It's been a while since I blogged....no excuses.
Well, it's the end of a decade, the first of the 21st century. Pretty cool!
It was a tough one though.Terrorism both here and in Israel initiated the decade and ends it as well.
A stock market boom to a stock market bust.Tsunamis and Hurricanes inflicting pain and suffering throughout the world.

Historically this decade will not go down as one of our finest.
We have entered the world of social networking.And the question is : How many friends do you have? And how do we define friends today...why we can even unfriend someone, and do it publicly.

We have all had our own personal ups and downs this decade.And only you know what they are. Hopefully the weddings, births, graduations, anniversaries, birthdays, family reunions, reconnecting to old friends, overcoming illnesses, new explorations, challenges and discoveries have all helped to make the decade a good one.

I wish you all the best for a very happy and healthy 2010!

Now that we are over the Thanksgiving holiday, we are in a trajectory to the "holiday season".
Whatever one might celebrate, December marks a time for people to brush off their anger and frustration, and smile while basking in the glow of all the lights. People wishing one another Happy Holiday becomes the norm.

Yet, many of us are still reeling from a very difficult economic climate. Joblessness is still high, delinquent mortgages are more common than ever,and food banks are becoming the supermarket of choice for so many. When thinking of giving gifts this year, think of giving one to the Federation. We feed the hungry at home,supply medicine for the elderly Holocaust survivor in Minsk, and provide counselling for those suffering from the trauma of war in Israel.

Ah...Thanksgiving!

I grew up in Canada and Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated in October (OK-no more Canadian jokes).

No turkey, no pilgrims,to us it was another day off from school.And it always seemed to correspond to Sukkot and we always felt ripped off if Thanksgiving fell on Sukkot or vice versa since the 2 days off from school became 1.

What a difference when we moved to the States in the mid 80's.
Thanksgiving truly is a MAJOR holiday for everyone and it is indeed one that took no getting used to.

Lets all enjoy a restful peaceful holiday with family and friends before the hectic December holiday period begins.

Back from DC and the GA.
What a great line up of programs.
A who's who of Israeli politicians including PM Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni who spoke to us at a lunch meeting for presidents and execs of Federations.
Rahm Emanuel pinch hit for President Obama who was at the Memorial Ceremony at Fort Hood,
A moving tribute to the Jewish men and women in the US military and inspiring stories from Israel...real stories about the remarkable achievements: New olim, start up companies, progress on economic development on the West Bank...so much to take in in 48 hours.

In the exhibit area, a myriad of new Jewish internet companies seeking to connect Jews in new and innovative ways...

The national Federation system unveiled its new name-Jewish Federations of North America- and logo, which we will probably migrate to in the next few months.

Next year in Orlando...Hope you can join us there.

UJC, the United Jewish Communities, is changing its name to the Jewish Federations of North America. About 10 years ago, UJA (the United Jewish Appeal) and CJF (Council of Jewish Federations) merged to create one unified national agency that would meet the planning, fundraising, leadership and advocacy support needs required by federations across the continent. Our federation is part of that system. When the 2 organizations merged, which was a feat unto itself,the issue of a proper name refecting the enhanced nature of this new organization was debated. At the time 4 names were suggested and federations across the continent were asked to weigh in on their preference....
Name recognition and branding is a key element in giving identity to any organization. Many at the time wanted to retain the UJA name since it was a well established recognizable name to so many...you know the joke...if you are stranded on a deserted island, don't worry, UJA will find you.
No one was really happy with the UJC name and it never really reflected who we were.
Well, we now have a new name for our national organization...The Jewish Federations of North America- the key element of the change was to ensure that the word "federation" appears in the name.The goal for JFNA now is to ensure that Federations across the country adopt the name the Jewish Federation of________________, if they are not so identified as such now. A great example of that is Boston's Federation which is known as CJP....What are the chances of CJP changing their name to The Jewish Federation of Greater Boston? Time will tell
The goal is to have every federation have the word federation in its name and now that the national organization will have federation in its name..it should make it easier for a very mobile national community to find the federation in its area.

The new name will be officially rolled out at this week's national conference-the GA- being held in Washington DC from Nov 8-10.
The Federation system will be honored to host President Obama on Tuesday morning of the conference This will be the president's first appearance before a national Jewish group since becoming president. He will be preceded on Monday morning by an appearance from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

A great event is just around the corner: Torathon will take place on Saturday evening November 7 at Congregation Beth Israel from 6:30 PM...
Over 50 presentaions dealing with all aspects of Jewish life will be crammed into 4 sessions throughout the evening-History, Israel, Health Care, Current events, Arts and Culture-you name it Torathon will have it.

A special teen program is being organized for that evening by our young emissaries-Hadas and Itai.

