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A little over two weeks ago I had my first official day back in Manhattan since the big move to NYC, and I arrived with high hopes and a packed schedule. Most meetings were with new faces that I was eager to introduce to JGO. The morning started strong; my first meeting was a "maybe," but just talking about JGO to someone new always gets me fired up. It truly feels like 2011 again, and I'm back in building mode!

But then came the rest of the day.

Meeting two? A flat-out no. The guy surprisingly informed me he hated his bar mitzvah rabbi and had disavowed Judaism entirely. (What that has to do with me or JGO, I have no idea.)

Meeting three? He couldn't support anything Jewish until after the NYC mayoral election. Okay…

In between meetings three and four, I cut through Central Park. A Jamaican street vendor offered me what looked like a reggae yarmulke. I politely declined, saying I was happy with my regular one. Then he offered a yo-yo with a Jewish star on it. To my own surprise, I bought it for a dollar and kept walking.

Meeting four? She asked me to come back in a few weeks; she's contemplating a divorce and wasn't in the right headspace.

As I left that meeting, a pro-Palestinian protester outside the building told me to "go back to Europe." I calmly replied that my family hails from Baghdad, Iraq, where they lived for approximately 2,000 years, until my Jewish Arab father was exiled and became a refugee. While the protester consulted what looked like crib notes, I continued on to my final meeting.

And then came the best part of my day.

It was with an alum I hadn't seen in years, someone who recently replied to my email about moving to NYC. Now a successful executive, the first thing he said was that he remembered meeting me at Northwestern over 10 years ago. JGO was his go-to for Jewish community in grad school. He later moved to L.A. after completing his JD/MBA, and I connected him to the JGO community there, which he said became his only Jewish home. Now that he's in NYC, he saw I had moved and he wanted me to know he's completely behind me.

"I owe my Jewish community to JGO. I want to be involved however I can."

That moment and that meeting was a home run. I left his office feeling 10 feet tall.

I went 1-5 and I’m All In.

But that one? It was absolutely worth all the rejections.

Overall, it wasn't a bad first day back in the City. I'm incredibly grateful to be here, helping build the organization I love.

P.S. The yo-yo broke, only 5 minutes after buying it. Can't win 'em all!