Tonight through Monday, Cheshvan 24, is Ben's seventh Hebrew yahrzeit.

Dear Ben,

You have so many friends,

but I'll mention three in particular

who care for and about you even now ...

when you are elsewhere, no longer with us

by our side.

Your first friend is Benzion ...

who turned on your memorial light

in time for davening this morning.

just as he had said he would.

His word is finer than gold.

Do you remember how many of those lights

there are on the southern wall?

Yet he always gets them right.

Your second friend you don't know,

but who knows you.

She's my friend too who

has taught me how to memorialize you better

with every word.

She was worried lest you be forgotten this day!

I assured her that I'd see you.

Your third friend has a heart, Ben, like yours!

Always doing for others.

Were you listening this morning?

Eli and I were there.

Did you hear "Mizmor L' Dovid" and

"Kel Mole Rachomim?"

I'll be in shul today ...

to recite the "evening vespers,"

as Rabbi Louis likes to say,

tongue in cheek.

You remember his sense of humor,

don't you?

It has kept me standing these seven years.

Maariv will be around 5:00.

See you then ...

Dad