MESH Report February 27, 2024

A most efficient crew prepared and packed Chef Sarita’s hearty, tasty and nutritious BBQ Chicken Feast for 50 in a repeat record time of 2 hours. The A+ Team included Captain Sarita Eisenberg, #1 First Mate Lou Hammerman, and First Class crew members Linda Ariel, Susan Rosenblatt and Lynne Kurzweil.

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Kiddush with a Southern Flair

The kiddush luncheon for MLK Shabbat (1/13/2024) was sponsored by participants from the November Civil Rights trip. In keeping with that experience, kiddush coordinator Dale Russakoff (who herself grew up in Alabama) planned a Southern-themed menu. The kiddush crew prepared these recipes: Southern Cajun Salmon, Soul Food Mac & Cheese, Southern-style BBQ Tofu (for a vegan option) and Sweet Potato Pie. There was also a chopped salad, “Sweet Cole Slaw” from Shoprite with bagged cole slaw and shredded carrots mixed in, and cornbread from a mix.

Thank you to Dale and to these other volunteers for preparing the kiddush luncheon: Lou Hammerman, Lynne Tapper, Gerry Blume, Linda Blume, Vicki Compter, Risa Bernstein, Fern Hening, Alex Kent, and Aileen Grossberg.  Continue reading

MESH Report Sept 12, 2023

Our team for this first MESH of the year included Linda Ariel, Lou Hammerman, Lynne Kurzweil and me (Sarita Eisenberg).

We made our signature dish of barbeque chicken – each guest received 2 drumsticks with a generous side of roasted potatoes and a slice of bread. The meal also included a serving of cole slaw, fuit cup, cookies (left over from Selichot), and a bottle of water. Continue reading

MESH Report June 29, 2023

We started out the MESH year making 20 meals, then 30. For this last MESH of the year, we upped the number to 50 meals.

Our MESH team included the trusty trio of Linda Ariel, Lou Hammerman and me (Sarita Eisenberg) plus Lynne Kurzweil. Aileen Grossberg provided the bread and dessert and delivered the packed food.

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Kiddush Thanks

They came from everywhere: California, Mexico, Florida, Chile, Israel, and New Jersey and more. They were in all shapes and sizes- some long and thin; others squat and round. Some with no blemishes and others showed a bit of age. Their colors were like a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue as well as tan, brown , black, and white. Continue reading

KIddush Kudos

Many thanks to Erin Berman for taking total charge of last week’s kiddush including set up and clean up. She was ably helped on Shabbat by volunteers Lou Hammerman, Sharon Harwich and the Gold family – Amanda, Benjamin, and Abigail – who saw a need and offered their help.

We all live with the contemporary saying “If you see something, say something.”

Let’s apply it to kiddush. “If you see a need to help, help out.”

And don’t forget to plan ahead if you can and use Sign Up Genius on the volunteer page.

Welcoming our Newest Member

What’s sweeter than a new baby?  Shomrei welcomed  4 day old Esther Hirsch to the congregation with an in-house catered kiddush on Shabbat, November 19.

Babies come when they are ready so the kiddush volunteers didn’t find out about Esther’s birth until late Wednesday afternoon. We did a quick pivot, abandoning the planned kiddush menu, and substituting a custom menu requested by Esther’s parents, Josh Hirsch and Jenny Leon. Continue reading

MESH Report Nov 1, 2022

This week’s MESH meal was prepared by the efficient foursome of Sarita Eisenberg, Lou Hammerman, Gail Stock and Ian Stock with assistance from Ehud Klinger. It took only two hours to prepare and pack the food into bags, which were loaded on carts and brought downstairs to be picked up by MESH staffer, Joe Tyson. Continue reading