Saturday night the holiday of Passover ended. All over the world Jews began to enjoy ordinary foods. Middle Eastern Jews celebrated Maimouna, which is an opportunity to go from house to house and joyously share food. Some Jews sampled Italian food and some went to a restaurant of any preference. Manette, Danit and I enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches and milk shakes. Those first bites and first slurps bore a very special taste because for eight entire days we had gone without such luxuries. One of the purposes of changing our diet for the holiday of Passover is to identify with people who have much less than we do. Thankfully, many of us Jews have been free for many centuries. Pesach reminds us that there are those in our world, of many different religious identities, who still suffer oppression and abuse. We must never take our freedom for granted. We must celebrate and enjoy the taste of religious and communal liberty every day and work to assist others who are deprived of freedom and humanity.
In our own community, please remember to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Jews from Auschwitz by attending the Yom HaShoah service on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:00p.m. at the Shul. Local middle school and high school students have been studying theHolocaust and many pieces of artwork will be on display for our viewing. It isvery moving that local teachers in Mobile and Baldwin counties have been teaching Holocaust to our areastudents. Please attend the service and reflect upon the artwork and how the lessons of the Shoah are being transmitted throughout our region of the Deep South.
Remember--Friday April 17 is Tot Shabbat.
Family Service is 5:30-5:55 and Dairy Mexican dinner(6:00-6:30 p.m.) is available for all who RSVP ($3 for Shul members, $5 fornon-members. Toddlers eat free).RSVP to the office by Thursday April16 at 5:00p.m.
May we all live and be well!
Shalom. Rabbi Steve Silberman
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