Clearing Out the Pantry

Pesach for me has always been about more than the actual week of the holiday. It starts several weeks before as I think about clearing out all the chametz from our pantry.

Here are a few of the recipes I’ve come up with over the years to use up pasta. During most of the year, I make pasta once or maybe twice a week. However in the last few weeks before Pesach, we might have pasta almost every night. We also usually have stockpiled several large jars of marinated artichokes as well as cans of beans and tomatoes. Continue reading

Outstanding Jewish Women

If you’ve ever pushed a stroller up a curb cut or used a ramp to avoid stairs or needed an extra wide door to navigate with a wheelchair, you probably have Judith Heumann to thank. Judith Heumann , who passed away just a few weeks ago, was one of the people instrumental in getting Section 504  of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 signed into law. This act gave accommodations to people with disabilities and changed thousands of lives for the better- not only those with disabilities.

It is Women’s History Month, a good time to recall Judith Heumann’s accomplishments along with other outstanding Jewish women who made the world a better place or proved that women were brave and strong and bold like the Maccabees. Continue reading

MESH Report Mar 14, 2023

The Shomrei MESH A Team was at it again on Tuesday!  Aileen Grossberg, Lynne Kurzweil, Alex Kent, Susan Rosenblatt and Shomrei Teen Jaden shopped, prepped, cooked, packed and delivered a simple, nourishing, filling and, most important, tasty hot meal for 30 MESH guests meeting at the former location of The Office on Bloomfield Avenue.

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MESH Report Mar 7, 2023

Shomrei was abuzz this past Sunday. The Social Hall and Gallery were packed with multigenerational families crafting, bouncing, playing, munching. In the kitchen, the Purim carnival team was heating up pizza on the dairy side and on the meat side the Lefkowitz Family was cooking up a feast for MESH. First time MESH volunteers Vicki, Allen, Alex, Max and Shomrei friend, Ben, prepared a hearty and healthy meal in true Shomrei style. On Tuesday, our guests feasted on Vegetarian Chili over Rice, Spring Mix Salad with Carrots, Pepper and Tomatoes, homemade Cornbread, homemade Brownies, Clementines, Granola Bar and Hamentaschen. Lynne, Aileen and super teen helper, Jaden, warmed up, portioned and packed and Lynne delivered the meals to The Office. Yasher Koach to the Lefkowitz family for helping to perform this important mitzvah! Continue reading

Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group Seeks Members

Help Us Help Local Refugees

In early 2017, Nick Levitin and Andy Silver started Shomrei’s Refugee Assistance Group in reaction to the massive influx of Syrian refugees to our area. The response from our group, which consists of roughly 50 members from the Shomrei community was, and continues to be, overwhelming, enabling us to assist refugees from a wide variety of countries. However, the needs, too, are overwhelming; wars, natural disasters, and government repression and persecution continue to cause mass worldwide migrations of people, many seeking refuge in our region.

To help meet those needs, we invite those who are not yet in our group to join us.   Continue reading