Every night when I tuck my infant son into bed, I close my eyes for a second and dream of the day that I will be in the room with him when he joins AEPi. It’s a very powerful moment for me. And, as I sneak out of his room (and around the scattered toys and baby paraphernalia), I think of what my reaction will be on that day.

As the CEO of Alpha Epsilon Pi, I have seen hundreds of legacies initiated and I have seen the joy on their faces and their fathers’ faces at that moment. These men grew up in homes with stories of AEPi and interacting with the many “uncles” that were their dad’s fraternity brothers. It is an important part of our tradition. Grandfathers, Uncles, Fathers, Sons and Brothers…joined together as fraternity brothers, united in our values and mission to develop leaders for the Jewish community. I also must say that I am living proof of the concept. Had it not been for my older brother, Corey Derdiger, helping to re-found the Sigma Eta chapter at Lehigh University, I doubt I would have found my way to the fraternity. At 18 years old I certainly did not fit the archetype of a typical fraternity man.

I think that for AEPi alumni, the concept of legacies might even mean a little more than they do for other fraternities. A central tenet of our Jewish tradition – l’dor vador – is the concept of passing down traditions and beliefs from one generation to the next. Just a few weeks ago we read the parsha Chukat in the torah. In that story, Aaron dies and passes the responsibility of the priesthood to his son Elazar. Similarly, we, as the Jewish fraternity, must recognize that the commitment to AEPi also runs in our blood and we must honor it through our ritual, through our commitment to our heritage and through our legacies.

If you have a legacy (a son, grandson or biological brother) attending college this fall, please make sure you immediately send us a notification here. If we receive his name at least two weeks before rush begins, AEPi staff will work with the chapter to ensure that he is recruited and receives a bid.

Additionally, if you know of other young men attending college in the fall who would be good for AEPi, please submit their names, as well. This is an easy way that you can help build our chapters and elevate our status as the most effective developer of leaders for the Jewish community.

I’m going to head to my son’s room now and sing him a song to get him to go to sleep. Joshua Nelson put the words of L’dor Vador to song:

We are gifts and we are blessings, we are history in song

We are hope and we are healing, we are learning to be strong

We are words and we are stories, we are pictures of the past

We are carriers of wisdom, not the first and not the last

I can’t wait to put my AEPi badge on him in another 17 years or so…