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Executive Briefing
D'Var Torah
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AJFCA NEWSLETTER 
 
October 15, 2010
       7 Cheshvan 5771
   
Candle Lighting 6:11 PM 
Baltimore, MD
Greetings! ,




Executive Briefing                        
                           
                          Lee I. Sherman
                          President & CEO
                                



                                      

Agency Happenings

 

JFS Orlando has been named a Bank of America Neighborhood Builder.  As one of only two organizations in Central Florida (and one of 90 in the country) to be selected as a Neighborhood Excellence Initiative award winner, JFS will receive $200,000 in unrestricted funds over the next 2 years, as well as state-of-the-art leadership training for CEO Barry Kudlowitz and a still-to-be-named emerging leader.  

 

JFS was recognized for its leadership in the community (staff bring their expertise and experience to more than 30 community boards, task forces and initiatives), its continuing efforts to improve the well-being of the community and its forward-thinking planning.  Mazel tov to Barry and his agency for this well-deserved honor.

 

A little farther north, earlier this week, Jewish Family Service of Atlantic and Cape May Counties (New Jersey) opened the Specialty Center for Youth Interventions.  A ribbon cutting ceremony attended by government officials, community leaders, and JFS staff and volunteers was held at the new center in Margate.  Programs at the center will teach parents how to cope with their children's problems, as well as offer counseling to children who have experienced trauma.  Congratulations to CEO Andrea Steinberg and her agency on this important step in bringing critical services to the community.

                                   

D'Var Torah

 D'var Torah

 Lee I. Sherman
 



 

This week's Torah reading, Lech L'cha, begins the story of Abraham and, thus, the story of the Jewish people.  Both stories are full of trials and tribulations, moments of great exultation and deep reflection, and probably more questions than answers.  But through it all there is a momentum, a sense of progress that has its source in the opening words "lech l'cha."

 

These words can be translated as "Go forth" or perhaps "Get thee out."  Either way, it is God instructing Abraham to leave his father's home, and all with which he is familiar, and to go and found a great nation.  It is significant that Abraham must leave physically and journey to a new land to fulfill God's direction.  Abraham is an active participant (a mover and a shaker), as he shapes his own future and the futures of his succeeding generations.  It is not likely that Abraham could have imagined all that was in store for him in the journey that unfolds over the next several parashot, but with God's urging and blessing he takes the initiative to "go forth."

 

Whenever I hear the words "lech l'cha," I think of the generations of Jews who have followed this commandment and Abraham's example.  Perhaps they did not leave the comfort of their father's home; maybe it was a forced exit or fleeing a desperate situation.  Nevertheless, all of these Jews left their homes to better their circumstances and shape their own futures.  I think of those who were forced from Jerusalem by the Romans, from Spain by the Inquisition, or from Russia by the pogroms.  There were those fortunate enough to escape the rise of Nazism in Europe and the Ethiopians who have found a new home in Israel.  I think of my own grandmother who left her village near Kiev when she was six years old, and accompanied only by her nine and twelve year old brothers came to this country.  I thank God for giving each of them the wisdom, spirit, and determination to "go forth" and better their lives and the lives of all of us who have followed.

 

Shabbat Shalom.