When I tell people that Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer zt”l was my rabbi before he came to West Hempstead, they immediately think that I am from Brookline, Massachusetts. After all, Rabbi Kelemer was the rabbi there from the early 1970s until 1983, when he became the rav of the Young Israel of West Hempstead. However, I never lived in Brookline (a Yankees fan in Boston?), so how was Rabbi Kelemer my rav? Simple! The first congregational position Rabbi Kelemer ever held was as the rav in Congregation Sons of Israel – Ahavas Achim of Middle Village, Queens – where I was born and raised!