RABBI STEPHEN M. AXINN
Tomekh Temimim Board Service Award
The honor I am receiving today truly belongs to the congregants of Temple Israel of Putnam Valley who, for more than sixty years, expressed their love for Jewish tradition by creating and then maintaining a synagogue that afforded me my first real taste of the riches of Jewish worship and fellowship.
My upbringing was secular. I lacked knowledge of our tradition or facility with our language or our rituals. In the 1980s, this wandering Jew first walked through Temple Israel’ s doors for the first time and was immediately surrounded with an atmosphere of warmth and friendship, that convinced me that I should devote the rest of my life to the Jewish people. In time, this little synagogue became a cornerstone in my life.
My Jewish education did not begin until I was 40 years of age. That is when I began my Jewish education with a year of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. However, my life was not truly transformed until I encountered the administration, faculty, and students at AJR. I can never repay the debt I owe to the patience and scholarship of the faculty and the enthusiastic encouragement of my fellow AJR students.
We at AJR owe so much to Rabbi Steve Axinn. We all knew how wonderful Steve was as an AJR student and how much he enriched our community. As a board member we are seeing a different side to Steve, one that we are so grateful for. He understands what we need and works tirelessly as a member of the board to make sure these things happen. He sees the big picture very clearly, but he is willing to roll up his sleeves and take care of the details on his own, without any fanfare. His impact on the AJR board has been immense and we see the impact of his work in every area of AJR. We are so grateful for all of his care, his deep love of Jews and Judaism, his appreciation for all the aspects of the AJR community, his understanding of how to work with others in ways that always show respect and honesty, and, of course, his delightful sense of humor. AJR has been changed by Rabbi Stephen Axinn in more ways than we can say, and it is a great honor to present him with the Tomekh Temimim Board Service Award.
“ a heart of wisdom”. I am so very grateful to have begun this search with the congregation of Temple Israel of Putnam Valley and continued it, aided by the wise and wonderful men and women of AJR. It is, therefore, for me, altogether fitting that Temple Israel is now forever joined with the Academy for Jewish Religion to provide the loving training and nurturing of the next generation of Jewish leadership.
Having already exceeded the length of life promised in Psalm 90, I am still seeking to gain
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