Upcoming at Or Chadash

Weekly Newsletter - April 1, 2026

Schedule

April 3

Friday

5:30 PM - 8:30 PM Congregational Passover Seder

In person at Or Chadash

"In every generation let each one feel as if he or she came forth out of Egypt" (from the Haggadah of Pesach)

Each year the Jewish People throughout the world gather around the Seder table, united in our collective memory of the passage from slavery to freedom.

It is my pleasure to invite you and your family to join me for our Or Chadash Congregational Seder. We will be gathering at 5:30 PM to schmooze. The seder will begin promptly at 6:00 PM. We will join together in story (Haggadah means "the telling") and song as together we create a meaningful holiday experience.

April 8

Wednesday

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Or Chadash Reads - Book Discussion

See flyer below for details.

April 9

Thursday

7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Board of Trustees Meeting

April 10

Friday

Celebrate Shabbat at Home with Friends and Family

April 16

Thursday

6:30 PM - 8:15 PM Religious School: Grades 7, 8, 9, 10

In person at Or Chadash

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Sisterhood Mah Jongg

In person at Or Chadash - see details in flyer below.

April 17

Friday

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Shabbat Services at Or Chadash with Rabbi Joe Forman and Cantor Jeff Warschauer

Join us for this service in person and on Zoom.

Please email Rabbi Forman no later than 5:00 PM on Friday with the names you would like him to read during the Mi Shebeirach.

Yahrzeits

Barbara Levine

Marc Leon

Tom Tilley

Robert Jarmel

Maude Albert

May Gong

Norman Halper

Lorraine Blaicher

Stanford Bernard Speizer

Richard Landman

Bernice Sherman

Frances Tsukroff

Sarah H. Levin

April 18

Saturday

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Shabbat Services and Bat Mitzvah of Samara Gold

April 19

Sunday

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Religious School: Grades 3, 4, 5, 6

In person at Or Chadash

10:15 AM - 12:00 PM Religious School: Grades K, 1, 2

In person at Or Chadash

10:15 AM - 12:00 PM Sisterhood Walk and Talk with Cantor Jeff

In person at Or Chadash

April 21

Tuesday

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Adult Education with Rabbi Forman on Zoom

View Full Schedule

Yahrzeit List

Here's the Buzz....

Just named the March Late Show Book Club pick!

"It's a beautiful and nuanced portrait of a contemporary family. The book centers around... fallout over a controversial subject that has torn countless families apart: a cake recipe." ~ Stephen Colbert

"This novel about family drama is so good you may want to re-read it immediately." ~ Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air

"It's not a novel, it's not a short story collection, it's a book of linked stories that together add up to a big, messy, richly textured modern family drama. At the center of the drama are the Rubinstein sisters, three elderly Jewish women in varying states of motherhood... grandmother-hood, stepmother-hood, mother-in-law-hood." ~ Jenny Rosenstrach, creator of the Dinner A Love Story newsletter

March 29th - Sisterhood Healthy Drinks

March 29th - Religious School

Mandelbread for Passover Chipwich

Hannah and Jamison received

their prayer books

Practicing L’cha Dodi

Passover Learning

Welcoming Cole to Or Chadash

Or Chadash religious school will be participating in the Mill to Mill peace flag project. Simone’s artwork preparation and preliminary design.

Visit our advertisers - they are friends and family of our synagogue!

Please check them out at the bottom of this newsletter and support them as they so generously support us!

News

Chesed Caring Community

The Hebrew word chesed means "compassion". The Or Chadash Chesed

Caring Community is an informal group of congregants dedicated to helping

members of our temple through life’s challenging times with acts of compassion.

You can volunteer as much or as little time as you are able, even just a few minutes to write a get-well or sympathy note or to make a comforting phone call. Very often, the people who help with Chesed activities get the same uplifting feeling as those who receive assistance. By helping others and allowing ourselves to receive help, we forge meaningful connections with other members of the Or Chadash temple community.

Right now we are looking for volunteers to lead two important services provided by the Chesed Community:

Arranging Food for Shivas - Reach out to the family and see if they would like a meal delivered. If so, find out from where and then make the arrangements to have it delivered.
Organize "Meal Trains" for births & critical illnesses - Reach out to the family to see if & when they might need assistance with meals. Then establish a calendar of when meals are needed and the rest is easy! Rabbi Joe and Betsy will take care of communicating with the congregation to ask folks to supply & deliver the meals.

If you are interested in leading either of these Chesed Community services, please contact Betsy Zalaznick (bzalaznick@gmail.com) or Rabbi Joe Forman (josephforman@gmail.com).

“These are the obligations without measure, whose rewards, too, are without measure:

To perform acts of loving kindness,
To welcome the stranger,
To visit the sick,
To rejoice with the bride and groom,
To console the bereaved,
To make peace where there is strife.”

-Talmud

Programming Committee

We’re starting a new Programming Committee and would love for you to be part of it! This group will help come up with fun, engaging events for our congregation to enjoy together - whether that’s something to do, learn, or simply show up and connect.

The commitment is easy and flexible: one evening Zoom meeting a month and helping plan an event (or two) that interests you. If you enjoy sharing ideas, working with others, and helping bring people together, we’d love to have you join us.

Questions or interested in joining? Feel free to reach out to Debbie Weiss at deb1508@aol.com.

Or Chadash Temple Youth Group (OCTY)

2025-2026 OCTY Co-Presidents:

Kadence Melamud fyferella@gmail.com

Samantha Orr sorr246@gmail.com

Hayden Moscowitz hmoscowi@gmail.com

Braden Hubbard bradenhubbard08@gmail.com

OCTY Advisors:

Stephanie Orr stephanieorr123@gmail.com

Stacey Hubbard stacey.hubbard@gmail.com

Sisterhood

For more details on Sisterhood - click HERE

If you have an idea for an event, we'd love to hear from you!

Please reach out to:

Christine Berg cberg3@comcast.net

📢 Exciting News - Advertise with Us! 📢

We are now offering ad space in our synagogue newsletter to friends and family of our community! This is a great opportunity to promote your business while supporting our synagogue.

Ad Package: $360 per year (or 15 months for first-time advertisers) - newsletters are also accessible on our website for extended visibility
Your ad will appear:
In our weekly email newsletters (sent most weeks of the year)
On our social media pages
With a hyperlink to your business or email in the newsletter

Support our synagogue while connecting with a loyal, engaged audience!

Interested in advertising? Contact Debbie Weiss at deb1508@aol.com for more details.

The OC Gift Card Program:

Gift Cards That Give Back

What if you could donate to Or Chadash without spending any extra?

The OC Gift Card Program is the answer for you!

Why is this so good?

Purchase Gift Cards at face value, and retailers donate a percentage of those purchases to Or Chadash. You always get what you pay for ($100 of ShopRite Gift Cards = $100 to spend at ShopRite), and Or Chadash gets bonus funds because you used Gift Cards from our Program. This fundraising effort requires no extra spending! There are hundreds of retailers!

Click HERE to be directed to RaiseRight.com to create an account. Reach out to Christine Berg for Or Chadash's enrollment code. You only have to do this once. Remember your username and password.

Browse retailers: Take a look at all the participating retailers on the RaiseRight website, and place your order!

Four options for paying: Pay for your orders by checking account (29 cent fee), with credit card (3% fee), with debit card (1% fee), or by check.

Next deadline to order plastic Gift Cards is Wednesday, April 15th.

Reach out to Christine Berg any time with any questions: cberg3@comcast.net