Path to Confirmation

Dear parents of the amazing Path to confirmation class:

As I’m sure you probably heard from your teen, their “Love Your Neighbor” projects were presented last night. I could tell that they had all spent some time thinking about the focus areas, the way our synagogue deals with these areas, and their own feelings about the environment, homelessness, women’s issues, LGBTQ+ issues, and post-Pittsburgh anti-Semitism. Part of the mission of this project was for them to examine these issues as if one day they might start up a project or decide to join existing school or community projects around these issues. They also had good suggestions for the synagogue that I will be giving to Rabbi Jaech.

Rabbi Pein, Rabbi Jaech, and Cantor Lauren all found time to attend some of the presentations, and it was really special having them there.

Please ask Coby, Sam/Noah, Evie/Amalie, and Hanna to share their presentations with me again to the email address jdance63@gmail.com, so that I can keep them on file. (I have Lucy’s and Haley’s, but can't access the others.)

During dinner, the students all had the chance to vote on which charity to support with their tzedaka money.

At the end of the evening, we had a “Hot Topics” session with Professor Ginsburg, along with the confirmation class, on the topic of anti-Semitism. We discussed real occurrences and talked about what we would have done in certain situations. It is so sad that we are still having to deal with this after all these years, but it is wonderful that the students can have a place to discuss issues like this and brainstorm about what they might do in situations where they or someone else is being treated badly or discriminated against.

Next week, we will not meet on Wednesday due to the long holiday weekend. When we return on November 28, we will have a new project to work on.

I am grateful each week to have the opportunity to work with your children. You have a lot to be proud of.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday,

Morah Judy

P.S. Mazal tov to Lucy Notrica and her family on her upcoming bat mitzvah celebration on Shabbat! Lucy, we missed you last night, but Marissa represented you well! Have fun this weekend!