Check Torathon out at www.jewishcentralmass.org

Federation Shabbat is a way to inform our congregations about the Federation. Two have already been held - one at Temple Sinai and the other at B'nai Shalom.
Three more are scheduled:
Saturday Nov. 7 Howard Fixler JFCM president and our young emissaries Hadas and Itai will be the the presenters at Beth Israel
Friday Nov. 13 Temple Emanuel will host JFCM president Howard Fixler and our young emissaries
Friday Nov. 20 Beth Tikvah will welcome Federation executive director Howard Borer and JFCM president Howard Fixler.

Speaking of presidents, the other one, Barak Obama, will be speaking at this year's General Assmbly, the annual conference of UJC-The Jewish Federations of North America. The GA will be held in Washington DC from Nov 8-10 Check it out at www.ujc.org

It's always interesting to see who is reading my blogs....although I can't identify who is reading them..I can tell where the readers are from...I now know I have readers from Israel, Sweden and Canada, and the US (and yes there are even some readers from the Central Massachusetts area).

This weekend the Patriots will be playing the Bucs in London. Having lived in Tampa for 6 years, and having been a proud season ticket holder at Raymomd James Stadium, people ask me: "Now that you live in New England, who do you root for?"

Well, I have to be honest-I have now been in Worcester longer than Tampa. I have always said that the Bucs are my NFC team, and the Patriots are my AFC team-but when they tee off against one another on Sunday I will be rooting for the New England Patriots. Sorry, Glazer family.

This morning I bumped into a neighbor in the garage of my condo building. His mother was taken ill and was just being released from Fairlawn Rehab Center. He was hoping that enough services could be provided to her at home (she lives in a condo in the same building)so that she could continue to live as independently as possible. But he was not convinced that that would be the best solution and had recently visited Eisenberg Center, our only Jewish sponsored assisted living facility.

Although members of the Jewish community, neither are connected in any way to the community...

Yet when it might come to providing a warm, secure, and protected environment, the Assisted Living Facility they are looking to is the one sponsored by the Jewish community.

Got me thinking...for all of those in our community that are unaffiliated and unattached, there are those of us who do contribute to the community and it is we who are able to provide those services when needed to all in the community...

How do we educate that large group in our community that we all need to be part of the community....our concept of Tzedakah is to do the right thing.....so we are pleased when we can offer the appropriate services to those who need them....but we must also expect that they too must be contributing members of our community; not only when needed but at all times.

The 1931 campaign committee for $20,000 to help the Jews of Europe and to build the new land of Israel invites all the Jews of Worcester to attend a mass meeting on Sunday evening May 21 1931 at the Bancroft Hotel Ballroom.

This flyer in Yiddish, prepared by Harold Gurwitz's father, the then owner of Mercantile Press was distributed to Jewish households in Worcester.

1931-Early pioneers in Palestine were beginning to settle the land and join other Jews who had lived on the land for close to 2,000 years, after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Jews living in Palestine under foreign rule

1931-Soon the darkest period in Jewish history-the Holocaust-would take the lives of millions of Jews.

Yet Jews in Worcester MA were raisng funds to support Jews in Europe and Palestine....in 1931!

Today 78 years later, with our Jewish world so different, we are still looking after those in need in Europe, Israel and at home.

The final sentences of that 1931 flyer read:

We all know that times are very bad in America
We might not be able to give as much as we did in the past, but everyone must give as much as they can to improve the situation of our sisters and brothers who are waiting for our help.

The winter weather came early as our volunteers peered out the window yesterday.
They were here to make calls to their fellow community members for the 2010 annual campaign pledge to the Federation.
Over 175 individuals were reached and we raised over $23,000 for the community

Dr. Orna Blondheim, medical director of the Emek Medical Center was hosted by our community yesterday. Accompanied by Larry Rich, the hospital's development director and VP for international relations,Dr. Blondheim met with top UMassMemorial administrators at a special lunch meeting at the hospital. Umass staff led our guests on a tour of the emergency, trauma, and obstetrics departments of the hospital and shared notes with one another.We hope this will become the first of many exchanges between UMassMemorial and the Emek Medical Center. It would be great if we were able to arrange medical exchanges between the 2 hospitals.The Emek Medical Center is located in Afula which is our community's Partnership 2000 community in Israel...to read more about P2K, check it our here at www.snecp2k.org

Last evening, Dr. Blondheim and Mr Rich were hosted by Dr. Howard Fixler and his wife Jody at a reception for health care professionals at their home. Dr Blondheim described some of the challenges the hospital faces and some of the unique characteristics of the hospital which serves a large percentage of Israeli Arabs. The Hospital is located in the Gilboa region, an area which is approximately 60% Jewish and 40% Israeli Arab.

Dr. Blondheim also spoke about the health care system in Israel. All citizens in Israel-Arab and Jew-have health care insurance. The Israeli philosophy is that health care is a right, not a privelege.

Over 30 health care professionals attended the event. More events will be planned in the future.

If anyone is planning a trip to Israel, the hospital would be pleased to welcome you. I would be pleased to help facilitate that or any visit to our P2K community of Afula/Gilboa.

