Save the Date! May 18th, 2012! Come to Shabbat Alive with Rick Recht, a free community worship program presented by Congregation Or Ami and hosted at The Weinstein JCC! Be prepared to get on your feet and be inspired as this dynamic, Jewish Song Leader/Performer helps us experience Shabbat worship in a whole new way!  Show up early - we are expecting a big crowd at this explosive, rockin' community worship event.  Worship begins at 7:30 PM.  Following worship, the Or Ami high school youth group, OATY, will be hosting a Jew-bilee overnight lock-in for other Jewish high school teens from around the Virginia area. Reservations are necessary for the lock-in.  Programs are being created to hand out before worship. If you have a business or event you would like to promote and get in front of hundreds of people, contact us for advertising opportunities. Contact Or Ami at (804) 272-0017 or office@or-ami.com for more info on Shabbat Alive, the overnight lock-in, or for information on advertising in the program. For more information on Rick Recht, look him up on YouTube or at http://www.rickrecht.com.
On Sunday, May 20th, 2012, Congregation Or Ami will be participating in I.O.U.-Interfaith Outreach United- a Mitzvah Day comprised of six congregations of varying faiths. We will work shoulder to shoulder and side by side as hundreds fan out across Richmond to participate in enriching the lives of the needy and less fortunate.  We welcome anyone who would like to participate or contribute to this worthy event.  Contact (804) 272-00017 or go to <www.iou-richmond.weebly.com>

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Hopefully by now you are at least aware that Mitzvah Day will occur on May 20th, 2012 as apart of a Shabbaton weekend, starting with Rick Recht, Shabbat Alive! at the JCC on Friday night, May 18th at 7:30 PM. It will be bigger and a little different from years past. This Mitzvah Day will be an interfaith community wide event involving 5 other congregations. It takes a lot of planning and coordination to organize a group and event of this magnitude.  We really need everyone to participate in any capacity that they can.  Some things will seem different; we know, but not everything different is bad or scary!

Please order your T-shirts right away!  The deadline for ordering shirts is April 29th if you plan to do it on-line.  If you need to pay by check or mail, please order  by April 26th.  The T-shirt information is located at: http://iourichmond.miiduu.com/congregation-or-ami.  It is a great way to foster a sense of community for us and build the rainbow as we work shoulder to shoulder with everyone else.

Please choose an activity to participate in!  We have activities that will be taking place all day long and all over town. We have ACTIVITIES for families with young children and activities for our weekend DIY’ers and seniors. This is a great opportunity for scouts to earn some badges or make some of those requirements get checked off the list.  We also need to have some Team Captains. Please consider heading up a group of 8-10 people in a specific activity. We are still adding activities so keep checking for something that appeals to you or fits in your schedule! Remember this is not a complete list-more activities for families with young children are being added!

Lastly, we need funding. A project of this scope requires financial support.  Or Ami has received a grant of $2500 for filling our Foster Care back packs but there are so many other needy causes.  Please try and give $18 per family. Just make sure you put Mitzvah Day in the memo line or write it on the envelope.

“what sets us apart from everyone else is our ability to recognize that we are nothing without everyone else."

L'Shalom,
The Mitzvah Day Team

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