| OCTY celebrated Passover with a mega seder plate and wrote Passover greeting to OC's college kids. Our teens put together 12 barley soup kits for Harvest Family Success Center. And we celebrated our seniors as well as the culmination of a great year of OCTY events for '24-'25! The fun is not quite done yet! OCTY has organized a trip to see Fiddler on the Roof at Voorhees High School on Sunday, April 13th, and we do have Mitzvah Day to look forward to together. Save the date: May 18th! Hope to see our teen crew there!
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| OCTY trip to see Fiddler on the Roof
DETAILS: *Fiddler on the Roof *Sunday, April 13th *2:00pm at Voorhees High School *(no Religious school this Sunday) *tickets $12 for students, $14 for adults *RSVP by March 15th -- cash, or check made payable to Christine Berg, or venmo to Jeff Berg (can give you info) *possible pizza out after the show TBD Hope to get a group going to Voorhees to support local theater and this winning musical!
Questions: Christine cberg3@comcast.net |
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OCTY wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!
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Members of OCTY enjoyed the Welcome Back event and worked on a High Holy Day mailing to the congregation.
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| Most events take place at Or Chadash from 12:00pm to 1:00pm, but details about each event will be posted! Please save the dates!
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Thank you to OCTY - and Happy Summer! |
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Great job at Mitzvah Day at Or Chadash! So many of our teens joined in to help make difference in so many ways. Or Chadash appreciates each and every one of you!
Also, THANK YOU from Christine Berg for the wonderful surprise plant/flower gift! That was so thoughtful!
Good luck to our teens as they wrap up the school year, and Happy Summer! OCTY will be back in the Fall with more great events! |
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Happy Passover to our OC teens and their families! |
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Thirteen of our teens made time to get together at Or Chadash on Sunday, April 14th. We were delighted with the large turnout for OCTY's Passover event, and we were so happy to welcome several of our 7th graders!!
They enjoyed pizza as well as an assortment of treats on a mega seder plate. They also made chocolate covered matzoh for care packages for OC's college kids. Thank you, OCTY!
Stay tuned for more info about Mitzvah Day, which will be OCTY's last event of the 2023-2024 school year!
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| Wonderful Purim Carnival and Spiel - BIG thanks to OCTY! Next up: April 14th Passover Celebration |
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Engaging Presentation on Gun Violence Prevention |
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| Thank you to two of our OCTY co-presidents for a very engaging presentation on Gun Violence Prevention at Or Chadash last Friday evening, February 23rd.
Izzie Hodkinson and Dylan Berg presented information in six parts: Background Information, National State Regulations, Statistics, the Jewish Take, Prevention, and Group Discussion.
Izzie and Dylan encourage everyone to visit the Religious Action Center website to discover concrete actions you can take in the work to end gun violence.
https://rac.org/issues/gun-violence-prevention
Urge Congress to take immediate action to stop gun violence. Require universal background checks on all gun sales. Tell Congress to prohibit assault weapons.
Make sure YOUR VOICE IS HEARD!
Thank you to everyone who came to Or Chadash or joined in on Zoom! |
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Soup kits for the win & spiel workshop |
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Sunday, February 11th -- OCTY enjoyed the Soup-er Bowl OCTY had a great time putting together 12 Italian Barley soup kits for Harvest Family Success Center in Flemington. Plus, they workshopped the upcoming Purim spiel, which will find its debut performance at the Purim Carnival coming up Sunday, March 17th! Save the date and join in the fun at Or Chadash! We'd love OCTY members to run the games for the younger ones! |
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February 11th Soup-er Bowl |
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Jan 21st Collection for the homeless & Movie Mukbang |
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| Dear Or Chadash families and friends, A very heartfelt thank-you from Or Chadash's youth group! It was just amazing to see box after box, package after package, and bag after bag arrive at Or Chadash in support of OCTY's collection for the homeless! With only a relatively short window of time, boy, did you deliver! On Sunday, January 21st, the youth group went through the donations, separated them by item, and collected them in boxes for delivery to our contact at the Division of Social Work Services in Flemington ahead of its Homeless Connect Event on Wednesday, January 24th, which starts the 2024 Point-in-Time Count of the homeless. We had almost 40 families and friends participate in the collection, and those donations amounted to: 26 boxes of one-gallon storage bags (about 1,000 individual bags!) 300 rain ponchos 213 pairs of men's socks 114 pairs of women's socks These numbers are SKY HIGH, and we appreciate your support so much! We were happy to give Amazon Wish Lists a try and so grateful this turned out to be a good option for so many of you. THANK YOU for taking the time to participate in this meaningful mitzvah! The Or Chadash community continues to be generous, thoughtful, and big-hearted! |
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| OCTY members enjoyed pizza and snacks and viewed Rio together for their Movie Mukbang event! Next up is our annual "Soup-er Bowl" event on Feb 11th. Watch for details coming soon! |
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OCTY collection for the homeless |
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January to May OCTY events announced! |
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Happy New Year from OCTY! Please save the dates for our 2024 events! |
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First up: Sunday, January 21 -- 12PM to 2PM @OC Movie Mukbang Bring a snack to share and enjoy getting together to watch a movie OCTY co-presidents are tallying movie votes -- watch for an update about which movie will be shown |
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| Toy Drive Update Watch for upcoming events for OCTY in 2024! |
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Thank you to our generous congregation for the carload of toy donations that OCTY collected!
Special thanks to Hayden Moscowitz for handling the delivery of the donation to Harvest Family Success Center!
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| Happy Hanukkah from OCTY! And Happy New Year! Watch for upcoming events for OCTY in 2024! |
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Kick-off to OCTY Toy Drive & Hanukkah Party!
OCTY members had a great time celebrating Hanukkah together and also creating mini Hanukkah houses.
Our teens also got the OCTY Toy Drive started with a wonderful bunch of donations that they contributed!
Please watch for a calendar of events for OCTY 2024! |
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Dec 3 Toy Drive & Hanukkah Party! |
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Thanks for joining in at Oakwood Lanes! |
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OCTY had a great time bowling at Oakwood Lanes! Save the date: December 3 -- Toy Drive and Hanukkah Party! |
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Nov 5 - OCTY is going bowling! |
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Oct 22 - Pumpkin Painting event |
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| Great creations from this clever crew!
And OCTY members got a head start on a college mailing to go out for Hanukkah!
Next up is bowling on Sunday, November 5 -- more details coming soon!
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Mitten Mitzvah a GREAT success! |
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Thanks so much for your donations of new and gently used mittens, hats, gloves, and scarves!
First, OCTY was able to decorate the sukkah with all the colorful donations. Then, OCTY was able to donate these cold-weather items to help bring warmth to those in need.
Special thanks to Izzie Hodkinson for handling the delivery of our congregation's substantial donation!
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High Holidays Food Drive a GREAT success! |
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THANK YOU to our generous congregants for making this year's annual food drive a HUGE success!
Members of OCTY collected bags and bags of food donations at the beginnings of our Yom Kippur services. It took three cars to transport all the donations to the Open Cupboard Food Pantry! Thank you to the Hodkinson, MacIsaac, and Berg families!
Through your generosity, OCTY was able to deliver 700 pounds of non-perishable food items! AND our teens delivered $250 in ShopRite scrip as well!
What a wonderful way to start the new year! Next up: October 22 pumpkin painting & college mailing -- save the date! |
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Great OCTY Welcome Back event! |
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OCTY is BACK! It was great to see so many of our teens at the Welcome Back Get-Together last Sunday! After enjoying a bagel nosh, our teens helped with various activities and worked together on Rosh Hashana mailings to the congregation and to our college kids. Or Chadash thanks them for their help!
Next up: High Holy Days Food Drive (see below).
OCTY co-presidents: Dylan Berg djberg14@gmail.com Izzie Hodkinson izziesam11@gmail.com Harrison Langer hblanger21@gmail.com Kate MacIsaac kvmac2007@gmail.com
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OCTY is getting ready for the High Holy Days Food Drive |
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| Welcome Back to our Or Chadash teens!
High Holy Days Food Drive: For our teens attending in-person services for Rosh Hashana, we could use some helpers to distribute food donation flyers. Teens should get to the front doors ahead of the end of the service to be able to hand flyers to members as they leave. Thanks! Friday, September 15 @ 8:00pm Saturday, September 16 @ 10:00am Saturday, September 16 @ 3:00pm
Food Bag Collection: We'll need some teens to help with collecting the food bag donations at our Yom Kippur services. Teens should be at Or Chadash about 15 minutes before the service starts to be able to receive bags and boxes from members coming in the building for the service. Collect donations to put in Room 1. Load donations into cars for delivery. Sunday, September 24 @ 8:00pm Monday, September 25 @ 10:00am Monday, September 25 @ 2:00pm
Questions: Christine Berg, cberg3@comcast.net |
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OCTY will be back with more programming in August! |
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Thank you to all our teens who participated in Mitzvah Day! That was our last youth group event of the '22-'23 school year, and what a fabulous year it has been! From apple printing to pumpkin painting, from food drives to toy and coat drives, from mitzvahs for the congregation to care packages for OC college kids . . . terrariums and planting trees in Israel . . . our Soup-er Bowl and, of course, helping with the Purim Carnival (the crown jewel of teen volunteering!) . . . OCTY has had a blast getting together and forging strong relationships at OC! Have a GREAT summer, and we will be back in the Fall with more fun programming for our 8th to 12th graders! |
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April 2 - EDIBLE PLAGUES & COLLEGE CARE PACKAGES |
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Our Youth Group had a lot of fun prepping Passover care packages for OC's college kids! They made "question catchers" (a throwback from grade school) and chocolate-covered matzo and also wrote notes. Big thanks to our teens for working on this mitzvah!
They also enjoyed a selection of edible plagues! (after naming the 10 plagues and numbering them in order)
We were so glad to have two of our 7th graders join us: Carly and Jordan! |
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March 5th - PURIM CARNIVAL |
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HUGE THANKS to all our OCTY members who helped out at the carnival! |
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SPECIAL THANKS to our fabulous performers of "The Greatest Superhero of Them All!" |
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February 25th - WITNESS TO HISTORY, KEEPERS OF MEMORY |
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Members of the group of Or Chadash teens and chaperones who participated in the December 2022 trip to the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC got together for a "mini RAC Reunion."
The group toured the current exhibit on display at The Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at RVCC. Witness to History, Keepers of Memory is on loan from the Montreal Holocaust Museum and depicts 30 Holocaust survivors through their stories about objects of special significance to them. |
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| Using QR codes, we read about each of the items depicted in the display.
"According to survivors, vestiges of life before the Holocaust are hard to find. The few carefully guarded objects, documents, and photographs smuggled out or that narrowly escaped destruction represent some of the most personal memories: their origins." |
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Pictured among the faces in the exhibit are members of the Abrams, Berg, Hodkinson, and MacIsaac families. After visiting the Institute, we all enjoyed lunch together at a local pizzeria. The exhibit at RVCC runs through May 10, 2023. For more information, visit: https://www.raritanval.edu/community-resources/holocaust-institute
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February 12th - OCTY'S SOUP-ER BOWL |
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OCTY'S SOUP-ER BOWL!
Our OC teens came together to make Italian Barley soup kits for Harvest Family Success Center in Flemington. Special thanks to Jasmine for taking care of dropping off the donations!
They also had some fun getting a head start on working with our spiel for the upcoming Purim Carnival. Lots of laughs! |
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| NEXT UP: OC's beloved Purim Carnival! (ALL 8th-12th graders welcome and encouraged to attend!) Sunday, March 5 10:00AM to 12:00PM Purim Carnival! Run the games, perform the spiel, and make a lot of fun for the younger OC members!
OCTY co-presidents: Noah Metelitsa (nmetelitsa@gmail.com) Jasmine Likier (jlikier@hcrhs.org) |
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Trees for Israel
Or Chadash is very proud of our teens for raising $90 to plant trees in Israel in honor of Tu B'Shevat.
Their personal donations covered the planting of 5 trees through the Jewish National Fund. |
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January 29th - Terrariums for Tu B'Shevat |
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November 6th - Coat Drive |
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September 11th - Welcome Back Event 2022-2023 |
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Welcome Back Event 2022-2023
It was great to get so many of our teens together for OCTY's Welcome Back Event last Sunday! After enjoying bagels, apple cider donuts, apple cider, and special apple-designed cookies from Betsy, our teens talked about planning the next few months' worth of events and then worked together on a Rosh Hashana mitzvah. Shhhhh... you might just be receiving an apple-printed postcard in the mail!
Or Chadash thanks them for their help!
OCTY co-presidents: Noah Metelitsa (nmetelitsa@gmail.com) Jasmine Likier |
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May 1st - Last Event of 2021-2022 |
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April 3rd - Slime Time and Diaper Drive |
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March 13th - Purim Speil and Carnival |
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February 27th - Pizza and Purim Planning |
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December 5th - Toy Drive and Hanukkah Houses |
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| Thanks to our wonderful community, OCTY is on a roll!
On the heels of the November Coat Drive, OCTY's December Toy Drive was also a great success, with enough bags of toys and games to fill Jordyn Moscowitz's car! Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Toy Drive, and thanks especially to Jordyn for handling the transportation and delivery of all the donations to the Family Success Center in Flemington. Great job, OCTY!!
We were so happy to see our youth group together again on Sunday, December 5th. They ran the Toy Drive and also enjoyed working on "Hanukkah houses." They were all so creative! See the pictures below.
Check back here soon for an update about OCTY's plans for 2022! Got an idea for a fun event or mitzvah? Reach out to Jordyn or Noah to see what can work and help with organizing!
OCTY co-presidents: Jordyn Moscowitz and Noah Metelitsa |
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| OCTY is so pleased to announce our teens collected 76 coats during the Coat Drive this month! Thank you to everyone who dropped off donations! This was a wonderful success! Special thanks to Sam Orr and Stephanie Orr for handling the delivery of all the coats to SAFE in Hunterdon and Volunteers of America in Somerville.
On November 21, OCTY teens enjoyed pizza together, organized all the coat donations by size into bags and boxes, and wrote thank-you cards to our Or Chadash teaching staff and members of the Board of Trustees. We were grateful for the gorgeous, sunny weather and the time to hang together! |
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October 3rd - The Gravity Vault |
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