Rosh Hashanah 5787
At the start, you don't yet know the end.
That's the beauty of beginnings.
There's so much possibility. What will this become? How good can it be?
Maybe it's a Shabbat dinner that turns into a friendship. Or a conversation that finally answers a question someone's been carrying around for years. Maybe it's a parent dropping their child off at Hebrew school and watching that child taste the joy of Jewish learning for the first time.
New beginnings are filled with infinite possibilities for good.
Because of your generosity, Chabad of Hall County gets to be the place where so many of these moments start. Even if you never see the ending, you made it possible.
As Rosh Hashanah 5787 approaches, we've been thinking hard about our plans.
How we want to bring more possibility into the new Jewish year. Three things we're putting the whole year behind.
Find the Jews in Hall County who still think they're the only one
Almost everyone who finds us says the same sentence. I had no idea you were here. Then, usually quieter: I thought I was the only one.
There's a woman who lights candles alone on Friday night and figures nobody else within thirty miles does. There's a man who sat shiva by himself because it never occurred to him he could ask for help. We've heard that sentence hundreds of times in four years, and it still knocks the wind out of us. There are hundreds more people out there waiting to say it. We want to find them.
Raise Jewish kids who never wonder whether they belong here
A Jewish child in Hall County can go a whole school year without meeting another Jewish child. That does something to a kid. It quietly teaches them that being Jewish is a private, slightly odd thing you do at home.
We want holiday programs and Hebrew school and family Shabbat where a child walks into a room full of people like them and it stops feeling strange. And no family sits one out because of what it costs. Not one.
Be reachable when it isn't a program, when it's a person
The hospital room. The funeral for someone whose family hasn't been inside a shul in forty years. The phone call at eleven at night from a person who doesn't know who else to call.
Nobody fundraises for this. It has no attendance count and it doesn't photograph well. It's also the reason we moved here. When a Jewish family in Hall County has the worst day of their life, somebody should pick up. Right now that's us.
New beginnings start here
For the families and the individuals who walk into Chabad of Hall County for the first time, your generosity turns into a whole year of Jewish connection and community.
Give today, and be part of how this year begins, and how their story keeps going. Our goal for the Jewish future of Hall County is $15,000.
Campaign runs through the end of Tishrei.
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Other ways to give
PayPal · Venmo @chabadhall · Zelle to chabadhallcounty@gmail.com
One more thing, and honestly it matters as much as the gift.
Tell us one Jewish commitment you're taking on this year. Anything. Lighting candles. Putting on tefillin once a week. Coming to one class you'd normally talk yourself out of.
Write to us at rabbi@jewishhall.com and tell us what it is. We'd love to hear it, and we'd love to help you actually do it.
Thank you for partnering with Chabad of Hall County.
May this new beginning be the most joyous, goodness filled one yet for you and your entire family.
Rabbi Nechemia and Shaina Gurevitz
Co-Directors, Chabad of Hall County