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 24, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Hashiveinu & Finding Personal Peace

“Spread over us the shelter of your peace…
Shield us and remove from us every enemy, plague, sword, famine and sorrow…”

– Hashiveinu Prayer, from Sabbath Liturgy

As Shabbat approaches, we acknowledge that the continued days and weeks at home remain a challenge. And yet we know …

Apr 18, 2020

A Sabbath Message: Staying the Course

“Community is society with a human face—the place where we know we’re not alone.”

— Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Former Chief Rabbi of the UK and current Member of Parliament

For this first Sabbath following Passover, I …

Apr 8, 2020

Passover 2

A Passover Prayer For 2020-5780: A Most Unusual Year

Tonight as the sun sets…we continue the unbroken chain of the generations of our people and observe one of our most sacred traditions: the Passover Seder. But this year, we ask with renewed interest:

Why is this night truly different from all other nights? Why is this Passover different…

Apr 6, 2020

Passover in the Age of COVID-19: A Guide

With Passover soon upon us, how do we approach this most central holiday in our tradition with this new reality we are facing?

Perhaps we have taken our Passover holidays traditions for granted in the past, knowing we would have family around us, so making this shift now is particularly dif…

Mar 31, 2020

A Brief COVID-19 Stay At-Home Survival Guide

As the days move into weeks, and we continue to try to find a “new normal” sheltering in place at home, we'd like to share with you a brief COVID-19 Stay At-Home Survival Guide created by Ruth Steinberg, LCSW.

#1 Physical Distancing, Not Social Distancing

Remember that the term “so…