By Jared Nadler
We’re excited that Levy’s Fine Jewelry is this year’s presenting sponsor of the Sam Lapidus Montclair Run — a commitment they’ve been making for 15 years now. Jared Nadler explains why this event, now in its 48th year, is so important to him and his century-old family business…
Levy’s Fine Jewelry, a business owned by and passed down through my family since 1922, has been a donor and title sponsor of the Sam Lapidus Montclair Run since it began in 2009*, the year after my nephew Sam died from Ewing sarcoma just shy of his 15th birthday.
Levy’s unwavering commitment to this event is not only to honor Sam’s life and to support the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s of Alabama, though that would be enough by itself. And it is not just because of the huge impact that the Levite Jewish Community Center has had on our family for many decades.
At the core of both of these and the driving force behind Levy’s commitment to Sam’s Run is family.
Strong, stubborn, and determined
I actually proposed to my wife, Celia, Sam’s aunt, on February 15, 2003, just two days after Sam was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma. When I offered to postpone the engagement, my future in-laws wouldn’t hear of it, insisting that “our family does not delay happy occasions.”
Six months later Sam, age 9, ran the show at our after-rehearsal dinner, showing off his insane sense of humor (mostly roasting me). The next day, wearing a classic tuxedo and looking as handsome as ever, he was an usher in our wedding.
Sam, as we are reminded each year leading up to and during Sam’s Run, was strong, stubborn, and determined — so determined that after each treatment at Children’s Hospital would insist on going directly to The J to work out. Sam was a fighter, and The J was a place of familiarity and comfort to him, whether he was working out, playing team sports, or just hanging out.
The J was a part of Sam long before he got sick, though, and some might even argue that The J was a part of Sam’s DNA. Sam’s Papa, my father-in-law Stanley Lapidus, religiously played handball at The J twice a week in the 1960s and 1970s while raising his four children. Later, both he and Sam’s Bubbe, my mother-in-law Maxine, jogged or walked on the track almost daily.
Family ties
Stanley and Maxine sent their children to The J’s day camp from the time they were old enough to attend until they aged out, at which point they became counselors there. My wife Celia was even the camp director of the older kids’ camp for two years. Celia also went to preschool and kindergarten at The J before starting 1st grade at the Jewish Day School, which at that time was located in one room of The J in the same hallway as the preschool/kindergarten.
The J was the hub of activity for my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law throughout childhood and adolescence, whether playing sports like biddy basketball or softball, attending youth group meetings and activities, or just hanging out like Sam did.
When Stanley and Maxine’s grandchildren were born, the ones who lived locally attended daycare at The J. My youngest daughter, Marley, started there when she was just under 3 months old and, like her cousins, stayed until she started kindergarten. One of the most priceless parts of Marley’s experience was not only getting to see her older cousin Clara every day, but also the almost daily visits that her Bubbe and Papa made to her classroom to see her when they finished exercising.
My older three children from a previous marriage, Jennifer, Brett, and Josh, grew up primarily in Las Vegas, but they stayed with me in Birmingham for two months every summer. And like the Lapidus children decades before, they spent those summers as campers and later as counselors at day camp. It was a home away from home for them.
Levy’s was opened shortly after my grandfather Joe Denaburg returned home from World War I and married my grandmother, Ethel Levy. He was able to do this only with the help of a loan from his mother-in-law. While the business was named Cousin Joe’s at the time, the name was later changed to Levy’s in homage to my great grandmother — without whose help we would not still have this family business 102 years later.
Family is most important to the Levys, and to me in particular. This is why the Sam Lapidus Montclair Run is so much bigger than the extraordinary causes for which it raises money.
*The race began as the Montclair Run in 1976 and was renamed the Sam Lapidus Montclair Run in 2009.
Can’t make it on race day? Check out how else you can help:
Volunteer to help distribute registration packets on Wednesday, November 27.
Sign up with a “Friends of Sam” absentee registration to support Sam even if you won’t be able to run (and get a coveted t-shirt!).
Donate directly to The J and/or the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders.