Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving can happen every day...

Not the feast in which so many of us are about to indulge – our waist lines and cholesterol counts could never afford it – but the original meaning of giving thanks:  showing gratitude for what we’ve been given.  Our ancestors would make pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem on the harvest festivals.  They would stand before the kohen, the priest, in the Temple and recite, “My father was a wandering Aramean.  He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there…The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us….Adonai freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand…bringing us to this place and giving us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, Adonai, have given me.”  Our ancestors would then give the first fruits of their harvests to the Templeas an offering to God.

Giving thanks means giving back.  This evening at my family’s Thanksgiving feast I will be asking everyone at the table to make a donation to the Center for Food Action in Englewood.  But, our giving should not stop at Thanksgiving nor need it come only in the form of tzedakah, financial support.  It can come in the form of giving time to organizations in the community, many of which really need you in order to do what they do. 

Temple Sinai needs you to volunteer your time with us. Your fellow members have created the attached information to identify ways for you to participate – addressing the needs of our religious school, helping members in need, planning social action, community projects and lots more.

So let us know about where you would like to participate. Reach out to our Membership Chair David Klein, our Executive Director Jeff Katz or me to get started.  Let this Thanksgiving be a beginning of a lifetime of giving thanks by giving back.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Jordan