By Gary Curreri

Former Highlands Christian Academy basketball coach and athletic director Reg Cook first staged a summer basketball camp at the school 30 years ago.

It was attended by 19 athletes and not only is it still ongoing, but it is still going strong. The two weeks brought in 60 campers in the first week (7th-12th graders) and 50 in the second week (2nd-6th grade).

“It was one of our most successful camps in the past 10 years,” said current Highlands Academy basketball coach and athletic director Jim Good. “We had a great group of coaches who provided energy, enthusiasm and quality instruction.”

The high school student/ athletes attended the first week of camp and then acted as assistant coaches for the second week of camp with the elementary school campers and earned community service hours.

There were also two guest speakers – Andrew Smith, a 2011 HCA alum, and Casey Wohleb, who is the head coach at North Broward Prep and also the founder of Ball by Design.

Smith attended both the elementary and high school camp sessions while he attended Highlands Christian, and recently graduated from Liberty University (Big South) where he played for the past years.

Smith is currently in China playing with an All-Star team and will then be traveling to Europe in July to pursue playing professionally in Latvia.

“Andrew’s a great role model for our athletes and did a great job explaining the importance of hard work and sacrifice while trying to achieve your goals,” Good said. “Andrew uses basketball as his platform to proclaim the name of Christ.”

Good was also impressed with Wohleb, who played locally at Westminster Academy where he helped the team win a state title in 2002 as a junior and then transferred to North Broward Prep for his senior year. He went on to play at Florida Gulf Coast University and also professionally overseas.

“Casey was able to come in the afternoon,” Good said. “He provided and led several quality and productive shooting drills.”

A typical morning always started off with a devotion in which several of the coaches were able to provide a spiritual thought and Scripture for the day.

The basketball activities included warm-up runs, stretching, ball handling, dribbling, and speed and agility stations.

The campers were then broken up into specific age groups to work on layups, “cone” drills and shooting. Several Gatorade contests were done throughout the day.

The trophy contests included a 1-on-1 tournament, 2-on-2 tourney, free throw shooting and a Hot Shots Competition.

Campers enjoyed lunch at Chick-Fil-A and CiCi’s Pizza. The day concluded with 5-on-5 full court games in the afternoon.

The coaches included John Wilson (boys elementary head coach/girls varsity assistant), Jim Good (Athletic Director/Boys Varsity Head Coach), Kyle Lassen (11th grade), Josh Good (boys JH head coach), Luke Still (Boys JV head coach), Matt Veynovich (10th grade), Herman Robinson (11th grade), Caris Everette (HCA alumnus 2014) and Danielle Domino (11th grade).

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Following in the brotherly footsteps of the Peter/ Robert Farrelly and Joel/ Ethan Cohen, Jay and Mark Duplass are poised to be the next fraternal force in the entertainment industry.

Their HBO show Togetherness has already become a critical and ratings success. Co-starring Melanie Lynskey, it is an intimate portrayal of married couples and their comedic sexual foibles. While the Duplass brothers only serve as executive producers, the movie The Overnight feels like one of their productions.

Written and directed by Patrick Brice, this film presents an ensemble actor’s showcase for Jason Schwartzman (Shopgirl), Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation), Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black) and French actress Judith Godreche. Scott and Schilling portray Alex and Emily, a married couple who have transplanted from Seattle to California with their little boy.

One day in the park, the little boy makes a new friend, who is the son of Kurt (Schwartzman). Kurt invites Alex, Emily and their son to his mansion for a sleepover. Once the boys go to sleep, things get very strange for the grownups.

In this low budget independent film, Brice proves to be an economical director. He makes the most of every moment with shot composition that highlights the verbal interaction between the actors.

Case in point, when Alex and Kurt talk about their artistic influences, Kurt’s paintings of human anatomy are in the background – which undercuts the artist’s pretension. Not all the comedy is so cerebral. The film sets private moments of serious intimacy (often involving nudity) that sometimes get interrupted at the worse possible moments.

While Kurt and his wife come across as California’s version of Gomez and Morticia Addams, Alex and Emily are to represent the conduit for the audience. The way they quickly devolve into recreational drug usage is where The Overnight loses its verisimilitude.

