As we have for many years, we partnered with Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center to cosponsor the annual Kristallnacht programming. This year, we featured three videos:

• A Kristallnacht Observance
• A history lesson with Dr. Stephen M. Berk
• A special limited-time screening of Saviors in the Night

We own the first two videos, and they are available on our website at any time. Saviors in the Night will be available on our site only through today, after which it may be rented from other sources.

While the movie focuses on the heroism of the Righteous Gentiles who hid a Jewish family during the Holocaust saving them from a likely horrific death, I couldn’t help but to focus on the tremendous opportunities that we have as Jews living here. Even during these unprecedented times of rising anti-Semitism and the COVID-19 pandemic, American Jewry continues to prosper, just 80 years after the atrocities our people faced in Europe.

Of course, we are not all prospering. Locally, some are suffering financially, and we need to help them. Some continue to live in countries where they face persecution, and we need to rescue them. Some we have rescued, but they continue to suffer. We need to feed them and educate them.

Additionally, we need to continue providing programs on the Holocaust and Israel, fund PJ Library for our children, support those with individual learning needs, provide scholarships for enriching opportunities, support our community schools and institutions, provide for our seniors, embrace the marginalized, welcome the stranger, engage the next generation, secure the future, and keep ourselves safe.

And so, I ask you to answer when we try to call you on Sunday. Originally, we scheduled our annual Super Sunday for March, but due to the turmoil and uncertainty at that time, we had to postpone. But the needs didn’t go away—in fact, they worsened. To the list of all the things that we were doing, we had to aggressively tackle food insecurity and providing for newly homebound seniors.

We may not reach everyone, so please visit our website if you don’t hear from us. If you want to preempt, visit the website first, and then tell your caller that you’ve already taken care of it. Or, wait for the call and then give generously. And remember our COVID-19 Human Services Relief Matching Gift Challenge.

These are challenging times. Let’s meet the challenge.

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