April 17, 2025 /19 Nisan 5785

Included in This Newslette

Online Yizkor Service - 4/18

Shabbat Service - 4/25

Shir Ami Passover Seder Photos

New Community Conversation

Weekly D'var Torah

Social Action Items

Greenwich Jewish News

Shir Ami congregants and friends enjoyed a 2nd Night Passover Seder together on Sunday, April 13th at Round Hill Community Center.

Thank you to Fran, Abby, Joan, Jackie and Anne for organizing the event, and to Rabbi David for leading the service.

Special gratitude to everyone who brought delicious food to share. As always we had an incredible spread for both dinner and dessert.

Wishing everyone a good Passover week!

Six Tuesdays started April 15, 2025.  

Open only to Shir Ami members and individuals who have learned with Shir Ami previously

Israel evokes inspiration, dismay, pride, anger, blessing, suffering, love and hate. The State of Israel and the Mideast community, including the ongoing crisis in Palestinian life, deeply touch the heart of everyone in and near Jewish life. Yet rarely do we discuss them openly. Too often such matters are avoided like a Third Rail of Jewish life, or suppressed, or relegated to quiet corners.

This community conversation series will explore how the Mideast touches us and our Judaism, through the lenses of Jewish values and important topics in Jewish and Mideast life. We also will explore together how to have open and respectful dialogue about the Middle East with each other…and hopefully others in our lives.

In order to confirm the best format for this offering, Rabbi David and the planning committee need to determine how many people will participate. In that spirit, please register immediately. It will best serve participants and the community if participants make maximum effort to attend all sessions.

For details about the series, topics and expectations, please read our full blogpost here.

Soul Spa is open to all.

Our Torah study each Shabbat morning has become a mainstay of our programming. As we examine the parashat each week under Rabbi David's guidance and questioning, our sacred writings become more familiar, the stories clearer, and the teachings more meaningful.



Soul Spa is free for members and non-members alike. You may drop in frequently or infrequently, as you like. Please click here to find the weekly Zoom link and for recordings of previous discussions.

Morning Mitzvah for JFS-Stamford

On April 8, a group of Shir Ami members volunteered at JFS Stamford to package passover meals, mostly for homebound Jewish seniors. We included chicken and vegetarian meals and matzah. We packed well over 100 bags. We were very gratified to find out there are about 130 Holocaust survivors in Fairfield County, and many of our packages would go to them. Madelyn Yale, Fran Pribish, Marie Orsini Rosen, Susan Kreiger and myself worked together to pack up the meals.

Wednesday May 7 at 10:00 AM will be our next Morning Mitzvah at JFS. Not sure what we will be doing, but we know it will benefit those in need. Come join us if you can - just call me 203.249.0602 or send an email to ronnykaplan@snet.net.

Happy Passover to all,

Ronny Kaplan

Registration for the US election for the 39th World Zionist Congress is now open! Reform Jews have the unique opportunity to make our voices matter in determining Israel’s future. A vote for Reform is a counterweight to the ultra-conservative voices that are attempting to drown out more progressive voices in Israel. Your vote will help advance pluralism and secure resources for Reform synagogues, rabbis, and values in Israel, safeguard the rights of minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community in Israel and influence the allocation of $1 billion annually to causes that impact Israel and the global Jewish community. Am Yisrael Chai! 18 shekels ($5) will register you to vote at www.azm.org - vote now to make our voices heard!

JFS Greenwich Emergency Appeal

Shir Ami has already contributed from its Social Action Fund, but individual members may also want to contribute or otherwise participate. Click here for the link to the JFS website donation page.

A Trip That You Might Find Interesting

Anne Frank The Exhibition

Hosted by the Center for Jewish History

15 W. 16th Street, New York, NY

Whether or not you have faced that revolving bookcase and the steep staircase that leads you to the rooms in the annex where Otto Frank hid his family in Amsterdam, you should consider a visit to the replica now on exhibit in New York.

This prefabricated construction was commissioned by The Anne Frank House in June 2024 and shipped in a container. The exhibition opened on January 27th to mark 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz and has been extended to October 31, 2025.



Thousands of photos of The Annex were taken to assist in creating an accurate replica of the space in which the Frank family was confined and where young Anne wrote her diary. The exhibition surrounds you with the story of that dangerous time in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and the

Frank family’s valiant effort to survive.

Interesting background and ticket purchase available at:

https://www.annefrankexhibit.org/.

In our weekly Blessing and Simchas, we invite members to offer congratulations on a special event in someone’s life, blessings for healing, or to remember a loved one.

If you make a special donation and would like to share it in the newsletter’s “Blessings and Simchas," let us know by emailing shirami.info@gmail.com with the subject line, "Blessings and Simchas" no later than 9:00 AM on Monday. Be sure to include the wording for how you want the donation and the donor to be recognized, including your name, the occasion and the recipient's name(s).

If you choose to make a donation, you may do so by visiting our website's donation page or by mailing a check to Congregation Shir Ami, 1273 East Putnam Avenue, P.O. Box 312, Riverside, CT 06870-9998. 

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