Unlike the disappointing Memorial Day box office weekend, this 4th of July weekend is projected to be a winner as Terminator Genysis opens. Given that Jurassic World is still a box office juggernaut, seating might be easier to get for The Overnight.

For those who wish to stay at home during the fireworks launch, PBS will feature A Capitol Fourth. The concert will include everything from Barry Manilow and K.C. and the Sunshine Band to reliable tough guy Robert Davi, who will be paying tribute to Frank Sinatra on what would be the crooner’s centennial year.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day !

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

Many have said it … God (or whatever higher power you ascribe to) works in strange ways.

And each time that power is wielded within plain sight, it adds weight to the proof that “balance” is the core of all existence. Take that incredible day of June 26, 2015 — and it doesn’t at all matter what your political preference is. This is universal.

The confluence of the Supreme Court’s Gay (etc.) Marriage decision coming in time-collision with Obama’s long sought opportunity to really hammer his position on “race” without having to cow-tow to political expediency (in his eulogy for Rev. Clemente Pinkney) signals to me some nonrefutable absolute truths: Evil and tragedy eventually bring good people out of their lethargy and comfort zone, propelling them to rise to heights often inconceivable. The Charleston Massacres, intended as they were to incite racial divide, did just the opposite, escalating universal consciousness to the inherent rights of human dignity and equality. The Supreme Court decision, defying a long-standing social code that has been slowly eroded over time, has done the same thing.

These two happenings are elevating in their own right. That they appeared on the “stage” of human events simultaneously, even as ISIS was perpetrating its heinous mission in other parts of the world (France, Algiers and Kuwait) cements the axiom of “balance” as a planetary existential fact, keeping us ever on the alert.

Good and evil work in tandem and it seems that as long as the known world has existed ‘twas ever thus. And yet good people continue to strive to overturn that balance in their favor, even as those evil forces seem to be invincible.

And so, with all of the above still lingering in our consciousness, there is that other phenomenon of the strange ways of the All Powerful. That is the miraculous way we, as a species, manage to keep our own personal balance. The parades, the fireworks, the speeches, the dancing in the streets, the gayety and celebratory essence of our nature can never be quelled even as we are being overwhelmed with external threats of extinction.

In my own personal lexicon, I call that “jumping tracks” – the ability to recognize, internalize and deal with the negative extremes that course through our lives, while still managing to revel in the positives that exist in perpetuity.

No one person is immune from the negatives – nor is any state. And it says so much for the general stability of our population that, for the most part, we are able to jump tracks — and joyously celebrate the good while cautiously seeking ways to cope with and eliminate bad.

So, Happy BBQing and here’s to lots of gratitude for what’s good in our lives.

I was in Orlando not too long ago and I had the pleasure of watching the incredible fireworks display as the sun set at Epcot. But, as much as I enjoyed the sights and sounds there, I did not get those goosebumps that I get watching similar displays on the 4th of July.

For some reason, this year, a question came to my head about why we celebrate the 4th with fireworks. The first person I asked told me that it had to do with a letter written by John Adams to his wife as the Continental Congress adopted the final version of the Declaration of Independence which said: “I am apt to believe that (Independence Day) … ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to G-d Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

I thought that I had my answer. I thought that I knew why we shot off fireworks on the 4th.

But as I was preparing to write this article, I was looking over a recent Torah reading that we have done in Synagogue. And we have been reading a lot about death recently. We read about how to purify oneself if one comes in contact with a dead person. We read about the death of Miriam. We read about the death of Aaron. And, we read about the death of Moses.

How on earth did that fit into our upcoming Independence Day and the shooting off of fireworks? Well, oddly enough, there is more than one connection. First of all, it was Moses, Aaron and Miriam, with the help of G-d, who helped lead the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt to freedom and from the Pharaoh.

Independence Day is about G-d helping us free ourselves from what one could conceive as a more modern Pharaoh, King George III, which brings me back to the whys of fireworks.

You see, in Pre-Revolutionary years, colonists held annual celebrations of the king’s birthday and they did so with ringing of bells, with bonfires, with processions and with speechifying.

But, in 1776, some of those colonists changed things just a tad. Instead of celebrating the king’s birthday, they held mock funerals for King George III. This was a way of expressing being led to freedom from the monarchy. These celebrations included concerts, bonfires, and the firing of muskets and cannons.

So now I thought I had my answer about fireworks.

