I’m glad I could contribute, and I’ve appreciated seeing how Chadashot continues to reflect strong commitment and purpose. I’m confident the newsletter remains in good hands going forward, and I wish the editors and writers continued success in sustaining and growing the work they’ve built.

My job would have been impossible without the help of my two vice-chairs, Marilyn Berkowitz and Shelley Szwalbenest. With Marilyn as my faithful compatriot and fellow decision maker for three years, and then adding Shelley for two, we oversaw the work of two Region Torah Fund Vice President classes: the 2021–2024 class for one year and the 2024–2026 class for two years. Both groups had wonderful, hard-working, dedicated women, and we tried to use everyone’s strengths for the good of the group. With both classes we shared articles, speeches, programming ideas, and strategies. We all worked together to bring in donations, solve problems, and most important of all—enjoy our time together, note each other’s life moments, and take pride in our work as Women’s League volunteers.

Torah Fund would not be able to support our Conservative/Masorti institutes of higher education without the efforts and dedication of our 13 Region Torah Fund Vice Presidents – and my two vice chairs as well. Each volunteer also understands every donation supports the continuation of our movement.

Torah Fund is the dedicated philanthropy of WLCJ, and our grassroots fundraising continues to do the job. Thank you to everyone who supports Torah Fund in any way—making/collecting donations, coordinating events, paperwork, Chadashot, Legacy Society (Marcia Toppall and Donna Burkat), helping with e-cards (Gilda Zucker and Nancy Goldberg), packing pins, Transition Team, Torah Fund Cabinet and spreading the word about our efforts. It has truly been an honor to work with every one of you and see the results of our labors.

Thank you also for the warmth and support you have extended to me personally. The joy and self-growth I have experienced while being your WLCJ Vice President, Torah Fund Chair, cannot be measured.

Studies show us that people who volunteer are happier, have a more positive attitude, enhanced social connections, and improved self-esteem. I see all these characteristics in our dedicated TF volunteers. We can all take great satisfaction in a job well done. Yasher Kochachen (good job) to all.

Now on to our next campaign for 2026–2027, Shema Koleinu (Hear Our Voice). I wish Janet Kirschner, our incoming Torah Fund Vice President, and her team much success.

WLCJ President Julia Loeb said the transition will streamline operations and enable WLCJ to enhance engagement and efficiency while continuing to support our Conservative/Masorti Institutions of higher learning.

Starting July 1, the Torah Fund offices will be located within the WLCJ offices. Morgan Long has been appointed Torah Fund Manager, joining the Torah Fund team along with Janet Kirschner, incoming Torah Fund Vice President. Outgoing WLCJ International Vice President, Torah Fund Chair

Lori Snow has served in that position for the past three years, overseeing several successful campaigns.

“As the incoming Torah Fund Vice President, I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead this campaign,” Kirschner said.

The transition comes as the 2026-2027 Torah Fund Campaign theme is announced: Shema Koleinu, Hear Our Voice. This new theme marks 40 years since the first female cantor was invested. This year’s Torah Fund pin with its joyful women and musical symbolism expresses the right of every woman’s voice as we celebrate this anniversary. The new campaign launches July 1.

The Torah Fund newsletter Chadashot will continue to feature the latest events and happenings of Torah Fund. Torah Fund donors receive links to the virtual newsletter three times a year. Jodi Beck has served as Chadashot editor for six years and will end her term prior to the new campaign when a new editor will be named.

The holiday of Tu B’Av takes place on the 15th of Av. This year, it begins at sundown on July 28 and ends in the evening on July 29.

Tu B’Av comes just one week after Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the şÚÁĎÉç calendar, which commemorates the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. şÚÁĎÉç spiritual tradition teaches us that there is always light within darkness, and Tu B’Av reminds us of joy, renewal, and love.

Tu B’Av is both ancient and modern. It was originally observed during the Second Temple period as a day of dancing and celebration. In recent decades, the holiday has been revived as the şÚÁĎÉç Day of Love—a kind of quirky şÚÁĎÉç older sibling to Valentine’s Day.

The Hebrew word for love is ahava. Its root, hav, means “to give.” This reminds us that love involves giving our time, attention, admiration, and respect to others. As parents, we can teach our children how to give by demonstrating love through our own acts of kindness and generosity.

Sharing stories is a wonderful way to begin conversations about affection, friendship, and caring for others. Books about love and kindness between friends, family members, neighbors, and community members can help children understand what it means to show love in everyday life.

What You Need to Know şÚÁĎÉç This Ancient Day of Love

1. During the Second Temple period, Tu B’Av was like an ancient singles mixer. According to the Talmud, young şÚÁĎÉç women would dance in the vineyards, and unmarried men would go out to meet them.
2. The women wore borrowed white dresses so that no one would feel embarrassed if she did not own the proper garments.
3. According to the Talmud, women also danced on Yom Kippur. For this reason, Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur are described as two of the happiest days for the şÚÁĎÉç people.
4. On Tu B’Av, men and women from different tribes of Israel were permitted to marry one another, despite earlier restrictions on intermarriage between tribes.
5. The holiday’s Hebrew name simply refers to its date: the 15th of the month of Av. “Tu” comes from the Hebrew letters tet and vav, whose numerical values are 9 and 6. Together, they add up to 15.
6. In modern Israel, Tu B’Av is celebrated much like Valentine’s Day in the United States, with flowers, romantic dinners, and evening celebrations. It is also considered a meaningful date for weddings.
7. From the end of the Second Temple era until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Tu B’Av was mainly marked by the omission of Tachanun, a penitential prayer recited during weekday morning and afternoon services. The holiday was later revived in modern Israeli culture.
8. Because Tu B’Av falls during the full moon, many people enjoy taking an evening walk outside and appreciating nature’s beautiful “mood lighting.”

Celebrate Tu B’Av with a sweet, simple treat that families can make together. These No-Bake Chocolate Cookie Pops are fun for children in the summer heat, this no-oven recipe is a perfect holiday treat!

Ingredients

18 chocolate sandwich cookies
4 ounces cream cheese or frosting
1.5 cups milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Assorted sprinkles, finely chopped nuts or toasted flake coconut
Lollipop sticks or popsicle sticks

Directions

1. Crush the cookies into fine crumbs.
2. Mix the crumbs with cream cheese or frosting until the mixture holds together.
3. Roll the mixture into small balls.
4. Insert a lollipop stick into each ball.
5. Place cookie pops on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Melt chocolate in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval. Repeat until all the chocolate is melted.
7. Dip each cookie pop into melted chocolate.
8. Add sprinkles or decorations before the chocolate hardens.
9. Place the pops in the refrigerator for 1 hour until firm.

Enjoy and share with someone you love!

Joining us by pre-recorded video (it would have been 2:30 a.m. in Israel!), Rabbi Baker opened with a question: Why is shmita (the sabbatical year occurring every seven years when land is unused, agricultural work ceases and debts are forgiven) taught at Har Sinai, when the people were still in the desert? She explained that “there is no revelation without the details.” Even laws not yet relevant must be articulated, because they create a framework for the future.

She then connected this idea to Yom HaAtzmaut. Once seen as a holiday of pure joy, it has become harder for Israelis to shift from daily struggle to celebration. Security concerns, financial pressures, violence, hatred, polarization, and debates over military service all weigh heavily. Israel’s Declaration of Independence begins by explaining why the şÚÁĎÉç people deserve a state, then outlines a long-term program of action to build a society rooted in peace, justice, and equality. “When things are bad — you get to work.”

Returning to shmita, she cited Rashi: it matters precisely when it feels irrelevant, when it is still in the future, when we have time to imagine something better. “We stay in the mud when we can’t imagine a better future.” şÚÁĎÉç history teaches that big moments come only after sustained effort. Leadership must be cultivated. Rabbi Baker closed by thanking Women’s League and Torah Fund for embodying the şÚÁĎÉç DNA of hard work. Our mission is to build a better future despite the challenges. She wished us “a good year of work until the next Yom HaAtzmaut.”

Israel at a Crossroads: Navigating Threats, Truth, and Turbulence

Our featured presenter, Tsach Saar, Deputy Consul General of Israel in New York, plays a central role in managing the consulate’s work, building relationships with elected officials and community leaders, and serving as Acting Head of Mission when needed. He shared his background — four years as a parliamentary advisor in the Knesset, diplomatic posts in Albania, Berlin, and now New York, which he described as “the most difficult” assignment of his career.

Tsach offered a candid overview of the Middle East. Iran, he said, is “the big elephant in the room.” For Israel, Iran is an existential threat; for the United States, a strategic one. Iran maintains “a very organized plan to destroy Israel.” Israel’s priorities are preventing Iranian nuclear weapons, eliminating ballistic missile capabilities, and neutralizing proxies such as Hezbollah and the Houthis. He noted the global implications of Iranian aggression, including rising insurance premiums for ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the involvement of Russia and China. Even if 95% of missiles are intercepted, he warned, the remaining 5% can cause devastation “equal to a nuclear bomb.”

On Hezbollah, Tsach emphasized that Israel has no territorial dispute with Lebanon and seeks peace, but Hezbollah refuses to disarm and continues rebuilding. If sanctions on Iran are lifted, support for Hezbollah will grow.

Turning to Gaza, he noted that Israel currently controls 50% of the territory militarily and that Israelis are relieved all hostages — “dead or alive” — are home. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, he reminded us, “and they attacked Israel in 2023.” The peace plan is in “phase two,” but Hamas refuses to disarm or relinquish its ideology. A deadlock persists as Hamas uses its taxing authority to rebuild.

With regard to Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza, Tsach sees Israelis becoming “much more of one mind,” more united, and “much nicer to each other.”

Asked for good news, he pointed to Syria, where the threat has weakened.

When asked what American Jews can do, Tsach urged us to be “overtly proud and vocal” as Jews and Zionists. We can criticize the government and still be Zionists. “Talk to people! Stand up for what you believe in!”

He acknowledged concerns about violence in the West Bank, calling it a real problem driven by “mostly young extremists and criminals,” and said Israel must address it.

Tsach said he has not met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani but described Mamdani’s “rhetoric as dangerous and antisemitic for attempting to separate şÚÁĎÉç identity from Israel.” He also noted that he was “smart and charming.”

Tsach also spoke about his engagement with Masorti communities, his awareness of Kotel issues, and his conversations with the president of JTS. With 40% of American Jews living in the states he oversees, he sees direct dialogue as essential and remains optimistic.

We are grateful to Rabbi Chaya Rowen Baker and Tsach Saar for their frank, thoughtful presentations, offering clarity, context, and hope as Israel navigates profound challenges and possibilities.

Tze ulemad, often translated “Go and learn,” is used in the Passover Haggadah to introduce the verses from Deuteronomy 25:5–8 (“My father was a wandering Aramean”) and the lengthy midrashic section that follows. The process this section models is at least as important as the specific content of the texts. It is intended to be illustrative of how we go about reading and studying, how we go about telling and understanding our stories, and how we emerge transformed as a result.

The introductory phrase, unusual in rabbinic literature, is itself a key part of the lesson. The word tze actually means “go out” in the imperative. It comes from the same root used to refer to the Exodus from Egypt itself, yetziat Mitzrayim (Exod. 12:41). Here, joined to ulemad (and learn), the complete phrase invites an extended meditation on the relationship between going out and learning.

On the one hand, the capacity and willingness to go out serves as the precondition for learning.Learning demands a kind of leaving—a letting go of what we believe we already know. It requires the courage to sit with uncertainty, ambiguity, beginner status, or feeling ignorant. It entails leaving the comfort zone of familiarity and expertise, the ego gratification of being right. More concretely, we learn when we go outside of ourselves and our current surroundings and relationships, going out into the world to meet new people, see new terrain, and have new experiences.

On the other hand, it is also true that learning is often the precondition for going out. Learning spurs our imagination, inspiring us to envision new ways of doing and being, even alternative societal structures. Learning about others’ experiences can take us out of ourselves, growing our empathy and spurring us to action. Learning new ideas, philosophies, and spiritual and religious teachings can clarify or shift our values and ethics, leading us out of old patterns and into new practices and new priorities. Our ability to change our present circumstances—or leave them altogether—often follows upon having learned that there are alternative ways of being. Learning opens up possibility and hope, and can nurture the very courage that going out demands. This is why enslavers generally forbid enslaved people from educating themselves.

Of course, it is not an “either/or” but a “both/and.” Tze ulemad—“Go out, then learn” and “Learn so you can go out”—describes an iterative process. Going out enables learning, which enables going out, which makes further learning possible. And on and on. Or perhaps they are simultaneous, parallel, interdependent processes. Going out is learning, and learning is a form of going out.

We see this in the Exodus narrative itself. One way to read the story is that change begins when Moses goes out from Pharoah’s palace and sees his brothers (Exod. 2:11). This leads to revelation/learning at the Burning Bush. That learning begins the process of Moses leading the entire people out of slavery, which in turn makes possible a new level of revelation/learning at Mount Sinai. The result is the endless cycle of going out and learning that is şÚÁĎÉç culture, practice, and history—Torah study and secular education that (ideally) lead us step-by-step out of degradation, injustice, hatred, and violence toward ever greater dignity, justice, lovingkindness, and peace.

The contrast in the Exodus narrative is Pharaoh—the one character who will not or cannot learn or go out. “I do not know YHVH,” Pharoah famously declares; then, despite plague after plague destroying his society, he refuses to learn. This inability or unwillingness to learn becomes manifest in his hardened heart; he stays stuck, immobilized, heavy (kaved)—unable to go out from his current path and choose a new way. When he finally wants to go out—chasing after the Israelites—he becomes stuck, immobilized, and heavy (bikevedut) again, this time in the mud and mire of the Sea of Reeds (Exod. 14:25, Exod. 15:4, and Rashi).

Writ large, the Exodus narrative (and its retelling at the Passover seder) is a story of an existing world order crumbling and a new, more just society emerging, built by those who tze ulemad (go out and learn, who learn, and can therefore go out). Strikingly, just before actually going out (yatzo) from Egypt, the Israelites are commanded to instruct future generations about the Passover story, thereby becoming teachers, as well as learners (Exod. 12:26-27). Tze ulemad . Freedom and learning are intertwined. Go out so you can learn. Leaving is the hallmark of those who have been freed—who are no longer stuck or enslaved by external or internal forces—and don’t wait to be freed in order to learn. Rather, they go out through learning. Learning is the pathway to freedom. The study, discussion, storytelling, and interpretation at our seder tables is more than a celebration and reminder of our journey to freedom, it is an actualization of the journey itself. By the end of the evening, having learned something, we are a little freer than we were when we first sat down at the table.