Thanks to David Neumann for alerting me to this.

Click on this site and if you have an Adobe Flash Player installed, you’ll be able to see it, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awl1KCo_oZ0

The Women’s Division of the Jewish Community Federation is sponsoring a Spring Luncheon at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven on Friday, May 8, 2009 from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The featured speaker is Erin Einhorn, author of The Pages in Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home.

Erin Einhorn found the family that hid her mother from the Nazis during World War II.  As she confronted the heart-wrenching circumstances of her family’s tragic past, unexpected events in her own life altered her mission completely.

Ms. Einhorn’s story was the basis for one of the most popular episodes of “This American Life.”

Executive Caterers at Landerhaven is located at 6111 Landerhaven Drive in Mayfield Heights.

Lunch and program:  $30 (not tax-deductible) (kosher dietary laws observed).  RSVP by Tuesday, April 28: email women@jcfcleve.org or call 216-566-9200, ext. 220.

Event chairwomen:  Marcy Fisher, Lesley Kaye.

How do we actually ‘celebrate’ a holiday that only occurs every 28 years? A holiday that seems to require only the shortest of attention spans. A holiday that needs a clear, blue sky to be simply, ‘perfect’. Well, for most Jews, it is a holiday ignored. But, is is a holiday certain to bring Joy. And, it is a holiday which surely makes us appreciate Mother Nature. The holiday is called Birchat HaChammah. It requires the sun to be in the exact place in the sky where it rested on the Fourth day of Creation as described in Bereshit. That’s right. We know where the Sun rested above our earth on Wednesday, March 26 of Hebrew Year 1, aka. 3760 BCE. Thus, it is a day to celebrate the Creation of the Sun. It is also a day to remember all that we need to continue to do to make sure the air and water and earth remain safe for all living beings. The prayer is short and simple: Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who performs the act of creation. The timing of the holiday is extremely rare – falling on the day before Pesach is a rare event, having occurred only three times since creation. It is a mitzvah to be able to bless the sun on this fortuitous day. Because we were redeemed from Egypt on Pesach, to say the blessing as we are preparing for departure from slavery, suggests that God is preparing us for something related to redemption, renewal, and creation. So, Wednesday morning, before we embark on the day, lets join together to say the simple prayer – thus a day filled with prayer and family.

– Peter Sackett