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JFGSB Blog

Explore news and featured stories about Jewish Federation programs, volunteers, donors, special events and updates from our partners in Israel. Learn how you can become more in engaged with the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara.

Apr 23, 2021

A Sabbath Message: Upstanders vs. Bystanders – Building a Just Society

“No, no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), from the speech “I Have a Dream,” August 28, 1963

As Sabbath approaches this week, we have just passed t…

Apr 16, 2021

A Sabbath Message: Israel at 73 – A Love Letter to Eretz Yisrael

“Im tirzu, ein zo agada – ve'im lo tirtzu, agada hi ve'agada tisha'er.”
“If you will it, it is no dream – and if you don’t, a dream it is and
a dream it will remain.” 

– Theodore Herzl (1860–1904), Father of modern political Zionism on the need for a Jewish State of Isra…

Apr 9, 2021

A Sabbath Message: Reflections on Yom HaShoah – From Horror to Hope

“Suddenly, all of my ancestors were behind me and they were saying:
‘Be still, watch and listen, you are the result of the love of thousands.’” 

– Actress Helena Bonham Carter, from the documentary My Grandparent’s War

As Sabbath approaches this week, I write you this message…

Apr 2, 2021

A Sabbath Message: The Song of Songs – Love, Music, and Memory

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm – for love is as strong as death… Many waters cannot quench love, nor rivers drown it.”

– The Song of Songs (8:6-7)

As Sabbath arrives this week, so do the closing days of the week-long Passover festival. As I write this…

Mar 26, 2021

A Sabbath Message: The Passover Holiday – A Lesson in Humility & Gratitude

“On Passover, we recall that as a people we were all enslaved – and we forever remain only one small march away from that state of bondage – so we must always feel gratitude for our redemption. And gratitude is the overflow of a humble heart.”

– Rabbi David Wolpe

To my dear Feder…