Shabbat Shalom and Happy Anniversary to US! One year ago, tomorrow, I hopped in my car and made the 13-hour trek from Omaha to Birmingham to begin my new life as your CEO. Little did any of us know that the world would massively change less than one week later as COVID invaded our lives.
In one of my early Shabbat greetings, I wrote about the 12 tribes of Israel crossing the red sea from Egypt into the promised land. Although the tribes could not cross together, they were comforted by the fact that they could see each other through the walls of water that separated them as they navigated their way to the other side. While I still haven’t had the pleasure of meeting many of you in person, it hasn’t stopped us from achieving great things together through our walls of water over the past year. And although the world around us has changed and we have had to pivot both personally and professionally during these times, one thing has remained steady – your commitment to this Jewish Community.
Over the last twelve months, our agencies have worked together to ensure a bright and strong future for our community. We have raised dollars for COVID, executed a successful annual campaign, ensured our children participate in Jewish experiences, and further their Jewish education both virtually and even live as we witnessed this past Purim. We have fed our hungry, helped the homeless regain housing, and provided care to our elders. And all of this we did TOGETHER through our walls of water without missing a beat.
Life this past year has not been without its challenges. We have lost loved ones, missed participating in holidays and important milestones with our friends and families, and many of us have experienced isolation and loneliness. We have not been able to honor our dead with proper tribute, and our Bar Mitzvah-aged children have lost a year of connection and celebration with their friends. But we have not lost hope.
Now, one year later, life is changing again dramatically with the new vaccine in hand. Our institutions are reopening with newly imagined in-person gatherings and it appears that some of our old way of life will return. It is my deepest hope that over the next year we will come together and achieve even greater success for our community. While hugging each of you may not be advised, I promise that a warm fist bump and a smile await you all!
This morning I woke up and said the Modeh Ani. I have to admit I don’t say it often, but today at our one year together I felt that it was right. Modeh ani lefanekha melekh chai vekayam shehechezarta bi nishmahti b’ chemlah rabah emunateka. I give thanks before you, King living and eternal, for You have returned within me my soul with compassion; abundant is Your faithfulness. And while I gave thanks to G-d, I also thank you for entrusting me to shape the future of our Jewish community and for the kindness and outpouring of love you have shown my family over this past year.
Wishing you a restful Shabbat and a week of peace.
B’Shalom,
Danny
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See your Federation dollars at work! |
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Register for our next campaign program by March 8th! |
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Deaf rabbi translates
Torah into sign language
Yehoshua Soudakoff says his project, which will see the entire Bible visually acted out, makes Judaism accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing who miss out on communal readings.
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Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff (left) in the green screen room with actors Daniel Malka (center) and Chen Belilty. (Courtesy) |
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" Israel’s only deaf rabbi is giving a hand to the hard of hearing by translating the entire Torah into sign language.
Speaking to the Jewish News from Rishon Lezion in Israel through a sign language interpreter, Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff admits that it’s a “big responsibility” to try to make Judaism “accessible and possible” for the 15,000 Israelis who are deaf or hard of hearing and who communicate in sign language.
Bringing the stories to life is particularly important, he says, for the 40,000-50,000 Jews who use sign language worldwide, because the Torah is meant to be read aloud, in synagogue, three times a week, to the congregation.
“It is done together, as a community, and that’s how it is meant to be read. It is a shared human experience. That’s really important for deaf people because so many times deaf people are disconnected,” Soudakoff says."
Click here to read the full article and learn more about Rabbi Soudakoff's experience and how he is giving back to the Jewish community and helping those in need!
By Ellie Jacobs
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Finding Refuge – How the Dominican Republic and Mexico Responded |
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March 11 @ 6:30 PM
In July 1938, delegates from 32 countries, including the United States, met at the Evian Conference in France to discuss options for settling Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany. The Dominican Republic was the only participating country that was willing to accept additional refugees. Why? What were the prospects for refugees seeking a safe haven in Latin America?
This presentation will draw from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s archives to reveal how the Dominican Republic and Mexico responded to the events in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s regarding refuge for European Jews.
Speaker: Christina Chavarria, Program Coordinator, Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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PJ Library’s : Passover, Its in the Bag!
Its Crunch Time!
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JCRC Lunch and Learn Program |
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On Wednesday, March 24th, join us for a frank look at the challenges and issues facing our prison system and what our state government is doing to address over incarceration
in our state.
The JCRC Lunch & Learn series are an effort to raise awareness in our Jewish community about area organizations and people who are working to repair our world. This program is being offered in conjunction with Temple Beth El’s Tirdof series. Tirdof programs provide opportunity for reflection, conversation and action.
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Jewish Summer Camp:
Scholarships Available
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There is great hope that the Summer of 2021 will see Jewish summer camps once again be filled with fellowship, fun and great learning experiences. Most Jewish camps cancelled their 2020 sessions due to COVID-19 but are gearing up to welcome campers back in 2021. Collat Jewish Family Services, with support from the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, is ready to help families apply for both local and regional scholarships.
Although many Jewish camp scholarships are awarded based on financial need, campers currently in grades 1 through 9 who will be experiencing their FIRST Jewish sleepaway camp experience are also eligible for a one-time $1,500 grant with no financial need requirement. This special funding is offered through the Goldring Jewish Summer Camp Experience Incentive Grant Program.
