One Sunday morning last month I joined a few guys from my Men’s Club plus several other members of my synagogue to put a fresh coat of paint on our Preschool. This was a long-overdue project, and my club had agreed to work with our synagogue’s Buildings and Grounds committee to lead the effort. So picture this……I’m on a ladder with my paint can and brush, paint stains covering my clothes, and along comes my Rabbi to schmooze with the volunteers and see how the work is progressing. When he sees me he exclaims, “Wow! The International President of the FJMC is painting our walls!

You’ve probably seen or heard about the results of the recent Survey of U.S. Jews conducted by the Pew Research Center.  (If not, here is a link to an on-line version of the Survey Report: http://pewrsr.ch/16IN5U4.)  There has been a spate of articles over the past several days that have tried to make sense of the data, and to draw conclusions and recommendations about what might be done to mitigate the negative trends that were highlighted by the survey.