Children went back to (public) school this week; others will be returning next week.

The heat hasn’t relented and the JEA pool is an oasis for many of us.

Shalom School is beginning their new term.

Preparations for the High Holidays have begun with kitchens around town preparing for the holiday treats.

It feels so normal, yet…

Yet, our “Summer of Independence” seems to be slipping away.  Our children went to sleepaway camp surf camp, or to day camp at the JEA.  Many of us began to venture back to restaurants (with some trepidation).  Some of the more adventurous even returned to the movie theaters.  There were long delayed family reunions where folks hadn’t seen their children/grandchildren in over two years.  Masks became optional and it felt like we had come to a new place.

Yet, we knew we weren’t “quite there” yet with this worldwide pandemic; especially with the low vaccination rate in our area/state/region.  While most people I know have long been vaccinated, clearly, the majority of our population has not taken advantage of this modern miracle.  We began “attacking” the COVD and its effect on the Jewish community with an attitude that we “have to weather this storm” and we will come out of this…maybe stronger. 

Now that 18 months have passed and we are entering in to another “virus storm,” we realize that the “battle continues on.”

You can be confident that the Savannah Jewish Federation and Jewish Educational Alliance will be here to meet the needs of our community, no matter how long this challenge is in front of us.  Our collective resolve is to answer the most pressing challenges in our community. 

We’ve led in the past and we will continue to lead in the future.