TORAH TIMES - SPRING EDITION 2018
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A Message from Our Co-Presidents<br />
Fun Fact: Did you know that Passover is the most celebrated Jewish<br />
holiday for Jews in the United States? According to a recent Pew Research<br />
Study, over 70% of American Jews went to a Passover Seder in the past year.<br />
That’s more than Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukah or the obscure<br />
holiday of Tu B’av (our version of Valentine’s Day).<br />
The interesting question is why is Passover so popular? Is it the family reunion<br />
aspect of the Seder, the Jewish traditions or the amazing amount of bread-like<br />
foods that can be made from Matzo Meal? While these are all great answers, we<br />
would like to propose another reason – Passover is our “Master Story”, the story of<br />
a people escaping slavery and finding their freedom. This is why telling the story of<br />
our exodus is the most important tradition of any Seder. It’s not just at the Seder<br />
either. Throughout the Torah, G-d reminds us 87 times that he took us out of the<br />
Land of Egypt. This concept is engrained in our minds over and over again and<br />
is why Jews have always been at the forefront of any fight for freedom, equality,<br />
justice and for helping those less fortunate. Passover is our annual reminder of<br />
who we are as a people and what we were put on this Earth to do.<br />
STEVEN SCHECK<br />
At Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, we live these values every day. Here are some<br />
recent examples from the past month:<br />
• Our Social Action Team (www.btbrc.org/social-action-volunteers/) along with<br />
over 100 volunteers made over 200 blankets for The Ronald McDonald Home<br />
and The Jack Nicklaus Children’s Hospital<br />
• Along with our Millennials outreach partner, 1Echad (www.1echadlife.org),<br />
we invited over 100 kids from Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital, Overtown<br />
Youth Center and Norwood Elementary to our Captain Mensch Event with<br />
Marvel Propmaster, Russell Bobbit<br />
• Rabbi Rojzman led many of us on the March for Our Lives (www.marchforourlives.com)<br />
to support the Parkland community following the horrific tragedy at Marjory<br />
Stoneman Douglas High School and stand together against gun violence<br />
MIKE SEGAL<br />
Passover is truly our Master Story which we will continue to tell for generations and teach its values through our actions. If you<br />
are interested in being a part of Beth Torah’s volunteer programs or have any ideas of how we can better support our community,<br />
please let us know. We can always use a few more storytellers.<br />
On behalf of the Board of Directors, professional staff and clergy of Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, we wish you and your family a<br />
Passover filled with family, food and most importantly, a good story!<br />
B’Shalom,<br />
Steven Scheck and Mike Segal<br />
Co-Presidents<br />
Spring Edition <strong>2018</strong> l Adar-Nissan-Iyar 5778<br />
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