Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding

The following letter comes from Lisa Messinger, WHP (New York 4) and was published as part of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion&#;s (HUC-JIR) alumni newsletter.

Her husband, Rabbi Aaron Panken z&#;l, (WGF Class 8), was President of HUC-JIR and tragically lost his life last spring.

Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding

Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding photos

Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding video

Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding registry

Lisa messenger and aaron panken wedding pictures

It is especially poignant to us that both Aaron and Lisa are alumni of the Foundation&#;s programs. The Wexner Foundation co-sponsored a series of online study sessions in his memory. Recordings are available here.

It’s difficult to capture the paralysis of loss, and I won’t try to do so here.

I know anyone reading this letter has faced a painful hurdle, and each of us has somehow found a modicum of strength to face the next day, no matter how unimaginable that task may feel.

The surprise for me, in these early months, has not been the bottomless sadness, but the accompanying sense of urgency — to heed Aaron’s voice in my head and not falter from the work he began, the vision of Hebrew