Somehow, it does not matter how many times we hear the story. It always seems worth sharing with all of  the Good People Fund’s friends. The following email and picture from Rabbi Judith Green arrived a few minutes ago and we had to share her words and her enthusiasm. Our grant to underwrite monthly Shabbat programs for special-needs young adults who are part of  Judith’s Rimon Community in Israel just keeps on giving and giving. Thank you Judith, for the Holy Work that you do!

Dear Naomi,
We had over 30 people with special needs today… Imagine a large room filled with enthusiastic young adults who love to sing, who are quick to get up and dance, belly dance, play darbukas. Orit Perlman was our musician today and after many songs they chanted “Orit, Orit!” I think she has never had such a great audience.

In my D’var Torah, I held up two challot and said, “We eat these at Passover,
right?” And they laughed and called out “no!” I then asked them how many
days “l’ag” is, as in L’ag B’Omer. They knew it was 33. They knew it was 50
days between Passover and Shavuot. I told them that Elohim gives us the gift
of the holidays and we give a gift to Elohim. I held up a wrapped gift and
told them about sacrifices and prayer. Our prayers are our gift. We
unwrapped the gift and it was… a potato! We bake potatoes in bonfires. God
gives us holidays, we give God our prayers and our songs and our joy. We
sang “Amen” and I asked them what their prayers were. Many spoke about
couple-hood, marriage and love.

We finished with a blessing under the tallit, blessings over wine and bread
and a lovely lunch with pita and hummus. I will send more photos. Much love
and many thanks for making this possible!
Judith