Today is Rosh Hodesh Nisan, the first day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which means Passover is just two weeks away! It’s exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. There is a lot to do to prepare for Passover, on top of all of our other day-to-day responsibilities. Still, without that preparation, Passover wouldn’t be Passover. This preparation of course involves cleaning and cooking, but it also includes preparing for our seders. Like with any class or presentation, preparation is the key to success. There is no one size fits all seder. That’s why it is important to think about who will be around your table, and how to best fulfill the central commandment of Passover: v’higadita l’vinkha – to share the story of Passover with our children. The Passover seder is our opportunity to think about how our own stories fit into our people’s story, with food, song, conversation and shtick. We are here to help you with your preparation. You can go to our website for resources that include stories, questions, and recipes. There is also still time to order from our ever-growing family of Haggadat Sholom, the TBS Haggadah, loving dedicated by the Baskies Family. Our original Haggadat Sholom is now in its 4th printing! It is a wonderful guide for all the participants at your seder tables. We also have our Haggadat Sholom Kids Edition, and newly published this year a Haggadat Sholom Kids Edition Leader’s Guide, which brings more ideas to enhance your seders. If you would like to order any of these haggadot you can do so by clicking here. I am so proud of our Haggadat Sholom series, and I hope that you will use them to engage your seder participants this year for many years to come.  

A Message from Ron Safier, Executive Director

SAVE THE DATE! On Tuesday, May 16 at 6:45pm, we will be conducting a very important congregational security training on responding to an active shooter event. Security continues to be our highest priority, and we are continually evaluating our procedures and infrastructure to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our entire TBS community.

In recent years we have taken many steps to make our building more secure, implementing new policies such as the one entrance only policy, as well as installing various “target hardening” components such as the bollards and planters, additional exterior and interior cameras, new doors/locks, a new door entry/intercom system, an increase in our usage of security personnel, and other security initiatives that I would be happy to discuss with you. All of the policies and security procedures that we have been implementing have come at the recommendation of various law enforcement agencies.