Weekly Blast  

Flint Jewish Federation--The Smart, Meaningful Way to Give!
In This Issue
Critical Issues
How You Make a Difference!
 
UM CRITICAL ISSUES SERIES COMING!
Join other Federation members at UM's Critical Issues luncheons which have just been announced.  Cost is $140 per person for the series.  The presentations are always fascinating and the luncheons delicious.
  
Please call the office to sign up (810) 767-5922 or email to amusser@tm.net Go to UM Flint's website for more information about the speakers and other details.

  

SAVE THE DATES

Sunday April 14th

Annual Holocaust Remembrance

featuring Jeannie Opdyke Smith, daughter of Righteous Gentile Irene Opdyke.

 

PURIM AT TEMPLE BETH EL

Friday February 22 - 7pm -
Hilarious Purim service, fabulous FLRTY and young people-lead Purim shpiel, and always delicious Hamentashen Bake-Off, chaired by Kim Himelhoch.   Wear a funny costume, or at the very least, an amusing hat.  Miss our silliness-filled Purim celebration at your own risk!
 
HELP NEEDED!
Do you enjoy helping others?  Are you a great cook?  If so, the JCS needs your help, especially on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 4:30.  We need volunteers to help prepare our Congregate meals and Mobile Meals at the CBI kitchen.  If you can help please call Jyoti at (810) 767-5922.
 
THE FLAT
Friday and Saturday February 8 & 9 at 7:30 PM. and Sunday February 10 at 2:30PM
the Israeli Film THE FLAT will be shown at the Flint Institute of Arts.
As a documentarian cleans out the dwelling that belonged to his grandparents - immigrants from Nazi Germany - he uncovers clues pointing to a complicated and shocking story. "More like a thriller than a documentary" praises the San Francisco Chronicle. Subtitled, 97 minutes, directed by Arnon Goldfinger.
 
PJ LIBRARY COMING!
Is there someone in y
our family 6 months to 8 years of age who might enjoy Jewish books?  Do you know of a family with such a member?  The Flint Jewish Federation and members of the Tri-Cities Jewish community with help from the Ravitz Fund is bringing the PJ library to our area.  Children of participating families receive a Jewish book each month, free of charge.  There will be special story reading programs offered to these families, as well.  Sometimes there is also a CD of Jewish music for participants.  If you or someone you know would like to join the PJ Library email Susan Low at shlow@sbcglobal.net

              To donate now call 810 767-5922 or mail your donation to 619 Wallenberg St., Flint Michigan, 48502

Have you included the Federation in your will?

 

 Ivriah Purim

HOW YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOUR DONATIONS GO

You support Jewish life here in Flint.  We allocate funds to support Jewish Education at the Ivriah.  We make a large allocation to Jewish Community Services to support social services such as Mobile Meals, Congregate Meals, and transportation services such as Highway to Health.  We give scholarships and subsidies to youth to go to camp, Israel and youth conventions.

 

Your donations also help support Jewish life abroad.  With your generous support we help provide food, toiletries, and medicine to the elderly and vulnerable in Russia, Moldova, Ukraine and 67 other countries around the world through the united efforts of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Joint Distribution Committee.  We also support the rebuilding of Jewish life by supporting the establishment of Jewish Community Centers and Jewish camps and workshops in those 70 countries around the world.

 

Finally, we respond to emergencies in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities.  Your donations help us provide help to victims of terrorist attacks, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and economic collapse.  Look to the Blast for stories, photos and videos about how you make a difference with your gift to the Flint Jewish Federation. 

 

Soups On! JCC Cook-off Mixes Hot Soup and Warm Fellowship in Wintry Romania

 

"Is it time for soup yet?" was a question voiced by young and old last Sunday as they crowded into the JDC-supported Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Bucharest, Romania. They were there for the 4th edition of what has already become a much-loved winter tradition-the annual soup-making contest called Ciorberia.

JDC has put its best community development ideas into practice through the Bucharest JCC, staging innovative, even unexpected programs to appeal to Jews of different ages and backgrounds and attract them to the community. Ciorberia has succeeded in doing exactly that. As one of this year's 350 participants explained: "I heard about last year's event and here I am for the very first time. I especially love the community feeling and atmosphere, not to mention all the flavors you can feel in the air."

After all, what better way to ward off a Romanian winter's icy blast than with a bowl of hot, home-cooked soup?

Members of the Jewish community are encouraged to take part in Ciorberia as contestants-cooking up their own treasured recipe on the spot-or as tasters, purchasing coupons that allow them to sample all of the offerings and vote for their favorite soups.

In addition to this "popular vote," an official jury-whose members ranged in age from 6 to 72 and included two famous local chefs-determined the five "most exciting" soups.

The 28 varieties entered in this year's contest were prepared by community members of all ages, using mostly traditional Jewish recipes transmitted from generation to generation. The crowd eagerly snapped up copies (offered at a modest price) of the Ciorberia 4 Recipe Book, which contained all of the competing recipes and was prepared in Hebrew and Romanian.

With over 600 bowls of soup sold, the event was a resounding success. The crowd favorite was the Romanian bean soup, prepared by kids at the Gan Eden Jewish kindergarten and their teachers.

This is "the most tasty event of the year," declared one happy participant, though a six-year-old was a bit more critical: "I have tasted four different soups. I liked two of them a lot, one of them so-so, and the fourth one was too spicy!"

Kitchen aprons were presented to the contest winners, while all the contestants got chefs' caps, and extra prizes were awarded to the two youngest chefs. One of those, 10-year-old Dara, had insisted on preparing her own spinach soup recipe, though her family was a third-time participant in the contest.

Suzi, an 85-year-old member of the
JCC's Day Center program who had competed in all previous Ciorberia events, offered no less than three different soups this time around-and one of them proved a winner. It was a traditional Jewish beef soup that she'd learned how to prepare from her own grandmother, many decades ago.

It was this kind of connection between Jewish past and present that made this event so special, providing as it did food for the body and for the Jewish soul.