INVOCATION @ FHP Director Colonel Brierton Retirement at FL Capitol, By Chaplain Mark Rosenberg

dear god we thank you for your radiance on the world and the ability for each of us to shine to seek purpose and accomplishment in our lives we thank you god for those who you have positioned to assist us in that search and who you have given the fortitude and strength to lead the multitude with love and respect we thank you god for a governor who has been blessed with a capacity for guidance and ability to lead through example we pray that he succeeds in making this state the refuge of those seeking success and achievement in life we thank you god for the many years of service by colonel david breyerton our retiring friend and mentor we ask that you remember his staunch stable and amorous support for so many for so long remember his personal encouragement and professional wisdom to the thousands of state troopers and law enforcement as we will and give him and his family a future of peace and tranquility that he so justly deserves we thank you god for the continuation of that support and wisdom in the form of executive director terry rhodes who is undoubtedly a source of light to the department of highway safety the florida highway patrol and the law enforcement community throughout florida may you grant her success and intensity of goodwill and her mission on behalf of those she serves dear god we ask that you bless the florida highway patrol and the entire law enforcement community for their untiring devotion to the security safety and well-being of the citizens of this great state protect them as they protect us defend them as they defend us and give them resilience of heart as they give us hope for the future and lastly their god we ask that you consign to your heavenly throne the souls of those who have been called to heaven during their service to mankind those who gave protection direction and affection to so many who looked to them as leaders and who too soon were to become modders ease the pain of their family and friends who missed their company and ease the pain of their fellow troopers who missed their example let us say amen please be seated thank you very much we rather have a longer invocation than a speech blessings are better sometimes it's a privilege and honor for me to be here today actually the day of this event came out very good i always look forward colonel executive director as you know to come up for the holidays a few times a year i come up here and we have meetings in the colonel's office with the lieutenant colonels discussing holiday details and it also gives me an opportunity to share our holidays and i take great pride in that so he saved me a trip on the country side of it there were a lot of rabbis that were waiting for this date and they really wanted to come to show their gratification and appreciation but being that the chavuz holiday starts on friday it made it impossible for them to attend because of traveling arrangements overseas however we are fortunate enough and i'm fortunate to have my core rabbis and chief rabbis from new york who made the trek all the way from new york they came in today for a few hours and you'll hear from them soon of course i would be remiss if i would not thank rabbi oyerechmann and his wife that works for him right you have a good pension and robert erichman thank you very much i know i always call upon you about different things and from down south and i appreciate everything you've done and i could not have done it without you thank you before i go further i'd like to take a stab at elizabeth denmark thank you so much for all these years and for constantly calling you and bothering you and i don't know how you do your job it's a tough job i appreciate everything that you do thank you so much and of course executive director terry it's a pleasure working with you your sincere sensitivity to our rituals and our things that we sometimes ask for is very kind of you and we could tell that you do it with so much sincerity so thank you uh you guys must probably wonder you see all these papers and you're thinking how long is this speech going to be right i'll give you a little hint there was once a rabbi who gave a speech every sabbath and his synagogue for 10 minutes every week it took him exactly 10 minutes after a few months his congregants went over to him and said rabbi how do you figure out that your speech should only take ten minutes not nine not eleven not ten and a half ten minutes he said well i'll tell you the truth i'm not doing anything special there is no special remedy or figuration to it i prepare the speech while i walk from my home to the synagogue and it takes me 10 minutes to walk from my home to the synagogues i know that the speech is going to take me 10 minutes ladies and gentlemen it took me seven hours to drive from miami to tallahassee all right now that i got everybody smiling they say there is no humor there is no human so now that we got everybody smiling i'm gonna be very brief to the point because that's the way fhp works military style right say what you have to say you move on so i'm gonna do just that so just on a personal note i'd like to take a minute or two to elaborate on the prudence insight and benevolence of colonel breyerton on behalf of jesus chilemas and the jewish community as a whole there is a saying among the sages of israel bamakum ish which means where there is no person to take control of a situation stand up and be that person colonel bryarton our sages would be very proud of you when communities of florida needed understanding you stood up and arranged a training seminar for all troopers to understand the details of jewish culture and jewish burials which became a model for other agencies when the jewish community asked for comfort you stood up and offered reassurance that your troopers would work with casacalemas in providing that comfort and consolation bridging agencies and minimizing prolonged grief when the jewish community needed a hand you were there with an arm placing holiday detail and safety were requested when needed colonel briarton you made our communities feel respected protected and esteemed in today's precarious times you were the breath of fresh air and the one who stood up thank you so much colonel brighton because of who you are and who you represent to the structure of csc of christos rest assured that the seeds you planted will continue to blossom and will only strengthen the bond between hesse chilema's the jewish community and the florida highway patrol you will always be admired and appreciated in our communities and it is with a united heart that we wish you your wife deborah your mother who's with us today and your children a continued life of health and happiness thank you