Please call the office or send an email as soon as possible regarding your memorials in the Yizkor Book. The deadline for this was August 31, but we will extend the deadline until Wednesday, September 6. We must have ample time to edit memorials and print the books.
Full page is $136, 1/2 is $54, 1/4 page is $36, and 1/6 page is $18.
The Seder table is centered with pristine white roses, as many gather and tell stories of Moses. Eight days of traditions and rituals solely for the religious, and spiritual. Pass the kosher matzo over here. It’s beautiful Passover my peers. Let’s sing and sip on some sweet wine, and embrace this lovely Jewish holiday time.
Join us for tonight’s state-wide event as we share the story of Hanukkah, highlight our Jewish community and state-wide allies, and hear from Jewish Federations of North America about ShineALight; let’s spread the light of the season to dispel the darkness.
The Shine A Light Initiative
Shine A Light is an international initiative to illuminate the dangers of antisemitism through education, community partnerships, workplace engagement, and community advocacy. Shine A Light draws from the inspiration of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, and seeks to catalyze conversations within and across communities so that people will better understand what constitutes antisemitism and take steps to respond.
2022 is the second year Greenville, through Greenville Jewish Federation, is a Shine A Light community. In 2022, it is also the inaugural year that all three Jewish Federations have come together in a coordinated effort.
PJ Library Greenville held two main programs for Hanukkah. On December 10, PJ Library had a Hanukkah event space at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate “World Wonderland” holiday festival and shared the story of Hanukkah with over 900 participants. On December 11, PJ Library hosted the Family Community Hanukkah party at Roller Sports Skating Rink.
Jewish Federations of South Carolina partnered with Southern NCSY to bring the Hate Ends Now tour with the Cattle Car Exhibit back to South Carolina – the exhibit traveled from Greenville, with Chabad of Greenville hosting, to Columbia with the local JCC as a host. The community reactions and participation in the pop-up exhibit were incredible. Our final stop was in Charleston with the Mount Pleasant library.
Locally, on December 15, our featured Shine A Light program with Ana Sazonov, sharing her story as a Ukrainian, was held at First Baptist Greenville.
December 18 was Chanukkah on Main, and Greenville Jewish Federation expresses our collective gratitude to Rabbi Leibel and Musie Kesselman for an incredible program and for partnering with Shine A Light – Greenville Jewish Federation.
Tonight, December 20, is a virtual State-Wide Menorah Lighting – you can register with the button below – Jewish leaders in Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Hilton Head will be represented. We will also share a 15-minute video of state-wide leaders expressing solidarity and allyship with the Jewish community. The program also features a national guest speaker from the Jewish Federations of North America.
On Thursday, December 22, at 6 pm, a story will air locally on FOX news about antisemitism.
Another incredible effort you might not know about happened on December 12, when our local city council members and Mayor Knox White voted unanimously on a City Resolution on the growing problem of antisemitism.
Thank you, Elizabeth Lapidus, Greenville Jewish Federation Community Engagement, for spearheading the initiative.
RESOLUTION NO. 2022-53
A R E S O L U T I O N
SHINING A LIGHT ON THE GROWING PROBLEM OF ANTISEMITISM IN AMERICA, SPECIFICALLY IN GREENVILLE AND SOUTH CAROLINA, AND RECOGNIZING IMPORTANT OUTREACH TOOLS TO ADDRESS IT
Our community is growing and as we spend time with family, friends, and our community, let’s all #ShineALight for love, justice, kindness, compassion, humanity, allyship, and community. Stand united against antisemitism, racism, and all forms of hate.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
“Where the rubber meets the road is the most important point for something, the moment of truth. An athlete can train all day, but the race is where the rubber meets the road, and they’ll know how good they really are.” (The Rock Group, Meatloaf)
Dear friends,
My one-time cab driver father would quip when I got a flat tire, “Yes, but it’s only flat on the bottom!” As we will have emerged from the High Holy Days with its hopeful promise of transformation, the time ahead is daunting. After the spoken words, the lofty expressions of hope and the promises uttered to do better the proof of its implementation is when the “rubber meets the road!”
The mood of this seasons shifts dramatically after Yom Kippur with Sukkot. It is a joyous holiday though some elements are somber. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) speaks of the transitory nature of all our lives, the impermanence of all things. “Vanities of vanities,” Kohelet declares in references the accomplishments and endeavors we cling to. A somber bit of solace is offered threaded through the pages of how living in the moment should be our ongoing concern. “To everything there is a season.” Long before Pete Seeger made those words popular through a musical offering (and don’t forget The Byrds’ version) Jews have taken heart from its imperative to find gratitude in the now.
Sukkot is a time to breathe. To take in the gifts of what is and focus less on what was and even on what will be. Not a mood of fatalism to be sure, but one of hopeful surrender, a faithful view that things may have happened and will happen for a reason. It is that realization that impels us to be more charitable as we notice those who have less for which to show gratitude. As our Thanksgiving observance of Sukkot arrives I hope that it will be one of joy for you and all your loved ones!