Each day, our team at Federation learns more about the needs of people in our community and the institutions working hard to continue providing essential programs and services during these difficult times. Our efforts have included helping local organizations navigate the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program loan application process as well as connecting them with professional advisors and providing them with important updates. We have also convened an Emergency Response Committee of dedicated and thoughtful volunteer leaders to make grant decisions about our COVID-19 emergency fund. The Committee’s work is already proving vital in how we will help vulnerable individuals and stabilize our community—today and into the future. We continue to be moved and motivated by the generosity, resilience, and passion of our Greater Washington Jewish community.
We wish you a healthy and meaningful Shabbat and Passover.
Harnessing Our Social Ties for Good: A Message from Gil Preuss Passover has always had an overt call to action. As Jews, we are compelled to retell the Passover story as if we ourselves had been brought forth from Egypt. In this highly unusual year, we have an additional responsibility to uphold as well. We may not find all of the supplies we need at the store. We may have more than four questions on our minds. We may face seder-related technical difficulties that our Jewish ancestors could have never fathomed. But no matter how different our celebrations look this year, we must also do what we can to harness our social ties for good.
Help meet the needs of our community’s most vulnerable—today and for the future Our Jewish community’s needs continue to grow and shift as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Federation is committed to meeting those needs—but we can’t do it without you. The steps we take right now will help our most vulnerable community members and protect our vital institutions—in the short-term and later on as demands evolve. Together, we must ensure that we can weather the crisis of today and still have a strong and vibrant Jewish community tomorrow.
Let my People Kvetch! How Passover Connects Grumbling with Gratitude Clearly, this night will be WAY different from all other nights! But maybe it doesn’t have to be. Since the seder (traditional Passover meal) is one of the most universally celebrated rituals of the Jewish year, so many of us are scrambling to figure out how to celebrate in new virtual configurations with family and friends. Of course, it’s only natural to complain—about Passover, about coping with quarantines and isolation, about just about anything and everything. This is the season for grumbling, after all. But, while the COVID-19 pandemic has induced its fair share of justified complaining, it has also sparked a great deal of gratitude.
Join the Global Movement to Do Good—From Home! On March 29, our team was inspired and grateful to learn with and from 70 like-minded communities on a Zoom call about how Good Deeds Day has shifted around the world. In Greater Washington, though the Sara & Samuel J. Lessans Good Deeds Day can no longer take place in person, Federation is working with our 92 partner and supporter organizations to identify immediate needs and mobilize for virtual volunteer opportunities. There has never been a better time to connect with purpose and continue to act as a force for good.
