the Kehillah
Keeping Connected February 2025
Dear Friends,
The Torah is filled with passages about the responsibility of helping others in one’s community, in Hebrew, the kehillah. Through history, the Jewish people, whether religious or secular, have taken these responsibilities seriously, especially in times and situations when they were marginalized by the non-Jewish community. Furthermore, the Torah emphasized that the imperative to help others is meant to be applied to those both within and outside the Jewish kehillah. For example, in Deuteronomy 15:7 we read a mitzvah that is an overarching articulation of the duty to help others; “If there be among you a needy person, you shall not harden your heart, but you shall surely open your hand.” The Torah set the foundation for these moral principles of Jewish life; we are responsible for helping the poor, the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the sick, the marginalized in our society and we are responsible for setting up institutions of learning and Jewish ritual life. This commitment was expanded upon through time in every period of Jewish history. Jews have taken it upon themselves to set up schools, orphanages, hospitals, social service agencies, mikvaot (Jewish ritual baths), synagogues and more.
In the modern period, Jewish federations took on the role of helping to establish and fund these institutions. Federations, which are non-profit, secular organizations have helped to provide support and human services to members of the community, through philanthropy, grants, humanitarian aid and more, and although Jewish federations were created to help the Jewish community, they also provide for other communities as well. The earliest burial societies, credit unions, youth societies, immigration support organizations and more were all funded by early versions of Jewish federations. Perhaps you have heard of organizations like Jewish Children and Family Services, The Jewish Vocational Institution, Jewish Big Brothers and Big Sisters, YMHAs, YWHAs, JCCs, and more. These were or are all partially funded by Jewish Federations.
I share this information with you because our community has undergone a change in the way we are connected to the larger federation system and it has real life implications for our congregation and members. Since 1988, our synagogue was in the catchment area of the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation, but beginning in January 2025, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP) has expanded their borders to include servicing the Merrimack Valley. Now, our local community members and congregations will have equal access to programs and resources as all others within the current CJP catchment area. This change can have an enormous impact for our congregation and members. It would be hard to briefly review all the new resources available to our members, but I wanted to encourage you all to look at the CJP website (https://ma.cjp.org) to familiarize yourselves with these new programs and resources.
Although it may take time for us to all access these opportunities, both for our synagogue and members, since some of these new resources are time sensitive, I wanted to highlight them in this letter. CJP has wonderful resources to benefit Jewish youth in terms of camping and trips to Israel. In terms of attending Jewish camps, CJP offers both 1st Time Camper scholarships as well as affordability scholarships. These funds are distributed on a rolling basis and have strict application deadlines. If you are at all interested in learning more about these scholarships I would encourage you to access the links below and to be aware that the funds are limited. The sooner you are to apply, the better.
CJP has also made a significant commitment to helping members of the Jewish community who are faced with mental health challenges. If you or any member of your family needs support I encourage you to explore their mental health programs at
https://www.cjp.org/path-to-well-being
I look forward to this new stage of connection with the larger Boston Jewish community and I am confident that our engagement with CJP will be beneficial to all of us.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Shoshana M. Perry
https://www.cjp.org/our-work/future-generations/campers-and-teens/jewish-overnight-camp?_gl=1*1o3h2i*_gcl_au*ODc4MDQ5MzM2LjE3MzgxMDU3MjA.*_ga*MTg5NTc3NjEwOS4xNzM4MTA1NzIw*_ga_9Q6WWN4GK8*MTczODE2ODc4Mi4yLjEuMTczODE3MDA0OS41My4wLjA.
https://www.cjp.org/our-work/future-generations/campers-and-teens/jewish-overnight-camp?_gl=1*1o3h2i*_gcl_au*ODc4MDQ5MzM2LjE3MzgxMDU3MjA.*_ga*MTg5NTc3NjEwOS4xNzM4MTA1NzIw*_ga_9Q6WWN4GK8*MTczODE2ODc4Mi4yLjEuMTczODE3MDA0OS41My4wLjA.