Not a career thing, but a small aspect of my “retirement” years that I enjoy… When I moved to Florida and started attending the Chabad Aventura South shul, there was an older man who was known as the “candy man” because he gave out lollypops to the kids during services. We often chatted during the weekly kiddush lunches, and a couple of times when he was going to be out of town on a Shabbos, he asked me if I’d take over the candy man role, which I gladly did.
Sometime in 2020 he unfortunately passed away. I quickly determined that I would take over, and thus became the shul’s official candy man. I keep a big bag of lollypops with me during shul, and kids come over to me to get one. Since I like kids, this was a natural for me.
I also noticed that it was rather unusual for there to be “mashkeh” by the kiddush lunches. Sometimes one table had a bottle that someone brought. I decided that it would be nice to make sure there was always something, and I started bringing a large bottle once a month and going around pouring a l’chaim to anyone who wanted. Not only did this help me meet a lot of people, I believe it helps build a bit more of a sense of “community” among the people at different tables.
So now I am the “candy man” and the “mashke man” at my shul!
