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Because so much of my life revolves around humor, whenever I have the instinct to pick up money I see abandoned on the floor in a public place, I find myself being extra aware of how I’m going to be perceived, as someone wearing a yarmulke picking up money. I don’t want to be the punchline of someone’s joke about Jews!

I was recently in a coffee shop in NYC, and a young man in front of me was getting ready to pay. As he was gathering his wallet, a quarter slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. I watched him notice it, pause for a moment, and then leave it there.

After waiting a minute, I bent down, picked it up, and asked him if it was his. He said yes, so I handed it back and asked him why he didn’t just pick it up himself? He looked at me and said, “I was embarrassed.”

People often ask me, what is a win these days with Jewish students? What does success with our alumni actually look like for our organization, what is our end zone?

Of course, there are the big answers, like: we want our alumni to identify as a Jew, have strong Jewish community involvement, or build a Jewish home and raise Jewish children with pride. But these days, the wins are much smaller and quieter: a student showing up, taking on some kind of Jewish responsibility, or simply choosing to stay connected somehow or some way.

Especially now, I’ve come to see the smaller wins as wins and I treat every step our students take as a win these days, even something as small as a quarter. Because that quarter still has value, and the act of picking it up matters.

We may not always get the big victories, but these small moments add up. If we notice them and build on them, they become something real and lasting.

I’m not embarrassed to pick up the quarter!

Warmly,

Dave

P. S. I recently started a weekly Jewish Joke WhatsApp group. If you’d like to join, please email me at rabbisorani@gmail.com and I’d be happy to add you!