Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life
Celebrating Jewish Life in Connecticut
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March 2026
Dear Coalition members:
This semester, I am taking an accounting class at a local community college. As many of you know, in the rest of my life I serve as the CEO of Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, a non-profit organization in Springfield. Because of some staffing transitions and the departure of the former CFO, I am spending more time with my finance team and supporting them has become a primary responsibility. I really enjoy it, but although I am good at reviewing and understanding financial statements, I am less familiar with the ins and outs of bookkeeping and the development of those statements. It has been, to say the least, a profound learning experience.
This is the month when many of us will be completing our taxes. It is also the month when we will begin to prepare for Passover – our holiday of freedom. We will purchase the supplies, clean the kitchen, and prepare our hearts for the recitation of the story of our Exodus from Egypt. Figuring out how to prepare for, denote, and appreciate the freedom that Passover reminds us of is a true blessing. We read in the Haggadah that “each person should see that they themselves have personally left Egypt. It is one of the most challenging parts of the seder – akin perhaps to writing the correct journal entry in the finance system and making sure that the right things are applied in the right places.
This year, I invite you to prepare some “freedom financial statements” to help you get ready for the holiday. This month let’s take a look at the world around us and mark the major events we see. And as we look at that list, we can do some quick math – do we feel less free or more free than the last time we sat around our Seder table? Does it add or subtract to our feeling of freedom?
Whether they are world events, or personal experiences that left a mark on our souls, we should account for them. And as we tally them up, we come to learn that this kind of accounting is really just simple math. As we look back at the arc of history, from the moment of our ancestors’ enslavement through their Exodus and from our journey to this country until today, we can ask a simple question. Are we headed in the right direction? If so, how can we keep marching and keep adding to our totals. And if not, how can we make the next month count so that when we gather around our seder table on April 1st, we can say that we truly have left a little bit of that enslavement behind and found just a bit more freedom hiding in our books this year.
Until then, I hope that spring comes to find you soon. And I look forward to celebrating our freedom and doing some of this accounting homework with you as we gather for our communal second seder.
Kol Tuv (Be Well),
Rabbi James
TZEDAKAH APPEAL:
During this desperate time for many, we think of and reach out to the many who are struggling.
HIAS : “Welcome the Stranger. Protect the Refugee” The oldest refugee agency in the world, established in 1902 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. http://hias.org
JDC: JDC uses impact measurement to reflects the diversity and scope of their diverse, long-standing global work, applies a unified philosophy to decentralized and program-driven systems that are customized to each area of their work. https://www.jdc.org/our-impact/
American Jewish Committee: addressing challenges Jews are facing worldwide, defending Democratic values for all. ajc.org
OTHER JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS to follow:
THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF WESTERN CT
Together, we can create a more cohesive and vibrant Jewish community in Western and Northwestern Connecticut.
Guest speakers, events and services for a wide range of people who need our help. From local grants and food programs to life issues, economic development, education, camperships and advocacy.
JCC IN SHERMAN
THE TEMPLE EMANU-EL STREICKER CENTER NEW YORK CITY – SPECIAL EVENTS
https://streicker.nyc/events
MEMBER PICKS…
FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
“The Last Kings of Shanghai,” by Jonathan Kaufman
Review: “In vivid detail… examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties.”–The Boston Globe
“Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China’s past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China’s modern history.”–LA Review of Books
An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
The Sassoons and the Kadoories stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred seventy-five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power.
Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country’s deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue and survival.
OTHER RECOMMENDED MEDIA
European historical drama“The Empress” on NETFLIX.
JEWISH News and Culture:
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/the-shmooze
An aggregator that is regularly updated with a huge breadth of content and all sorts of goodies and surprises!
For example, the“Daily Guide to Zoom Events, Livestream and Other Online Resources.” Among the wide range of subjects, programs and activities you’ll see here are: “The Only Jewish Miss America” (Museum of Jewish Heritage), “Mindfulness Melodies” (Jewish Life in Maine), “Art as a Spiritual Practice,” A Midwives, Musicians, Soldiers and Rabbis: Whose Stories will Become History?,” “Bioethics During a Pandemic,” etc., etc.
And other treats too! Recipes for the holidays and everyday: “Potato Chip Schnitzel, Shwarma Chicken Kabobs, Roasted Butternut Squash with Orange Tahini, Briskett Tacos, Ethiopian Red Lentil Soup,” etc., etc…
Come visit and linger, you’ll be glad you did!
ACTIVITIES TO CONSIDER
Lifelong Peer Learning Program
Adult continuing education through peer learning, to find out more please visit:
https://www.lp2nyc.org/who-we-are/join-us/
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/lifelong-peer-learning-program
Brookfield Craft Center
The Brookfield Craft Center is dedicated to teaching traditional and contemporary craft skills and fostering the appreciation of fine craftsmanship. Learn and grow with our artistic community: