Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! We have some very exciting upcoming plans and hope you will join us all.

We want to thank Susan Margolin who hosted the first annual Chanukah party. She did a great job preparing and presenting two games, Wheel of Chanukah, and Pictionary. All were related to Chanukah items. Guests were: Wendy Rabinowitz, Eric Scheir, Cheri Segal, Alan Schwartz, Hetty Rothenberg, Ira Rothenberg, Michelle Nemetz, Mike Feigenbaum, Jeff Dichter, Shula Dichter, Lilly Benedict, Bob Arnold, Michael Skepper, Louis Skepper and of course, Susan Margolin and Sharon Soudakoff. Two boys, Justin Rothenberg and Joshua Soudakoff who kept each other busy. We also had two out of town guests, Murray Margolin and Anjali Desai from Maryland.

We discussed several issues and possible ideas, one is to prepare for the High Holidays so we can reserve space for a room as soon as possible. We sent a letter to Rabbi Fred Friedman, a deaf Rabbi and fluent in sign language asking if he would lead services for our group during Yom Kippur. He has been leading High Holiday services with Brooklyn Hebrew Society of the Deaf in New York for the past seven years.

We are very excited to announce that Rabbi Fred Friedman has accepted our offer! It is a rare opportunity to see a deaf rabbi and attend their services! More info will be mailed at a later date.

We will host Rosh Hashana services at our house again this year so mark your calendars.

Followed up on survey results: it was positive – high percentage want to do the High Holiday services again in an home environment, continue one-day service, many fed services was too long which is to be expected at any services, cooking classes – too many different times so we will have to make a decision if anyone wishes to pursue it.

We also discussed and agreed that we would host a Model Passover Seder on March 21 st at 11 a.m. Learning how to prepare the Seder plate suet, as making the charoses which each of you will make your own, proper way to make the hard-boiled eggs, and shank bone. Ideas and tips will be shared such as what’s appropriate to serve, Haggadah, and requirements. Cost is $15.00 per person. It will be held at the Soudakoff’s residence. Limited is 30 people. Send your check by March 10th to reserve your space.

If you have friends who would be interested in being part of our Creative Services group, please send us their name and address.

For those who wish to plant a tree in honor, or in memory of your relatives, now is the proper time to do it in as Tu B’Shevat, a New Year for Trees is on February 6th. You can contact your local Jewish National Fund office for further details. $10.00 per tree.

See you all on March 21st to celebrate pre-Passover and learn some fun and neat things.