Trending in Our Jewish Community

TRENDING IN OUR JEWISH COMMUNITY

June 9, 2023

Shabbat Shalom CT!

I hope everyone enjoyed the six weeks of community events celebrating Israel's 75th birthday.

Our Israel Emissary, Ofek, and the entire Federation staff, did an extraordinary job working with all of our community partners to make this celebration fun and informative!

This is an inspiring time at the Federation and over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing lots of good news with you.

This week, the new Federation website launched and we are very excited about it! You'll be able to discover our programs, find volunteer opportunities and learn about Federation impact.

The most exciting component of the new site is the Community Calendar -- located right on the home page. This calendar was a long time coming and will enable everyone in the community to add their own events -- both public events and private board and committee meetings.

Our office manager, Priscilla Ling, will be offering Zoom calendar training on how to best use the calendar for your organization, so stay tuned!

I also want to tell you about a new Federation initiative, The Israel Desk. It's an impactful program that brings all things Israel into the community. Read about it below -- it's pretty amazing!

Am Yisrael Chai. I wish you a safe and peaceful Shabbos.

Carin Savel, CEO

carin@shalomct.org

BIG NEWS!

We are thrilled to announce that Ofek Moscovich has extended his shlichut for another year and will remain until June 2024 to help build the new Israel Desk for our community.

Since Fall 2022, Ofek has been quite successful building upon the best pieces of our former shinshinim (Israeli Young Emissary) program, adding a higher level of programs for adults, which has created more touchpoints for a more diverse audience.

It is with this goal in mind that Ofek will remain to create a wider array of opportunities for our community to engage with Israel.

Our vision for the Israel Desk is to create a resource center for ‘all things Israel’ that will serve all of our community partners.

Next year, Ofek will launch a few new series of programs, including an Israeli film series and an Israeli cooking series. In addition, he will begin to create a speakers' bureau to highlight different aspects of Israeli life, from arts and culture to current events.

His goal is to bring speakers to the community and serve as a resource for area congregations and agencies looking for program ideas. He will also schedule one Friday Israeli Kabbalat Shabbat program in each congregation and offer some individual programs in each as well.

Ofek will work with the teen youth groups, attending BBYO and USY meetings to create relationships with the teens, and to lead programs on Israel during these very critical pre-college years.

This is a big undertaking, but Ofek is up to the task! We look forward to your continued partnership as we work together to strengthen our community’s bond with Israel. Welcome to the Israel Desk!

B'shalom,

Carin Savel, CEO

Stacy Kamisar, Director of Programming and Partnerships

Ofek Moscovich, Israel Desk

Our Israel@75 Celebration ended with a BANG! The Israeli Scouts' Friendship Caravan danced and sang their way into our hearts! Face-painting, photo booth, shuk shopping, and delicious Israeli cuisine made it a great conclusion to the festivities!

IN MEMORIAM

The Jewish Federation Family was so saddened

by the passing of Linda Lerman last week.

Linda was passionately involved in Federation volunteerism. She was a treasured member of the Federation board, served as its co-chair and as an informed member of the Allocations Committee.

She also helped us launch our Books2Connect program and was a valued member of our Jewish Community Relations Council, which reflected her core values on social justice.

We all knew Linda as bright, funny, caring and meticulous in everything she did. If you ever needed by-laws to be read thoroughly, Linda was the one to ask!

We will all remember the thoughtful handwritten notes she wrote to each of us on holidays and she will be missed dearly.

May her memory be for an eternal blessing.

זיכרונה לברכה

On Sunday, June 4th, we celebrated the graduation of 12 seniors. We are so proud of their commitment to Merkaz. They have shown great dedication to Jewish life and education, and we hope this devotion continues well after they leave Fairfield County and embark on their next journey.

At graduation, senior Spencer Wright gave an address where he shared Merkaz’s impact. Here is some of what he said:

"In so many ways, Merkaz has expanded our education and understanding beyond the Hebrew that was taught to us in Hebrew School.

Merkaz has given us the safe environment to have open dialogue, to challenge one another, to have thought-provoking discussions and have allowed us to ask questions and get answers to difficult problems we can or will face in life.

For instance, in Lisa Becker’s class, I’ve learned about the cultural connections between food and being Jewish. Most Friday nights my mom makes a roasted chicken—“Bobbie’s Chicken” named after my grandmother, the originator of this food—and roasted potatoes.

I was also fortunate to have taken "College Bound" and "Choices on the College Campus" taught by Noah Nemitoff-Bresler here at Merkaz.

Noah asked me to do research on the Hillel program at Penn State, the school I will be attending in the fall. I found that the Hillel at Penn State is vibrant and very present on campus.

I look forward to incorporating Hillel into my Penn State community to do things like having Shabbat and eating a Friday-night roasted chicken, being surrounded by other Jewish students, and having a place to go for the holidays.

As we embark on this next chapter in our life, the world is going to get much bigger from our Fairfield County bubble.

However, I know that each of us will be building upon the strong Jewish foundation that our parents and our Merkaz teachers have provided us."

Kol Hakavod to the Merkaz Class of 2023!

Enjoy the photos, courtesy of J. Avery Wham photography. You can check out the full graduation program here.

Interested in Merkaz? Contact Sophie!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Are you interested in helping to preserve the stories of Holocaust survivors?

We need general office help with creating databases, reading important materials, archiving documents, exhibit assistance, filing and fielding calls.

You can help protect the legacies of our survivors and their descendants.

ADD YOUR NAME TO VOLUNTEER

In Real Times – Arthur Szyk:

Artist and Soldier for Human Rights

September 29 – December 16, 2023

The Jewish Federation is honored to partner with Fairfield University to bring you this extraordinary event.

Coordinated at Fairfield University by Philip Eliasoph, PhD, the exhibition will feature more than 60 original works by the acclaimed artist, including political cartoons, illustrations of critical texts of the Jewish tradition, and stamps and seals that honor the power and importance of democratic ideals.

Click here for the full program.