But, then, I learned from another source that while Congress was in the midst of dealing with war, such loud and beautiful displays were held to build the spirits of those whose loved ones were off fighting for our freedom.

So, now I had my answer.

Nope, because then I found an article that talked about how, after the Revolutionary War, we continued to celebrate the 4th with loud noises, lights in the sky and political orations to create a feeling of unity among all Americans.

Okay, so maybe I’m still not really sure why we have fireworks on the 4th, but we can still enjoy those wondrous displays. And, as for unity, let me remind you, with the recent tragedy in Charleston, that that incredible city has a music festival each year called Moja. Moja is a Swahili word and it means “One.” As we celebrate American Independence Day, let us remember that we are all one. Let us celebrate together in peace, as One Nation, under G-d, Indivisible with liberty and justice for All.

Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach (201 S. Military Tr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442). Regular Shabbat services are open to everyone on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

By Gary Curreri

A chance encounter with Phil Mickelson as a 10-year-old helped launch Wyatt Rubin’s golfing career.

“I was just starting out in golf in 2007 and me and my dad went to Doral and we followed Phil Mickelson during his round,” said the 18-year-old Rubin, who lives in Pompano Beach. “He had just finished the 13th hole and flipped his golf ball to me. He said, ‘here you go kid.’ I still have that ball today. It was the Holy Grail for me.”

Rubin recently won the Junior Golf Association of Broward County’s Boys Championship Flight by firing an even par, 72 (35-37) at the Plantation Preserve Golf Club. Fellow Pompano Beach resident Isak Nilsson tied for sixth just four shots back after shooting 38- 38-76.

Rubin hit 13 of 18 greens for his win and putted well as he totaled six birdies in his round. He recorded birdies on 1, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 and came back from a double bogey on 10.

He started playing in the Junior Golf Association (JGA) of Broward County when he was 10 and was in the lower flights as he worked his way up. The best he had done in the JGA of Broward was tying for third at Plantation Preserve last year.

The recent Calvary Christian Academy graduate is in the process of walking on at Florida Atlantic University. He is preparing for a September tournament staged by the school for walk-on golfers.

“It would be amazing to play college golf,” said Rubin, who helped his high school team win district and regional titles in golf. “Just like going to states in high school was a big deal, to be able to say I played a Division 1 sport in college would be a really good accomplishment. I am going to try my best and we’ll see.”

Golf almost wasn’t in his future. He made the Calvary Christian school team as a seventh grader, but gave up the sport in the eighth grade.

“I was sick of golf,” Rubin said. “I played in a lot of tournaments that required me driving like two hours when I was younger. I played both days on the weekends and it took all of my time. I wasn’t playing very well. It was just so time consuming and it was frustrating.”

Rubin didn’t even watch golf on TV and didn’t play the sport at all for a year.

“When I came back for my freshman year, I was refreshed and from then on I kept getting better and better,” Rubin said. “It was exciting because I got to hang out with all of my friends and my coach Marty Fanning, who was my teacher in the third grade and is like a mentor of mine.”

He said the JGA of Broward County has been the majority of his competitive golf experience. He likes the players and the organizers.

“It is such a cool thing to wake up on a Monday morning and go play some competitive golf,” Rubin said. “Competitive golf is a feeling you can’t replicate anywhere else.”

Knowing he won a tournament that a current PGA golfer has probably won in their history is also exciting.

“I was thinking the whole week after I won I was like the big man on campus for one week,” Rubin said. “I am sure there have been some really good golfers who have won the boys championship in the past.

“Every time I won a lower flight tournament in the past, it felt good, but it wasn’t the Championship Flight,” he added. “And to finally pull off a championship where all the best players were in and to call myself the best in the entire JGA for that week, really felt good.”

In other divisions involving local golfers at Plantation Preserve, Pompano Beach’s Daria Korovina shot a 30 to place fourth in the Girls B Division. Weston’s Polina Anisimova carded a 25 to win the division.

Two Pompano Beach golfers finished fourth and sixth respectively in the Boys Junior Division. Dylan Glatt shot a 42-41-83 to finish fourth, while Nicklaus O’Bryan was sixth just three shots back with a 43-43-86.

