Our Community Newsletter - May 2025
Big Things are Happening Locally – Be Involved!
“Annual Meetings” ... not sexy. I get it. Instead of an Annual Meeting, what if we called this annual ritual an Annual Community Celebration?
I’m thrilled to invite you to this year’s celebration hosted by the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley on Thursday, June 5. Please join us either in person or on Zoom to celebrate our thriving Jewish community.
A Preview of the 15th Annual Michiana Jewish Film Festival
Join us May 12–15 at the University of Notre Dame’s Browning Cinema, located in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, for a multifaceted exploration of Jewish identity, community, culture, and history.
Temple Beth-El Celebrates 120 Years with Gala Event
The year 2025 marks the 120th anniversary of the founding of Temple Beth-El. Temple is going all out with a gala celebration to mark this occasion, and we hope you will be there!
Local Students Gain Profound Insights at Illinois Holocaust Museum
With financial support from the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley, the Okon Family Fund for Holocaust Education, the Schurz Foundation, and the Kurt and Tessye Simon Fund for Holocaust Remembrance, five area schools have this semester sent around 400 students to museum. The Federation support went to New Prairie and Penn High Schools, Penn’s Discovery Middle School, and the LaSalle Academy of the South Bend Community School Corporation.
New Opportunities for Engaging with our Shaliach Omer Karavani
We are happy to share the good news that our Federation’s Shaliach, Omer Karavani, will be staying for a third year in our community. This coming year we plan to provide more opportunities for members of our community to engage with Omer and learn about Israel.
Roasted Vegetable & Quinoa Salad from Our Community Table
As I sit here writing this column, it is just days before the holiday of Pesach. Very different sorts of recipes are on my mind than what I will be thinking about when this column comes out in May. Although, I have to admit that there isn’t a huge difference between the recipes that I make during Passover and the ones I make during the rest of the year.…
Book Club Reads THE BIRD HOTEL by Joyce Maynard
Everyone in our group loved this novel that takes place in a fictionalized Central American town. Loaded with explosively visual imagery including a volcano, its eruption, and a cast of engaging characters, we all agreed it’s a winner. We enjoyed the nostalgia from the rebellious 1960s, and the novel’s situations made us feel a mix of dread and danger, …
Make It Your Own
Baruch Hashem, we surpassed our goal for the Passover Pantry appeal! Thanks to everyone for making this possible.