Announcement of No Announcements!

Dear Friends,

When I have sent a message to you on Friday to date it has usually been followed by announcements about things that are happening at Temple Sinai. This message, however, is announcement free! In fact, all of my pre-Shabbat messages will be announcement free from now on. So, from here on out when you see an email with the subject line “Rabbi’s Message,” that is all you will find when you open it (for better or for worse!).

Does this mean you are going to get away without finding any announcements from Temple Sinai in your inbox? Of course not! We have decided to send out a weekly overview of Temple happenings in a new more readable and engaging format to replace the listing of announcements.

On the Jewish calendar, the week begins on Saturday evening after sunset. So, this is when you will be receiving our new weekly communication. We are entitling it, “Shavua Tov,” which means “a good week” or “have a good week,” the greeting one traditionally offers on Saturday evening after the Sabbath ends. Some of you may be familiar with the Havdalah ceremony with which we traditionally end Shabbat when we sing, “Shavua Tov” and wish each other a good week.

May you all have a Shabbat Shalom and then, when Shabbat ends, may you find “Shavua Tov,” our new Constant Contact message in your inbox, guiding you on how you can have a good week by participating in the many wonderful things at Temple Sinai!

Shabbat Shalom,
Jordan

P.S. As Reform Jews we believe in being flexible and not rigid in our application of the law. So, I hope you can forgive me when I include announcements of some important items and programs within this email message, as I have done in the past. For example, SFTY, our senior youth group, desperately needs donations of clothing to give out to the homeless in New York City this Saturday night when they participate in Midnight Run. Specifically, if you can bring new or gently used men’s coats, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts and pants or new underwear and socks to Temple before 6 p.m. tomorrow/Saturday evening you would be doing a great mitzvah. Indeed, at Purim time it is a special mitzvah to give tzedakah to the poor (in Hebrew, matanot la’evyonim, “gifts to the poor”). This is a great opportunity to fulfill this mitzvah before Purim arrives this Wednesday evening. And … watch for your “Shavua Tov” email for details about this Wednesday night’s spectacular Purim celebration at Temple Sinai!