scroll has been handed down for thousands of years and is identical wherever in the world a Torah is read. It contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible and has valuable lessons.
Thirteen-year-old Hudson, as part of his Bar Mitzvah service, read from the Torah scroll, fulfilling the generational tradition. It’s a milestone in a Jewish child’s life in which he takes responsibility for his actions, heritage and faith.
Hudson’s parents Josh and Tracey participated in this sacred occasion and reminded us that the Bar Mitzvah is the beginning of Hudson’s lifelong engagement with his faith.
The powerful part of Hudson’s coming of age is a Mitzvah (good deed) project. I was bursting with pride at how he decided to present to his class of sixth and seventh graders, a courageous and compassionate program about antisemitism, a concern today more than ever!
On Saturday morning, we reassembled at the synagogue for the powerful Bar Mitzvah service, where Hudson stood tall and proud and read spectacularly and eloquently from the sacred Torah. Tears came to my eyes as I read my part of the service, where every seat in the sanctuary was filled with well-wishing family, friends and congregants.
The emotion of the day overwhelmed me with a combination of pride and awe at Hudson’s composure and excellence!
The next generation is in place to carry on the sacred tradition of our faith.
Hudson was surrounded at his afterparty at the Weylin in Williamsburg with an abundance of loving friends and family. We danced and jumped — the newest form of dancing — until the wee hours of the night.
The energy and overflowing joy in the room was contagious and the room literally rocked!
The theme of “Hudson News” surrounded us on screens throughout the venue and an enormous airplane hanging from the 3-story-high ceiling set the tone of the night.
The night was pure perfection with love reverberating all around us!
What a week it was!
