October 27, 2022

Shalom Chaverim (Dear Friends),

You are receiving this message the night before the World Series. For baseball fans, the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies should be a fun match up. It will surely be a bright spot in a week of disturbing headlines that include brazen antisemitism, bellicose rhetoric from the Kremlin, and a significant leadership shuffle in the United Kingdom. Here in the United States, we’re heading into mid-term elections, with early voting underway in our area. Election Day is coming up on Tuesday, November 8th. To paraphrase the well-known Chinese proverb, we certainly do live in interesting times…

When the world seems stressful, overwhelming, or unfocused, it is such a comfort to know that our South Palm Beach County Jewish community offers so many incredible opportunities for us to focus on the good. Here at our Adolph & Rose Levis JCC, our programs are a bright spot in the lives of so many in our community. Recently our Levis JCC Zale preschool presented “Parents’ Night Out,” our Schwedelson Special Needs Department’s Dine Around Town kicked off (pictured), and our Sandler Center programs are in full swing. See all of our upcoming events, as well as our classes, programs, and services at levisjcc.org.

This week’s Torah portion is Noach (Noah), the second portion in the book of Genesis, which is the first of the Five books of Moses. In it, Noah is noted to be “a righteous man in his generation.” My wife Lori and I chose this name for our son because, as most parents do, all we want for our children is to lead the best possible lives given the circumstances and tools they have been blessed with. We hope for our children to lead kind and compassionate lives. If we all aspired to be “righteous in our generation,” perhaps the world would be a little kinder, a little gentler, a little more compassionate.

Light Shabbat candles Friday evening at 6:23 pm
Shabbat ends Saturday night at 7:15 pm

Shabbat Shalom,

Marty