Rosh Hashanah is a time when we reflect on the past year and contemplate the ways in which we have grown, the mistakes we have made, and the opportunities we have yet to seize. As we engage in this sacred process of self-reflection, may we find the strength and courage to make amends, to learn from our experiences, and to grow into our best selves. As we welcome the new year 5786, we do so carrying the weight and wisdom of a year that has tested us in profound ways. This has been a time when our hearts have been stretched between grief and resilience, between fear and hope, between isolation and the deep human need for connection. We have witnessed antisemitism rise in our own communities here in Maine and beyond. We have seen violence and suffering that has shaken us to our core. We have grappled with complex questions about identity, safety, and belonging that have no easy answers. Many of us have felt the particular loneliness that comes from feeling misunderstood or unseen in our pain. Yet here we are, together. We continue to show up for one another. We continue to choose connection over isolation, dialogue over silence, and hope over despair—even when those choices feel impossibly difficult. Together, thanks to the hard work of our tremendously talented development team and the spirit of generosity and cooperation that is a hallmark of our community, the JCA has directly improved the lives of thousands of people locally and globally in the past year. We provided almost $400,000 in allocations to care for the most vulnerable among us, educate our children, strengthen Jewish identities locally, support Jews globally, and foster a thriving Jewish life. We distributed 259,050 diapers, 2,250 diaper wipe packs, and 43,248 menstrual pads through our diaper bank. We are starting a BBYO chapter to foster community and support Jewish identity among our local teens. We resettled 110 refugees from 9 different countries. We provided local school children with 510 pairs of boots through our Winter Warmth Drive. We greatly strengthened our antisemitic response protocol, developing a statewide incident response form and building key relationships with local, state, and national partners. We held our first Mitzvah Day, with 60 volunteers at 7 project sites, and subsequently created a mitzvah corps that comes together monthly to do volunteer work around the Portland area. We brought disparate voices together in dialogue to work toward shared understanding. And held space for our community to come together, to spread joy, to share pain, to remember, to hope for a brighter future, and to work to build a better world. The shofar calls us not to forget this year's trials, but to carry their lessons forward. It reminds us that we are part of an ancient story of perseverance, that we belong to a people who have always found ways to build meaning from brokenness, to plant seeds of justice even in the hardest ground. Every generation has faced its darkness and chosen to kindle light anyway. This is our moment to be ancestors to the future. Each conversation that builds understanding, each time we choose action over inaction and courage over fear—these become the foundation for the world we want our children to inherit. We plant trees whose shade we may never sit in, but whose shelter will comfort generations to come. As we stand at this threshold between years, we acknowledge what we've lost and what we've learned. We commit to continuing the sacred work of repairing our world—tikkun olam—knowing that this work is never finished, never perfect, but always necessary. We do this work not because we are certain of the outcome, but because hope is more than passive waiting—it is active faith in our ability to create change. Too often we are quick to call out the changes other people need to make, and shy away from taking account of the work we need to do internally. Our tradition emphasizes the critical principle of Kol Israel – that each Jew is responsible, one for the other. We can all benefit from reflection on the changes and repairs we need to make as individuals, looking inward before casting outward. We can also all benefit by affording others a little more grace to learn and grow and change, focusing more on building up instead of tearing down, of uniting rather than dividing. Given the host of ills in the world, it’s more important than ever that we stand together to confront the challenges we face as a community, as a nation, as a people, as human beings. May this new year bring healing to our community and our world. May we find strength in our traditions and in each other. And may we remember that even in the darkest times, we are never truly alone. Shanah Tovah u'Metukah. Leslie Kirby, Chief Executive Officer Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine 🍎🍯🍏

Did you know that there is a connection between Jews and the Tutsi people of Rwanda and Burundi? One member of Portland’s community, Paul Niyonizigiye, who immigrated from Burundi (a country in Africa), is passionately keeping that connection alive. While Paul’s faith is Unitarian Universalism, he donates regularly to Jewish causes, including the World Jewish Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and considers himself both to be an ally of the Jewish people and a supporter of Israel. “If I see Jewish people in the community, I see my brother or sister, even if I don’t know them,” Paul tells me during a recent visit to the JCA. Tutsi people and Jewish people have many similar customs , including not eating pork or mixing meat and milk, and some historians believe this points to a shared historical origin. Paul himself believes that Tutsis are descended from Ethiopian Jews who settled in the region millennia ago. But the connection between the Tutsi people and Jewish people doesn’t stop at mysteriously similar traditions or shared ancestry. Our modern histories are marred by tragedy: Tutsis were the primary victims of the Rwandan genocide, where 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. Many Tutsis after the genocide have looked towards Israel, and more broadly Jews, as an example of how to survive a horror and rebuild afterwards. In fact, while the blight of antisemitism spreads again throughout the world, many Rwandans and Tutsis continue to hold a positive perception of Jews, Israel, and the Jewish religion. We consider Paul a friend of the JCA, and we look forward to continuing to build with him and the Tutsi community in Maine. I interviewed Paul about his connection to the Jewish people, his thoughts on Israel, and his message to our community.