Dr Orna Blondheim CEO of the Emek Medical Center in Afula will be visiting us today. She will be meeting with several UMassMemorial officials and touring several departments at the hospital. She will be the guest this evening at a gathering of health care professionals at the home of JFCM president Howard Fixler.

It is our privilege to host Dr. Blondheim and Larry Rich director for international relations for the hospital to our community.

Whenever we visit the Medical Center in Afula, we are always warmly welcomed by Dr Blondheim and Larry Rich. It is our hope to forge closer relations between our medical community and theirs

We always need to remind ourselves when the rain begins to fall and the wind begins to blow that Sukkot was never meant to be a New England holiday...

After all the Jews sat in the sukkah in the desert and the fall weather in Israel is just about as perfect as one would want....

Moral of the story...celebrate Sukkot in Israel!

Where have all the young Jews gone?
At least those in their 20's and 30's. Many who grew up in the Worcester area did not return home after college...the lure of larger cities, greater social opportunities, new relationships, career choices are all factors that play into this equation. In addition, with all the pluses of growing up in a smaller community that is tightly knit, there are negatives that play out as well. The need for greater challenges, the need to break away from home, the attraction of something new and different and more diverse are all reasonable explanations for this phenomenon, not only here but in many places around the nation...How lucky are those few who have their families close by...
Yet, there are still those who have returned. The comfort of returning to a warm community, job opportunities available, the desire to be close to family, the ever changing and exciting nature of areas like Shrewsbury Street, the Canal District, and the ability to become involved in community life more easily are all contributing factors to the return of some natives.
And we have those who are moving to the greater Worcester area for the first time...these are the newbies who are looking to connect....
How are we connecting these young Jews? Frankly we are doing a terrible job...To be honest, though, we don't even know who they are and to be fair, how can we connect them if we don't know who they are...
So that's our challenge....we need to find out who's here...we have set up several social networking sites for this group, but they are only as good as the people we can drive to these sites.
Do you know of anyone who fits the age criterion of 20's and 30's...
Please let me know and we can begin to deal with this challenge.

This week I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr Melinda Boone, the new superintendent of schools for Worcester at a meeting arranged by us to introduce Dr Boone to the Worcester Jewish community. JFCM president Howard Fixler and Community Relations Council chair Carol Goodman Kaufman accompanied me to the meeting. We delivered a Jewish holiday calendar to her as well as informing her of Torathon and our young emissary program, among other topics. The following day we met with the T&G: Publisher Bruce Gaultney, Editor of the Editorial Pages, Chris Sinacola and Editor Leah M Lamson. We had a warm and friendly visit with them and discussed many issues.
We left both meetings knowing that we have friends at the school board and the T&G, and comfortable in the knowledge that we all care about Worcester and making it better.

OK...I am new to this blogging phenomenon...but if Anderson Cooper can blog while hosting his show, I can at least try to blog a few times a week. Once I can get comfortable with blogging, maybe I can even give twitter a try.

Seems that in order to become au courant (That's current for you non French speakers-after all I have not totally forgotten the French I learned for umpteen years while growing up in Montreal), and to keep in touch with all of you out there, blogging is the next best thing since white bread (personally I prefer sliced Challah).

So here we go again:
I love hearing from friends after spending time in synagogue
The aftermath of the High Holiday services are always so interesing..."hated the Rabbi's speech" "Loved the Rabbi's Speech" "Did you see what she was wearing" "services...way too long" "Too much standing" "where was everybody this year"...etc etc.

That's what's so cool about our Jewih community...I have been hearing the same comments for years no matter where we have lived: Edmonton Alberta or Louisville Kentucky or Tampa Florida. We say we are one community....we cry when our brothers are in danger, we rejoice collectively in our triumphs and we kvetch (another French term) at the imperfections of our community....but at least we care enough to kvetch and hopefully care enough to make things better.

Happy Sukkot

Hard to believe we will be fasting again this week...did we not just do that? (I am not one who fasts during all the times in the Jewish calendar when we are supposed to...).

Time for reflection, forgiveness and contemplation and then we begin all over again....

Lets see if we can all do better this year...be better people, be more sensitive to others,ask for forgiveness, spend more time with those most important to us....

And volunteer more, donate more and participate in community (however you define that) more.

Welcome to my first blog

Hello all,

So much happens on a weekly basis that needs to be communicated. I will be blogging frequently to pass information along or to give you my take on issues.

Check out the Federation's new video. Your feedback is welcome...the purpose of the video is to portray what we believe to be the exciting and dynamic community that Worcester is and can be as seen through the eyes of the Jewish community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu8yWP6jncU

We are very pleased to let you know that we have started a PJ Library family reading group that will be meeting this Sunday Sept 27 at 10 AM at Borders in Shrewsbury....this will be the second meeting of the group...families with kids between the ages of 6 months and 5 and a half years are welcome (of course older siblings can join the fray).