Letter to Confirmation Families

Hello Confirmation Families,

Hope all is well and those of you on Spring Break are enjoying time away. I have a few updates for all of you as we return from Spring Break next week at Bet Shalom and enter the last few months of the year.

Reminder to Save the Date for Confirmation Service

As a friendly reminder, the Confirmation Service occurs on Erev Shavuot every year as the students confirm their commitment as Jews to the covenant at Mt Sinai with the giving of the Torah. Please make sure you have the date saved in your calendars and share with any extended family you'd like to invite.

Saturday, June 4th

Students arrive at 4pm

Service begins at 7pm

Flower Sale Support

Every year our Confirmation students help with a flower sale to raise funds to give a gift to the congregation on behalf of the class. The synagogue continues to benefit from so many of these gifts today, including the apple and plum trees, the flag poles, the youth lounge TV and furniture, and most recently the path and platform down to the pond by the Religious School entrance. A few weeks ago our students made phone calls to get the word out about the sale. We hope that you, as parents, will support the sale by purchasing flowers yourself and sharing the link with your family and friends.

In addition to the Wednesday phone-a-thon event, it is expected that the entire Confirmation Class and a few willing parents participate in shift work on:

• Tuesday, May 3rd 5:00 - 6:00pm Parents - when the plants are delivered to the synagogue to sort plants into the orders

• Wednesday, May 4th from 4:00pm - 7:00pm Parent & Students when the plants will be picked up by buyers

• Sunday, May 8th from 8:30 am – 12:00 pm Parent & Students when the plants will be picked up by buyers

Click here to signup for your volunteer shift(s).

Philanthropy/Tzedakah Project

For the last few years, a community member has made an incredible donation to enable our Confirmation students to take what would have been a theoretical conversation about philanthropic giving and make it real. The students have the opportunity to allocate $3,000 to tzedakah after discussing and debating Jewish values around philanthropic giving. A few weeks ago the students and I explored a number of texts and debated whether it is best to give local, or abroad, to the Jewish or general community, whether it is better to give a large amount to one or two organizations or a smaller amount to many. We asked the question how we can have the biggest impact and what are the most pressing needs in the world and our community. It was an amazing conversation. We will be making a final vote next Wednesday and will keep you all updated on where the students decide to allocate the gift. This was an amazing opportunity for the students to have a real impact and I'm grateful to the donor who made it possible.

Rabbi Crimmings