In addition, need-based scholarships are available for campers of all ages, regardless of camp experience, through the Birmingham Jewish Foundation, Jewish Children’s Regional Services, many synagogues and many of the camps themselves. Application deadlines are SOON so begin your application process today.
In past years, scholarship funds have been used to help Birmingham families send their children to an array of Jewish camps, including:
To learn more about Jewish camp scholarships and how to apply, contact Lynn Rathmell,
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Sisterhood Passover Cooking Demo
March 7 @ 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Temple Beth-El
Join Sisterhood for a Cook-A-Long demonstration of two beloved Passover recipes; Natalie Sikora’s famous carrot kugel and Jan Hirsch’s delicious “matzah crack!” Engagement and Collaboration Coordinator, Margaret Norman, and Jan Hirsch will be demonstrating these recipes and inviting participants to watch and learn or cook-a-long. Register in advance here to receive the recipes and a list of ingredients.
"The New Jewish Canon”:
A Conversation about Contemporary Judaism
March 9 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Temple Beth-El
The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been a period of mass production and proliferation of Jewish ideas, and have witnessed major changes in Jewish life and stimulated major debates. Join this class to talk about the book, “The New Jewish Canon,” which came out this year in July. This book offers a conceptual roadmap to make sense of some of this rapid change. The New Jewish Canon is an entry point for the Jewish intellectual and communal zeitgeist of the contemporary period and the recent past, canonizing our most important ideas and debates of the past two generations; and just as importantly, stimulating debate and scholarship about what is yet to come. Join Rebbetzin Bethany with your lunch on zoom to talk about some of these debates. Register here for the zoom link.
Introduction to Judaism with
Rabbi Adam Wright
March 9 @ 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Temple Emanu-El
Join us for an engaging 12-session course for anyone interested in exploring Jewish life. Open to all, this course is perfect for interfaith couples, those rearing Jewish children, spiritual seekers, individuals considering a “return” – (conversion), and Jews who want a meaningful adult Jewish learning experience. Our programs welcome people from all backgrounds. Topics include holidays, life cycle celebrations, theology and core beliefs, prayer, Torah, history, antisemitism, and the Holocaust, Zionism, and Israel, the North American Jewish experience, and the tapestry of the Jewish people today. Register here.
The Tikkun Middot Project
March 9 @ 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Temple Beth-El
The Tikkun Middot Project is an innovative, national program to promote character development through mindful engagement with the Jewish Mussar tradition. Beth El is participating by building a small group that will meet to study, discuss, and practice character-forming techniques. Created by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, the purpose of the program is to bring positive communal change by helping individuals acknowledge and reduce negative behavioural patterns. The course will help you be more skillful at navigating challenging situations by building up your wisdom and compassion. During each unit participants will learn about an action and a focus phrase they can use to help them work on the character trait for that month. Registration is required and the group will close after the first session so that we can build intimacy as a group. Zoom registration can be found here.
JewCurious?
March 10 @ 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Temple Beth-El
Are you JewCurious? Have you heard that Judaism is about asking questions? Questions are the start of a great conversation. I would say, Judaism is about a great conversation. Come learn more about what that conversation sounds like by joining this JewCurious Class. This class is for everyone looking to get a broad overview of Judaism. This 101 class lasts for 20 weeks and is open to anyone who is curious. We’ll explore the major narratives, history, practices, theology and values of Judaism. You can expect that the learning will happen with curiosity and open-mindedness and respect for one another’s boundaries and beliefs. Taught by Bethany Slater from Temple Beth El. To register: Click here to register!
Birmingham Jewish Federation Annual Campaign Speaker Event
March 10 @ 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
The Birmingham Jewish Federation
Please join us for an intriguing and powerful evening featuring Mosab Hassan Yousef, a Palestinian who worked undercover for Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet from 1997 to 2007. The information Yousef supplied prevented dozens of suicide attacks and assassinations of Israelis, exposed numerous Hamas cells, and assisted Israel in hunting down many militants, including the incarceration of his own father, a Hamas leader, Sheikh Hassan Yousef. Yousef will help us understand Islamic ideologues and have hope for achieving peace for the region and subsequently for the world. Register here!
Podcast Dinner Club: Political theology, Messianism and Zionism with The Jewish Story
March 18 @ 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Temple Beth-El
A new series of Podcast Dinner Clubs are ideal for busy people who love learning! Structured like a book club, we’ll meet each session with a different host and listen together to segments of a podcast, pausing for discussion. Podcast dinner clubs come with free snack drop-offs for those who register in advance, so that we can nosh and socialize!
For our second session we will be listening to an episode of The Jewish Story: A Wandering Jewish History Podcast, titled, “The re-emergence of political theology and messianism in 1948.” You don’t need to listen ahead of time, or know anything about these subjects to participate. Just come ready to discuss, learn and have fun! Register here by March 11th.
Financial Assistance Available
for Jewish Community Members
Thanks to a grant from the Greatest Needs Fund of the Birmingham Jewish Federation’s COVID Relief Campaign, Collat Jewish Family Services is offering financial assistance to Jewish community members who are facing financial insecurity because of job loss, caring for family or other issues. Confidential assistance is available to members of the Birmingham Jewish community who need help with rent or mortgage payments, utilities, prescription costs or other needs. To learn more, please email CJFS Clinical Director Marcy Morgenbesser LICSW, marcy@cjfsbham.org or call 205.879.3438.
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The Birmingham Jewish Federation
@jewishbirmingham
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