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John, with Hanukkah beginning next week, a time to gather with friends and family, I wanted to share a favorite throwback photo that gets circulated every time the holiday season comes around.
Here you go. Me at 13, in all my “glory” at my Bar Mitzvah:
I’ll admit, it’s easy to chuckle at this photo — the classic 1970s bow tie, the braces, the yarmulke, the looks — but it is also an opportunity to tell you a little about how I approach my faith.
Throughout my career in public service, I’ve thought a lot about the Jewish tradition of “Tikkun Olam,” or repairing the world. And over the last few years, there has been a lot that was broken, and a lot to fix. It’s been my cause.
John, I want to take you back to 1973. Our family moved around a lot because my father was in the “schmata” (or clothing) business. He started as a traveling salesman and later worked as a regional manager for a men’s slacks company.
We moved from Massachusetts where I was born, lived a few years in Arizona, and ended up in the Bay Area. It was there that my dad got out of the clothing business and bought a lumber yard, where I worked during the summers. There’s nothing like hauling sheets of plywood and roofing, and shoveling concrete to make you want to go to graduate school.
This photo was taken when my family was a member of Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, California, a reform synagogue we joined after moving to the Bay Area. And it came after months of practicing for my Bar Mitzvah. I even taped my practice sessions on our tape recorder (I have a copy of that tape somewhere, believe it or not, voice cracking and all.)
While the Hebrew language skills I quickly acquired were just as quickly lost, the lessons that my faith taught me endure and guide me to this day.
In fact, my favorite passage comes from Micah: What is required of us, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
These principles have guided my work in Congress. They have led me to pursue criminal justice reform, to make housing the homeless a key priority, to attack discrimination, and to ensure the rule of law is applied equally. They have also guided my path as I held accountable and stood up to the most unscrupulous man to ever occupy the Oval Office.
And they guide me in the fight we face today, a fight I will take on from the United States Senate: repairing and rebuilding our democracy so that we leave it better for my children and yours.
That’s why I put everything I have into my work and for the cause of our democracy. It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and I don’t rest until I’ve done all I can for the day.
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Hopefully, this photo helped brighten your day and gave you a bit more insight into why I have dedicated my life to this cause.
Thank you for reading more about me,
Adam
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