Dear Congregants and friends,
As we enter the celebration of Passover, I want to wish everyone a zizen Pesach…a sweet and meaningful Passover holiday.
Passover is the harbinger of spring. After a strange, mostly warm…but endless winter…we can see the plants beginning to cautiously peek out from the ground. At RTPV we are planning a spring clean-up day, to get rid of winter debris and beautify the grounds around the temple. So be on the lookout…the date will be announced in the weekly newsletter.
While winter is a time of hibernation for many living creatures, at RTPV we went the other way, offering many different events to keep us connected throughout the darker days. From Saturday morning Shabbat services with Torah study, to a laugh-filled Purim Schpiel, to a meaningful, spiritual symbolic Seder we have kept our energy up during the winter.
With a newly-invigorated Sisterhood, we anticipate many more shared activities as well as temple-based events. Spring means we will be outdoors more, so look for strolls and hikes to take advantage of the warmer weather.
We are working hard to bring people back into the temple for in-person services, fundraisers like movie night, and events like Torah study. We understand that after the long covid drought, people have gotten comfortable with Zoom, and we will always have hybrid opportunities. But, some events have to be in person only, like the symbolic Seder, and we encourage you to join us for those in-person events.
As you know, for a small congregation, we strive to create meaningful events for everyone. We need you to partner with us. We need you to understand how important it is for everyone to commit time, money or both so we can keep our building well-maintained (we know we will need to replace our roof in the near future as well as other capital expenses). And we don’t want to just “survive,” we want to thrive. To make that happen, we need all of you to join us in whatever way you can. Without your support, we will not be able to offer the wide variety of services we want to continue giving to everyone. Please mail a tax-deductible donation to RTPV, Box 232, Putnam Valley, NY 10579 or donate via our website by using the DONATE tab at the bottom of our home page:
http://rtpv.org/
As we focus on freedom this Passover, let us all think about giving what it takes to give RTPV the freedom to continue as an important part of the community, with the freedom to go past survival to thriving.
Thank you for being with us!
Robin Bass, RTPV Board President
