Rabbi Benjamin David after finishing the NYC Marathon (Courtesy of Rabbi Benjamin David)
Ten years ago, Rabbi Benjamin David was told he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that begins in white blood cells called lymphocytes and impacts around 80,000 people every year in the U.S.
David, the senior rabbi at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, beat his cancer diagnosis and commemorated the 10-year survival mark by completing the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2 and raising about $10,000 for cancer research. He completed the 26.2 miles in three hours, 40 minutes.
“To be a Jew is to be a survivor. We’ve all survived something. We’ve all survived trauma, loss, hardship. What I survived, like many others, is cancer, and it was not inevitable that I would survive,” David said. “Certainly, there are so many who do not survive, and I feel so very fortunate, and I feel that I have an obligation to now support and help those who are battling cancer and the many whose lives have been made very hard by cancer.”
David said that he’s always been a runner, growing up in an athletic family and running through high school and college. He fell in love with it and it has now become an important outlet from his responsibilities as a father and senior rabbi of a large congregation.
He added that running allows him quiet time alone and carries additional personal benefits like teaching humility, patience, dedication and goal setting, plus helping him apply those skills in his personal role and his job.
David, 48, said he runs six to seven days a week while training, racking up around 60 miles in an average week.
The New York City marathon marked the 24th marathon David has completed. He finds it remarkable how the event, which attracted nearly 60,000 runners this year, is able to bring hundreds of thousands of people together.
“This was my fifth time running the New York City Marathon, and it’s always a very major, major event in New York, everyone comes out for the marathon. It’s this day of unity, humanity, enthusiasm. There’s really nothing like that, considering how divided people are otherwise these days,” David said.
Beyond running and being a rabbi, David brings people together through his fundraising to support cancer research. He ran this year for Fred’s Team, a charity that supports the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Fred’s Team is named after Fred Lebow, the Jewish Holocaust survivor who founded the NYC Marathon and died in 1994 at age 62 from brain cancer.
This year, Fred’s Team has raised over $9.5 million, and it has raised more than $129 million since it was founded in 1995 after Lebow’s death.
“I was interested in running with them and for that wonderful cause. So that’s what I signed up to do. And raised what I could, about $10,000 in the end, and it made the marathon that much more meaningful,” David said.
On David’s fundraising page, there are nearly 90 donations from individuals and families across the community.
He said in the lead up to the race, he reached out to friends and family asking them to support the cause along with social media outreach on Facebook and Instagram.
David said there have been significant cutbacks in funding for cancer research recently, a reality that he said resonated with people. He added that many people have been affected by cancer and were eager to contribute.
“It feels good. It reminds you that although there’s a lot of ugliness in our world, that so many have a good heart, a pure heart, so many are so generous. It helps you to believe in humanity and in our future,” David said.
As a rabbi and community leader, David works to inspire his congregation. Through his running, he hopes he can show his congregants that they can rise above difficulties in their lives.
“I would like to think that it shows people that we can do hard things, that we can overcome hardship and challenges,” David said. “I would like to think it also shows us that we all have ways we can make a difference in this world, that we can use our passion and our time to help to build and mend our world.”