Deerfield Beach’s Justin Danzansky carded a 48 to finish seventh in the Boys A Division. He was seven shots back of Sunrise’s Orangel Machado. In the Boys E Division, Daniel Melnick of Pompano Beach shot a 24 to finish four shots behind winner Evan Kuperman of Parkland.

Pompano Beach’s Mateo Desmond carded a 14 to tie for second with Lauderhill’s Israel Bailey in the Boys F Division. Pembroke Pines’ Jose Esteras also shot a 2-over par, 14 and won the division on a tiebreaker.

There are five more weeks left in the JGA of Broward season, including the three-day final tournament to be held at the end of July at Jacaranda Golf Club, Woodlands Country Club and Ft. Lauderdale Country Club.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

While Jurassic World is still the champion of the box office, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out scored $91 million over the weekend.

Disney/Pixar created a string of critical and financial successes with films like Monsters Inc., A Bug’s Life, Wall-E, Ratatouille, Up, and peaking with Toy Story 3.

Since 2010, however, Disney/Pixar has been dominated by rival companies and Disney’s own internal production company. But, Inside Out returns Disney/Pixar to its former glory.

Inside Out is a simple story about Riley, an 11-year-old girl who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. The genius of this movie is that most of the dramatic conflict is Riley’s internal struggle between Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Bill Hader). The emotions are personified with individual characteristics and provide each voice actor a field day.

The first five minutes of the film presents a happy family unit. The move from Minnesota to California is presented as an adventure, creating fond memories. Yet, when the dust settles from the move, Sad begins to intrude on Riley’s core memories, tarnishing the past. When Joy tries to prevent this from happening, the two emotions are sucked into the netherworld of the subconscious.

While remaining “a kids movie,” Inside Out enters the realm of a college freshman psychology class. In Riley’s subconscious, we meet her baby fears (party clowns) and her invisible friend, Bing Bong (Richard Kind). This part of the film takes on a darker hue, much like the melancholia many 11-year-olds face through the rites of passage.

Much like the crowd reactions to Monsters Inc. and Toy Story 2 & 3, children are comforting their parents who are sniffling and tearing up. The film provides the psychological double entendre that makes the Disney/Pixar partnership a continuing cinematic force to be reckoned with. It is also an entertaining flick with a superb musical score from Michael Giacchio, who also scored Jurassic World. Giacchio is the next generation’s John Williams.

Meanwhile, at Cinema Paradiso … The Farewell Party opens June 26 at Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood. An award-winning film from both the Israeli and Venice film festivals, it is a dark comedy in Hebrew with English subtitles about euthanasia. July 9-16, Cinema Paradiso, Ft. Lauderdale, will be presenting “Filmed in Broward,” sponsored by Broward 100, a celebration of films produced here. Line-up includes crowd favorites like True Lies, Body Heat, Married to the Mob, Analyze This, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and more. For more info., visit www.fliff.com.

There’s been a lot of recent news attention given to those in an apparent identity crisis.

Famed Olympian Bruce Jenner unveiled his transformation as Caitlyn on nationwide television.

Rachel Dolezal, a white woman in Spokane, WA, came under the glare of public scrutiny when it was revealed that she had been claiming to be a black woman. Her estranged parents were the ones who outed her for what they felt was a deception since there was no evidence of black heritage in the family tree.

None of this is really shocking in the context of contemporary society. We’ve known for years that there are men who want to be women, women who identify as men, blacks who want to be white, and now there are some whites who think that they are black. Surprising? Not really. Confusing? It doesn’t have to be.

The search for identity has prevailed upon human existence ever since mankind came into being. The Biblical worldview teaches that, in Genesis, God created man and woman giving them specific instructions that pertained to their identity and purpose in creation. It was the serpent, Satan, who posed the question that confused the first man and woman about who they were, and who they could really be (see Genesis, Chapter 3). Falling for the deception that they could be gods themselves, and make their own determinations about good and evil, they violated the one restriction of their Eden existence and plunged mankind into sin and rebellion against God.

The Old Testament portrays God as passionately pursuing mankind so they could reconnect with Him and discover their true identity.

He even established a nation through Abraham to distinguish the blessed life of submission and obedience to the Creator, from a dissatisfactory lifestyle of self-government and self-determination.

The challenge for those whom He called was whether to trust His way and forsake their own ideas, or to reject the notion of a God they could not see while charting their own paths in the visible realities of life.

