Your JUF update

During these uncertain times, it's more important than ever to come together as a community. With this email, we hope to provide you with resources, moral support and other ways to adjust to this temporary “new normal.”  

Visit our JUF Coronavirus Community Resource Page where you’ll find links to more resources, info on JUF initiatives and ways to help or donate. And be sure to check JUF's Facebook page for daily updates.

TOV spearheads donation drive for the winter

Recently, 350+ volunteers from the JUF TOV Volunteer Network worked together to donate and deliver nearly 1,200 hygiene kits to organizations across the Chicago area. Discover ways you can volunteer in our community!

Prince had many Jewish connections – who knew?

Did you know the late rock star Prince enjoyed learning about Jewish subjects? Learn more from Jewish music writer Neal Karlen, who grew up with Prince in Minneapolis, and put his memories and interviews into a new book, This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey, On + Off the Record.

Meet Chicago’s 102-year-old voting sensation

"Be like Beatrice” - a 102-year-old grandma who went viral for voting in a homemade hazmat suit – and vote in the 2020 election!

Talented trio of Jews win 2020 Nobel Prizes

Mazel tov to three Jews who won the Nobel Prize this year: Paul Milgrom, who shared the Economics prize for discoveries in auction theory; Harvey Alter, who shared the Medicine prize for his discoveries about Hepatitis C; and Louise Gluck, who won the Literature prize for her poetry collection. 

Do you know an inspirational child or teen?

Nominate someone who inspires you for 18 Under 18, a program that gives teen leaders a platform to share their vision for the Jewish community. Honorees will be matched with a mentor who can help them deepen their vision and create an "Impact Project” which will be presented in the spring. Nominate a fantastic local Jewish teen by Thursday, November 12.

A moment of reflection with Rabbi Paul F. Cohen

Jewish tradition counsels that we are to recite no fewer than 100 blessings each day. To me, this teaching calls us to notice that we literally have at least one hundred opportunities to see the sacred in the ordinary; to lift up the good. Each day of creation, the Holy One of Blessing calls out the goodness inherent in each element of creation. When you offer a blessing, not only do you acknowledge the good, you engage in an active exercise of gratitude. May the blessing of this new day move you to think and act with gratitude, strengthening you and making you more resilient. 

Rabbi Paul F. Cohen, D.Min., D.D. 

Senior Rabbi, Temple Jeremiah