By Thomas Wissinger
Thomas Wissinger
As we’ve just celebrated Passover, I’m sure many of you were looking forward to the traditions that you have established with your family and friends. Maybe you host everyone for a Seder dinner, or maybe it is you and your family who travel to a loved one’s home. We all have family traditions that we love, and those, well, we don’t love as much, but there is something special about reviving traditions that have been in your family for years, if not decades, and passing them down to the next generation.
April is traditionally viewed as the month of new beginnings. This is the month when we all begin to come out of our winter “burrows,” looking forward to the warmer weather and brighter days ahead. Flowers begin to bloom, trees start looking full again, and a renewed sense of optimism takes form as daylight increases a bit more each day.
Did you know that leather is traditionally the anniversary gift that we give to our significant other to celebrate a three-year anniversary? Why leather? Because leather symbolizes the strength, flexibility, and durability of a lasting relationship. Just as leather improves with age, so does a strong relationship, becoming even more resilient over time.
So, what do Passover, April, and leather have to do with one another? Well, growing up, around Passover during the month of April, my dad would break out my baseball glove from the previous year, take out his leather oil, and go through the tradition of breaking it in to get it ready for the upcoming season. However, as of about three years ago, I saw a new vision for this time of year, when old traditions and new beginnings merge together to establish a brighter, stronger and more resilient future.
April 18, 2022 is a date this community will always remember – the day when the Jewish Community of Louisville, and Louisville’s Jewish community, acknowledged and celebrated their own traditions and history while literally opening the doors to a brighter future. With the opening of the new Trager Family JCC, the community carried on the mission of our ancestors established more than 130 years ago with the opening of Louisville’s first YMHA. However, that April day just three years ago was also the day that our community made a promise to our friends, family and each other. The Trager Family JCC is the physical embodiment of the promise to ensure that future generations will continue to have a communal home, and therefore share a communal responsibility to one another, for decades to come.
So, what has happened in these past three years? I’m sure most of you know the story- the Trager Family JCC membership has never been stronger, our Early Learning Center enrollment in the Roth Family Education Center has grown by more than 50% and in just a few months, our Camp J program is excited to welcome almost 300 campers a week to our campus. I could go on and talk about the growth of all of our programs from Seniors to CenterStage and beyond; however, what I don’t want to get lost in the numbers are the people and relationships that make up the statistics I just mentioned.
The best part about working at the Trager Family JCC and in the Jewish communal space is that we are making a difference in our community every single day. And really, it’s not making a difference “every day,” but rather we are making a difference through every experience we offer, for every person who comes through our doors. We are proud to assist individuals on their personal Jewish journey whether that’s inside our own walls, or with our assistance in the community. For instance, our One Happy Camper program, which offers scholarships to Jewish children to attend overnight summer camp, is helping send more than 60 Jewish kids from Louisville to camp this summer! Would this effort be possible without the Trager Family JCC? Maybe. Is our connection with these families stronger because of the Trager Family JCC and its programs? Definitely!
In addition, the Trager Family JCC has a unique role in that we bring the Jewish and general communities together every day. Whether through membership or via enrollment in one of our many programs, each non-Jewish individual who passes through our doors is giving us the opportunity to create allies throughout the community — one person, one experience at a time. This “internal outreach” works in concert with our more traditional outreach vehicles such as the Jewish Federation and JCRC, to truly effect change in our own community, and hopefully beyond.
Tradition and new beginnings. I am sure there are better examples of those two sentiments coming together than the Trager Family Jewish Community Center, but right now I can’t think of one. While I may be a little biased, I am honored to work for an organization and in a community that decided one of the best ways to honor those who came before them was by providing for those generations that are yet to come. So, over the next few days when you notice that leather belt in your closet or your leather wallet on the table, think about a brighter tomorrow, but also about how the Trager Family JCC can become part of yours and your family’s traditions. Or better yet, put on a pair of leather shoes and come on through our doors and start a new beginning for yourself, knowing that your journey will ultimately help those who come after you.
Thomas Wissinger is Vice President of the Jewish Community of Louisville and Executive Director of the Trager Family JCC.