Psychologists tell us that everyone longs for significance, and a sense of belonging and purpose in life. Our identities are an integral part of where we fit and how we function in the world. It is, therefore, important that we understand who we are and what we are to do, if we hope to find fulfillment in this life.

The New Testament portrays God as lovingly providing a remedy for man’s sin, and offering the opportunity to discover who each of us was created to be. It appears that what Satan suggested in the Garden was actually attainable, if one did it God’s way. John, Chapter 1, Verses 12 and 13, states, “But, as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

It is my prayer that Bruce/Caitlyn and Rachel find their true identity and purpose in a real relationship with God.

It is my prayer for all of those searching for meaning to their existence. The external preoccupation with one’s identity will never satisfy the internal quest for fulfillment.

Only God can fill that vacuum with His presence, His power and His purpose. Only the Creator can define His creation and declare its true intent.

How strange it seems, but also how wonderful it is to discover that in giving up ourselves to Him, we find out who we truly are.

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach Middle School eighth-grader Shariff Rodriguez couldn’t have picked a better time to perform his best.

Rodriguez, 14, bettered his previous best throw by nearly 11-ft. in winning the discus event (109-02.50) to take first place in the recent Broward County Middle School Track and Field championships at Coral Springs High School.

His performance helped the boys’ team place third with 30 points.

“It was my greatest throw I made in track ever,” said Rodriguez, of Pompano Beach, whose previous best was 98-ft., 6-in. “When I heard the total, my heart was just pounding. I was happy they had to get another measuring tape because the first one had run out.”

“My nerves struck, threw me, and my right arm just felt like Superman,” Rodriguez said. “I just got in the circle and all my nerves filled me up while I was throwing and all of a sudden I just let the disc go and it did its job. That surprised me a lot. This is really big. It is a blessing to be here.”

It was redemption for Rodriguez, who thought he had won the regional competition last year; however, his throw of 87- ft., 9-in. didn’t count because he was disqualified.

“I threw the game-winning throw and stepped out the front (of the ring) and got disqualified so I couldn’t get to county’s last year,” Rodriguez said. “So, this year, I kept reminding myself to go through the back.”

Rodriguez, who hopes to throw in college, said he is unsure why he was able to better his mark so substantially this year.

“I don’t really know,” Rodriguez said. “Every sport I do, the nerves fill in my stomach before I compete. I was about to fall apart because it was county meet and the nerves just went through me, and I just threw and went as far as I could.”

Other top performers for the Bengals included: Pompano Beach Middle’s Joshua Scott, who was fourth in the high jump (5-04); Jovan Williams, who took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (15.92); Tosheum Meade, who was fifth in the boys 200-meter dash (24.48), and Brian McClain, who captured seventh in the boys 800-meter run (2:20.39).

The Pompano boys’ 4×100- meter relay took third with a time of 46.41, while the Bengals’ 4×400-meter boys’ relay was fourth with a time of 3:52.81.

The girls team took sixth with 20 points led by Jaleah Williams, who finished third in the girls’ 400-meter dash (59.81). The girls’ 4×100-meter relay was second with a time of 51.27, while the girls’ 4×400- meter relay was third with a time of 4:23.88.

MIDDLE SCHOLAR ATHLETES

For the first time ever, the Broward County Middle School Athletic Association (MSAA) handed out Scholar/Athlete Awards. Every MSAA middle school was eligible to select students to receive this award.

The awards ceremony was held at the Plantation High School Auditorium on May 28. Each student named by a middle school was recognized and presented with a scholar athlete medallion.

Local middle school scholar athlete award winners included: Rodriguez from Pompano Beach Middle for the boys and Allegra Allen (girls). Deerfield Beach was represented by Claire Ries (girls) and Zacharie Saint Victor (boys).

“Each member school was eligible to select a male and female from their school to receive this award,” said Michael Roland, student activities liaison for Broward County Public Schools.

“To be eligible, a student must have an unweighted 3.0 GPA, have no ‘U’s for the entire year and have participated in two sports.”

By Dave Montalbano

Those who have been reading my column for over 15 years know that I am not going to give Jurassic World a bad review. It has everything a summer blockbuster movie is supposed to have: action, adventure, romance and humor. I am certain when I see the film again, I will get really annoyed by some of the story flaws (Really- two Afghanistan Veterans would entrust their lives to a pilot without an aviation license?),but, overall, I am pleased that this film has been breaking box office records. It offers something for everyone.

