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Health & Fitness

Synagogue Seeks Unaffiliated Jewish Families with Passover Event

Shir Hadash Jewish synagogue plans a unique event at Dominick's, Dundee and Arlington Heights Road, Buffalo Grove, designed to reach out to unaffiliated families as they shop for Passover foods.

Members of Shir Hadash, a Jewish synagogue that is moving to the Northwest suburbs, will be reaching out to unaffiliated Jewish families March 17 and 24 during a unique event tied to the upcoming holiday of Passover.

“Passover in the Matzah Aisle,” planned for March 17 and 24 at the Dominick's Finer Foods, Dundee and Buffalo Grove Roads, will spotlight teenage members of the synagogue as well as adult members engaging and assisting shoppers preparing for Passover, said Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow.

 “This program comes from the Jewish Outreach Institute (JOI) and offers a way for Jewish organizations such as Shir Hadash to get out into the community to meet unaffiliated Jewish families as they shop for Passover foods in preparation for their Passover seders,” said Weiner-Kaplow.

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“We want to touch their lives. We want to tell them about great ways to celebrate Passover as well as share information about our programs, about what a wonderful place Shir Hadash is,” he said.

Passover begins March 25 and runs through April 2. The holiday commemorates the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt after centuries of slavery.

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Members of the synagogue will be stationed in the matzah aisle at Dominick's offering samples of traditional Passover foods--including charoset, which Weiner-Kaplow called Jewish gourmet fruit salad: a mixture of apples, nuts and grape juice--and talking about the synagogue.

“When people ask what this is, we'll explain that this is eaten at our traditional Passover seder and we'll offer them recipe cards to make this an other Passover delicacies,” he said.

“We also will offer a special Color-Me-Calendar for the children as well as plenty of information about Shir Hadash, its religious school, 2nd night Passover seder, High Holidays and, of course, our new building on Dundee Road in Wheeling,” Weiner-Kaplow said.

Members of the synagogue's teen group have been meeting with Weiner-Kaplow, temple President Jeffrey Wallk and other officials to plan signs, design a gift basket, write handouts and to learn how the JOI program works.

The teens' involvement “fits right into one of our overarching goals at Shir Hadash. We want them to take a leadership role in our community as we emphasize community, caring and creativity. These are the messages we try and promote,” said Wallk.

Hours for “Passover in the Matzah Aisle” are 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 17, and 11 to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 24.

Formerly located in rented facilities in the north suburbs since its inception 18 years ago, Shir Hadash is purchasing its first real home, an existing building at 200 W. Dundee Road in Wheeling.

The growing synagogue attracts members from Northbrook, Glenview, Deerfield, Highland Park, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights and Palatine and as far away as Chicago, Skokie, Park Ridge, Barrington and Gurnee.

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