Oh the places you’ll go

June 27th

I met Daniel and Jen Dawson on my second day in Okinawa, at an area-wide religious ministries social event. That night, Jen told me about her desire to convert to Judaism. 

A year later, she, and eight others completed their journey to become Jews. 

During that time, Daniel would attend services with Jen - - and I KNEW - - that one day, he would walk his own path to Judaism. 

I watched him during services, falling in love with the beauty of the services, the prayer, the theology, the culture, and the people. It was that day, while still in Okinawa, I chose his Hebrew name. 

I had hoped that I would be in his orbit when he took his first steps as a Jew.

More than a year of study, Daniel leaving the Navy for a second time, the two of them leaving San Diego, I presided over Daniel’s conversion. 

Three weeks before his conversion, I told him the story of why and when I chose his name, Akivah. I also shared that on the first day we studied together at the dining room table, and saw the Talmudic mind that wrestled with the texts, and asked brilliant questions, that like his namesake, he is already on a path to become my colleague. 

Oh the places I have been, and continue to go, the people I meet, the family I create, and the journeys of so many that are intertwined forever.