What does one do when the lights and heat go out on one of the darkest and coldest days of the year – and on erev Shabbos, no less! The responses of community members to the blackout of Shabbos Chanukah, 5783, showed ingenuity and resilience. Here are their stories:

After reading a recent article on FoxBusiness.com, entitled, “Nearly 70% of Americans Struggling to Pay Grocery Bills, Survey Finds,” I decided to conduct my own poll in our community, regarding life after food boxes. Now that this era has come to an end, I wondered how local families were managing – what they were eating, what their average weekly food bill totaled, and if they had any money-saving food shopping tips for those with dwindling stockpiled food box groceries.

“My fridge and freezer are emptier,” Malka Friedman* responded. “We are eating the basics and no longer eating all the new and different foods that came in the box. We have a lot less to share with others. I keep an eye out for discounts when possible. Every little bit helps. We are doing what we can to get what everyone would like to eat – which is not always easy with picky eaters – but we are managing, b”H.”

My closest brush with British royalty was in the summer of 1976. My friend Chaya and I were counselors in a camp located in the Laurentian mountains. How excited we were to receive free tickets – compliments of her father’s congregant – to the Montreal Olympic Games (XXI Olympiad) held about an hour away! It was thrilling to look behind us and get a good glimpse of the British Royal family – the Queen, Prince Philip, Princes Charles, Andrew, and Edward, and Prince Anne’s husband, Mark Phillips – sitting close behind us in the bleachers. They were there to cheer on Princess Anne, a member of the British equestrian team, who rode her mother Queen Elizabeth’s horse, Goodwill.

Despite the heavy toll Covid took on us, many people found opportunity in the midst of a difficult situation. At the risk of minimizing the hardships and losses we faced during this time – especially of those who suffered horrendous tragedies – I polled members of our greater community to see what their personal silver lining was. After all, isn’t the legendary resiliency of the Jewish nation in the face of tragedy partly due to our seeking out any possible good?

With spring here and summer not far behind, the relaxed warm-weather activities bring a plethora of safety concerns that our community needs to be vigilant about. The Chesed Fund and Project Ezra President Frank Storch recently received this heartbreaking email from a very concerned community member:

I’m not sure if you are aware of what happened this week with a bike accident in our community. On Tuesday, I was driving, and as I crossed over an intersection, a young boy slammed into the side of my car. It happened so fast… I really think something needs to be done for the safety of the kids in this community. He was riding a bike with a motor. He was going very fast and did not stop at the stop sign. Judging from the damage to my SUV, he had a serious impact when his bike hit the side… He flew into the air and hit the windshield with his head and elbow. Thank G-d he was wearing a proper helmet, but now, days later, he is still in the hospital.

 I’m still shaken, and he’s still in the hospital having needed surgery. B”H, it wasn’t fatal, but it could have been. Just a few seconds and a guardian angel for him and me, and thankfully he is alive. I see many kids biking, often unsafely in the streets. We teach our kids how to ride bikes, but more importantly we need to teach them bike safety. And when they are riding in the street, we need to teach them to read and adhere to road signs and basic safety on the road.

  When my coworker Haviva Bulka first mentioned that she was housing Baltimore’s new Proposal Gemach, my curiosity was piqued. What in the world is a proposal gemach? Does it make volunteers available to propose for you if you are as shy as Miles Standish? Legend has it that the leader of the Pilgrims wanted to marry Pricilla Mullins but lacked the confidence to propose. Instead, he sent his friend John Alden to pop the question. When John conveyed Miles’ proposal, Pricilla said, “Speak for yourself, John.” They got married and lived happily ever after – John and Pricilla, that is. I soon learned that the Proposal Gemach does nothing of the sort.