Next Wednesday, May 20th at 7PM marks the graduation of our 7-11th graders, with special honor given to our Tichon 12th graders. This celebration has long been a milestone of the CNS calendar year, as we learn from our graduate’s poignant wisdom before they head to new adventures.
I have been ruminating for some time on a statement often ascribed to Winston Churchill, “never let a good crisis go to waste.” It's one of the lenses I continue to use during this pandemic. Although there is no evidence that Churchill said this, the wisdom remains. A crisis often allows us to get things done that were not possible before.
This Sunday, from 5-6pm, we are going to have a mask-making workshop to provide masks to our homeless neighbors, a project I first talked about in last week’s Oasis Songs. Several people wrote back in support of the project, but wondered if there was some way non-sewers could participate.
By now, everyone has had all sorts of thoughts about the Coronavirus and what it means to us personally, politically and socially. I know I have, and as a teaser, the theme of our upcoming Chronicle is all about COVID-19. There’s a lot of hardship and opportunity all wrapped up together during this long hunker-down. Both are worth exploring.
As we prepare to enter back into “chag,” it seems the to-do list outstrips the time-to-do. So, apropos of The Little Prince, which one of my boys was recently reading, and the Little Planet from which he came, here is a “Little Oasis.” After the holidays end, I will return to the regular format that includes a summary and questions for the Shabbat table.
This Passover, the seders will indeed be a different night for so many obvious reasons. Many of the people we normally share the evening with may be far away—or even half a mile away. But for all intents and purposes, they might as well be across the world. That will be different. Many of us will be holding our seders by Zoom. That will surely be different.
As COVID 19 continues to spread, Oregon has finally come under a complete lock-down, called “Stay Home, Stay Safe.” Despite the euphemistic name, this new order, and the restrictions leading up to it, have posed severe challenges to a religion and a culture that are centered on gathering, praying and breaking bread together.
