Federation update

1. Our “Feeding the Community” emergency initiative in partnership with Jewish Family Services has been going very well. We have 50 seniors now receiving prepared kosher meals and scores of others receiving delivered groceries. Thank you to all the generous supporters and volunteers keeping this program running, and a special thank you to Jewish Family Services for its partnership.

2. While we enjoy our annual local celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, and we look forward to celebrating together in person next year, yasher koach to national Federation (JFNA) for an incredible virtual celebration earlier this week. Tens of thousands of Zionists around the globe enjoyed a remarkable program.

Yellow sticky note with 3. What’s next? We are now beginning the process of figuring out when and how to reopen the Jewish community. First and foremost, we are waiting for guidance from our state and local governments and any advice from our medical and scientific advisors.

But we also turn to our Jewish leaders and advisors for their guidance. Synagogues will be waiting for recommendations from the national offices of their religious denominations; JCCs will be waiting for the JCCA, and we are working with JFNA.

Mark Gurvis, Executive Vice President of JFNA wrote, “there is no pandemic playbook.” JFNA, therefore, will be hosting workshops on “scenario planning”. Rather than using historical data (which doesn’t exist), we will be forecasting possible alternative scenarios with planned responses for them. We will share these scenarios with our local partners.

Government guidelines with Jewish guidance must go hand-in-hand. The JTA published an article this week titled, “Some governors are letting houses of worship reopen. Synagogues aren’t going for it.” Sadly, the article devolved into some political banter, but the sentiment remains. When we reopen, it will be done thoughtfully and deliberately, with the health and safety of our community as our primary concern.

 

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