Our next CRC meeting will be on at 7 pm on Tuesday, September 28^th at the Holocaust Center Library in Maitland.  Contact Barbara Weinreich for more information.

Currently, CRC is heavily involved in getting Jewish Holidays recognized within the Orange County School system and the greater community.  They have just released the 2010 six year calendar of Jewish holidays (click here to download a copy of this calendar), distributing it to five public school districts, the Florida High School Athletic Association, several private schools, and some government officials.  It is an important document to help our community plan for important events, exams, and activities at times when Jewish students and personnel can participate.  Several recipients of these calendars have expressed appreciation for expediting their planning process.

In a similar vein, CRC is currently working with the Orange County Schools Calendar Task Force helping to set their school calendar for the next two years.  We have requested that either Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur be designated as a day off and that is now under consideration by the School Board.  Seminole County Public Schools has graciously closed on those days for many years, and we’re hopeful that Orange County will soon do the same.  Barbara Weinreich, CRC’s chair and a member of this Task Force, has stated “our responsibility is to show community support for this breakthrough by encouraging people to call, write, or e-mail the Orange County School administrators asking that they show sensitivity for our religious obligations.” CRC continues to be involved in issues of bias and bigotry, and alerts the Jewish community when matters that affect Jewish well-being require communicating with government officials.

CRC and the Jewish Federation were sponsors for Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day).  We gave $1000 from previous year’s accruals for this program and we were credited with sponsoring the stage.  We also provided several volunteers for a very meaningful celebration of Israel’s 63^rd anniversary.

CRC declined two invitations this month after considerable thought.  The National Day of Prayer, taking place at Lake Lilly, was described as a day of prayer and patriotism for the Judeo-Christian community.  Research showed that its diversity lay in including Christian groups of various denominations but, aside from the hyphenated title of the program, Jews were really not part of the core nor were any other faith groups.  – CRC also declined to sponsor a talk by Dave Gaubatz on the topic of the Muslim Mafia.  Research showed that his backers are part of an Islamaphobic group. Association with them would be highly inappropriate for JFGO.  (These decisions were made after email consultations with select CRC members.)

CRC continues to forward communications from our various mentors that urge political action on matters of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Florida legislative bills that impact the Jewish community and more.

We responded to a parent of a Maitland Middle School student who experienced an unpleasant encounter with a teacher because of her Jewish precepts.  The Holocaust Center was made aware of the situation and has also been in contact.

In accordance with a survey of CRC members, meetings will no longer be held monthly, but only when there is a need.