Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life
Celebrating Jewish Life in Connecticut
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April 2026
Dear Coalition members:
As the earth softens beneath our feet and the days grow long with light, we arrive once again at the season of Pesach — Passover — the most celebrated of all our festival holidays. This year, our community Seder falls on the evening of April 2nd, and I find myself, as I do every year, moved and humbled by the enduring power of this ancient story. It is not merely a story of the past. It is our story, renewed in every generation, and it is calling to us still.
The Haggadah commands us: “In every generation, each person is obligated to see themselves as if they personally left Egypt.” This is the heart of Passover and why it sits as the centerpiece of Jewish experience. We do not celebrate freedom as a fact already secured and sealed behind glass. We celebrate it as a living, unfinished project — one that requires our hands, our voices, and our imagination. Through the lens of my Reconstructionist approach to Jewish life, we continue to reconstruct the holiday as we seek meaning in this moment. When we dip parsley in saltwater, we remember not only ancient tears, but also tears being wept today. When we break the middle matzah and hide the afikomen, we are saying: something is still broken, still hidden, still waiting to be found.
We understand freedom not as an absence of obligation, but rather as its fullest expression. To be free is to be free for something — for community, for justice, for love. This Passover, I invite you to bring that intention to your Seder table. Ask the hard questions. Invite the voices in your household that sometimes go unheard. Make room for the stranger, literally and spiritually. Our tradition teaches that Elijah visits every home — perhaps because every home has the capacity to become a place where liberation is welcomed in.
I am grateful beyond words for the warmth and courage of this community. In the world, there are still many narrow places. Mitzrayim – the word for Egypt – literally means “the narrow place.” And while we continue to see narrow places, I am comforted through the knowledge that we have left many of those places before, and that we will have the opportunity through our shared vision and values to do so again. That journey is not finished. And we do not walk it alone.
May this Passover bring you joy, reflection, and the sweetness of connection. May you taste freedom deeply — and may it inspire you to help others taste it too.
Chag Sameach — Wishing you a joyous and meaningful Passover.
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: