By Sheldon Low

ROI Day 1 - A few weeks ago I was asked to complete this sentence with two words:  "Ask Me About." I was preparing for my current trip to Israel as part of a humbling group of inspiring leaders at the ROI Summit in Jerusalem.  The no-brainer answer to this question for me at the time was "Jewish Rock."  But I would like to change my answer.

This past Friday my family gathered at the B'nai Abraham Memorial Park in Union, NJ to bury my great Aunt Ada.  Aunt Ada was 91 years old, sharp as a tack, and the matriarch of our family. If you were to describe Aunt Ada in two words it would be "she lived."  Flipping through her expired passports alone you would find stamps from Morocco, China, Japan, Spain, and on and on.

Nothing ever got in her way of living.  Just a few years ago she took a trip with our Rabbi to Israel (her third visit since 1964).

One of my proudest memories is of finding the picture of Aunt Ada with Golda Meir.  Golda was speaking to the American Jewish Congress and Aunt Ada was able to hear and meet Golda through her deep involvement with the organization.  The picture was physical evidence of my Aunt's direct involvement in the biggest gift that the Jewish people have given themselves. But finding that picture unhinged me beyond pride in my aunt.

Staring at that picture I realized how powerful we are as individuals, and that the Jewish State and all of the freedoms we enjoy, only exist because the generation before us sowed these seeds. I had begun telling this story regularly to audiences across the country, and explaining that perhaps even bigger than the gift of the Jewish state itself, the gift bestowed on us by her generation which I feel most fortunate for, is the idea that we can take action and create our own future.

It would be impossible to accurately portray her in this space and I don't wish to regale you with more stories, but suffice it to say, that despite physical distance, she was always a large presence in my life.

And so a few days later, I find myself in Israel, grieving over her loss, and sitting at a table with a Sharpie and a nametag that says "Ask Me About: To Life"

It seems appropriate that I'm sitting in Jerusalem, listening to and surrounded by so many innovative thinkers and motivated leaders, people who, in the spirit of Aunt Ada and her generation care to make a difference and to guarantee the future of the Jewish people.  I can't wait to meet each and every one of them. L'chayim.