That was fun, but it’s time for a break before the next big thing… and the next one is going to be a whopper.  We had our usual full house at the Mt. Sinai Seder a week ago, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  Then yesterday, we celebrated the end of Passover with our annual Chametz Party.

The Chametz Party featured a variety of pizzas from several different local pizza restaurants around town.  Perhaps the most interesting was the pickle pizza from Bella Fuoco.  It was surprisingly tasty and very good (if you like pickles).  Special thanks to Mondello’s for donating their pizzas and other tasty delights after learning about the party from Jason Bloomberg.

We’re now starting to focus on the Yiddish Food Festival.  The Festival is June 7^th and Jeff Weinstein is looking for a small army of volunteers to help with the cooking.  Last year, we served close to a thousand people in a four hour period, so we have lots of food to prepare.  Jeff usually schedules cooking for a couple of nights a week and Sundays, but the Synagogue office will have the specifics, including what they will be working on during a specific day. 

Some preparations are already taken care of, such as the advertising and the band that will be performing.  We also sent out letters a couple of weeks ago asking you to consider becoming a sponsor of the Festival.  Sponsorships are $250 and really make a difference in our fundraising.  We sent the letters to everyone in the congregation, since we have a lot of individuals and families who sponsor the Festival.   The names of our sponsors are printed on large signs that hang in the social hall during the Festival, so everyone can see your support of the Festival and Mt. Sinai.

Please consider becoming a sponsor of the Yiddish Food Festival.  To be blunt, we need the money… and here’s why.

The Board of Directors meets this Wednesday.  One of the topics of discussion will be replacing the Synagogue roofs (we have two).  They are old and starting to leak – they were last replaced more than 40 years ago.  We received bids from three different local roofing companies.  Each company presented at least two different proposals.  The Building Committee has been reviewing all of the proposals and learning a lot about roofs in the process.

The cost is estimated to be between $200,000 and $300,000.  We’ve applied for a grant that may cover a portion of the cost if we get the grant.  So you can see why we’re in major fundraising mode.

Courtney Schlisserman and Gayle Wagner are planning a Women’s Shabbat service for Friday, May 8, and they’re inviting the women in our congregation to come and take part.  It may be reading a passage or two in English, or in Hebrew, leading a prayer, or just coming to be part of the congregation.  Please let them know if you would like to help. Send an email to [email protected] and we’ll forward the email to them.

We always get a great response when the women take over the Bima and we’re looking forward to their next service.

Here’s our Yiddish Phrase of the Week:

Es felt mir vi a lokh in kop.
I need it like a hole in the head.