It has been 22 years since visionary John Hammond opened Jurassic Park. The designer flaws were minimized and the dinosaur park has expanded into Jurassic World. As entertainment parks become more competitive, so does the need to draw new customers, thus creating a new exhibit – the Indominus Rex – a genetic Frankenstein monster made of predatory dinosaur DNA. When things go chaotic,animal expert Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is called upon to tame the creature. Despite being an animal expert, the administrative brain trust ignore Grady’s wisdom and the situation gets worse.

The dinosaurs are the stars; yet,actors Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins and Judy Greer keep the human element interesting. The special effects extravaganza delivers first rate action sequences.

One standout scene involves Pratt’s battle with a pteranodon. While the scope of the scene is epic, it is the small details that make this scene nerve racking and dangerous.

Even the night time climax is presented with visual clarity,depending on where one sits. I was fortunate enough to see it at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science IMAX Theater (MODS) where the dinosaurs were actual size on a five-storey movie screen. The film will be showing at IMAX until June 30. I’ve heard reports that, at some screenings, people could not see the dinosaur’s heads on smaller screens.

While best known for portraying“Marty” in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, actor/stuntman Martin Klebba portrayed “the pteranodon” in Jurassic World. Wearing “motion capture pajamas,” Klebba was injured when actor Chris Pratt threw him down during a fight scene. Shaking it off, Klebba repeatedly performed the same stunt again in what became a very memorable scene from the movie.

Years ago, I was blessed to work with my father of blessed memory.

We not only got to share the pulpit for several high holy days, we also did rounds together at several health centers. Back in those years, we worked alongside a wonderful Franciscan Friar, known lovingly to all those under his charge as Father Joe.

One day, the three of us were walking down a hospital hallway side-by-side and someone came up to us. They looked at my father and then at me and said, “I never remember, which of you is the father and which of you is the son.”

My dad immediately responded, “I’m the father and he’s the son,” at which point I looked over at Father Joe and said, “You know what that makes you, don’t you? That’s right, if my dad’s the father and I’m the son, then you must be the Holy Ghost!”

Father Joe wasn’t offended in any way, and, as he smiled at my sick humor, the patient in front of us got such a wonderful belly laugh, the first time he had laughed in ages.

Oddly enough, I now do rounds each week at the North Broward campus of Catholic Health Services. When I first started working there several years ago, everyone call me Rabbi. But I have been there for a long time, and, over the years, many of the staff and patients have slipped and, instead of calling me Rabbi, they call me Father.

The first time they do it and realize what they have done, they apologize. But I tell them, you have nothing to apologize for. I am honored that you accept my position here to the point that you actually refer to me in such a way.

I don’t have any children of my own, but I do have those who call me Father, and that is a blessing in my life.

Amazingly enough, here in America, we celebrate Father’s Day on the specific day we do because of Priests, Pastors and Ministers.

This year marks the 115th Anniversary of Father’s Day.

Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the concept of Father’s Day. Her mother died giving birth. Sonora’s father raised her and her five brothers all by himself. And, during the church service on Mother’s Day, Sonora knew there should be a special day set aside for fathers.

Her father happened to have been born on June 5, and she thought that would be the perfect day to celebrate Father’s Day. But when the Ministerial Association of Spokane, WA met to approve it, they felt there was too little time to prepare proper sermons for fathers so soon after Mother’s Day. And so it was that they opted to celebrate Father’s Day on the third Sunday of the month of June. That was back in the year 1910 and we have been celebrating it ever since.

Father’s Day was not meant to be a day for buying ties. And I believe that Calvin Coolidge said it best as he signed a resolution in 1924 pertaining to Father’s Day as a day “to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”

I hope all the Fathers reading this column will take those words to heart. You can be a Saint to your children. In fact, in several traditionally Catholic Countries (Spain, Portugal, etc.), Father’s Day is observed on March 19, which just happens to be The Feast of St. Joseph.

Shalom my friends and a very meaningful Father’s Day,

Rabbi Craig H Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach (201 S. Military Tr., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442). Regular Shabbat services are open to everyone on Saturday mornings from 9 to 11:30 a.m.