April 22 - JFS Weekly Insider

WEEKLY Insider

Welcome to the updated Weekly Insider!

We value your feedback and welcome any suggestions to enhance our offering.

A PASSAGE ON PASSOVER PT. II

By: Rabbi Yonina Foster, Jewish Community Services

Passover or Pesach quite literally translates to “to pass over.“ On that tenth and final plague, the story says the angel of death--of transformation and revolution--passed over the houses of the Hebrews when they saw the lamb’s blood on the door lintels, sparing them on that horrific night. Each of the previous nine plagues had become more severe and harder to ignore. Making changes. What are signs and wonders, hints on your path, leading you to make important changes? Hopefully, there are fewer than ten pointing you clearly in the direction of living your purpose.

Before Passover, we clean out “chametz,” that stuff that puffs up our ego We clear out the puffiness of life, crumbs and leavening. Spring cleaning. Then we eat matzah, a cracker, for eight days. Our Seder, “order,” is the first night, and possibly the second, or a time when family, friends, and strangers can gather. There is a special plate with symbolic foods. There’s a hard- boiled roasted egg--symbolizing rebirth and renewal. There are spring greens, bitter herbs, represented by a horseradish root to represent our tears, and a shank bone to recall the sacrifice that we made before leaving the narrow place of Mitzrayim. While some of the items are less than tasty, a favorite is usually the charoseth, to represent the bitter of enslavement and the sweet of our freedom. A mixture, of wine or juice, chopped apple, walnuts, and a little cinnamon reminds of the grittiness of our slavery and the sweetness of freedom

All these foods and more are part of the story of freedom we tell during the Seder, through the Haggadah. It is “The Telling,” of the story of our freedom. Each of us is involved as if we, too, made the journey from Egypt to freedom. What is your freedom story? Tell it. Share it and celebrate each freedom journey.

LESS THAN ONE MONTH UNTIL THE MATZAH BALL!

Thank you to staff who have already reached out to volunteer and/or purchase tickets for our upcoming Matzah Ball on Thursday, May 16, 2024 at Temple Beth Zion.

If you would like to attend the event as a guest, we are happy to offer staff and one guest a discounted general admission ticket ($25/ each). Please use code JFSSTAFF25 at checkout.

JFS EMBRACES - SAMANTHA THOMPSON

Here at Jewish Family Services, we pride ourselves on exemplifying the four core Jewish values of cultural responsiveness, trust, person centered care and partnership.

As a new initiative in the Insider, we'd like our staff to highlight each other's embodiment of these values by nominating one another to be recognized for such values in upcoming editions of the Insider. This week’s nominee is Samantha Thompsonnominated by Abdullah Bitar Abdullah nominated Samantha, a Children’s Health Home Manager, for exemplifying all four values. Congrats Samantha on a well-deserved recognition!

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!

By: Sydney Schmidt, Development Associate

On April 24th and May 5th our Refugee Services Department will be welcoming two large families to Buffalo. There are a few ways JFS staff can offer internal support!

1. Donate cleaning supplies as part of our Spring Cleaning drive.

2. Donate (culturally appropriate) pantry items.

3. Volunteer* with Refugee Services on/around these dates for activities like rides, home setups, delivering donations, etc.

If you’d like to help out, please reach out to one of the members of the Volunteer Services team (Dasha Valuyskaya, David Jankowiak, Emily Wirth, Sydney Schmidt.)

*JFS staff cannot technically ‘volunteer’ their time to JFS, so you would need your supervisor’s approval to offer support to another department on a given day/time.

NOMINATE

UPCOMING EAP TRAINING

Two Things You Can Do To Protect Your Financial Future

Thursday April 24th 12:00pm – 12:30pm

Join Buffalo First Wealth Management as they discuss two actions you can take that will shore up your financial life. This webinar will review: How to make saving easy with automation. They will review real life examples of how automating your saving will boost your nest egg. Protecting your Legacy – They will talk about the importance of updating beneficiaries and wills.

Click here to register today! This event is open to all and will be recorded.

Visit the C+FS EAP website and call EAP at 716-681-4300 for information about the benefits of their programs.

Shannon McGrath, 4/24

Licensed Clinical Social Worker - R

SIGN UP FOR JFS COMMITTEES

To sign up for committees, contact the following people:

Employee Engagement: Meghan Stith (mstith@jfswny.org) or Kara Kane (kkane@jfswny.org)

Health & Wellness: Meghan Stith (mstith@jfswny.org) or AJ Martha (amartha@jfswny.org)

JEDI, Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: Sierra Johnston (sjohnston@jfswny.org) or Danielle Bernas (dbernas@jfswny.org)

Safety: Todd Warfield (twarfield@jfswny.org)

SUBMIT YOUR PET PHOTOS!

May is National Pet Month and in anticipation, we want to see all of your pets! Submit as many photos as you'd like of you and your furry friends to be featured in the May Monthly Insider. If you're having technical difficulties uploading through the form, please email your submission(s) to Madison Ruffo.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS APRIL 29

Show us your pets!

Lauren Maguire

Molly Carr

Kelly Brown

Insider Contributors:

Madison Ruffo

Megan Brenner-Zwara

Kara Kane

Sydney Schmidt

Rabbi Yonina Foster

Meghan Stith

Nikki Ronan

Have an idea for the Insider? Want to submit an article? Want to promote an event?

Submit your ideas here!