For Jews, the High Holidays are a time to reflect on the past year as well as an opportunity to look forward.  We look forward to a healthy and prosperous year for our families, our community and all humanity, and hope that this will be the year that peace will embrace all mankind.  Unfortunately, this view is not shared by all peoples and all nations.

While religion should be about putting people in touch with each other as well as putting people in touch with God, many use religion as a pretext for hatred and genocide.  No greater example of such hatred was recently on display at the United Nations.  Giving an audience to those who deny the Holocaust and champion the elimination of nations is difficult to fathom.  History has shown that repeated lies eventually blur the line between fact and fiction.  Please view the response of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the following link:

http://www.breitbart.tv/netanyahu-slams-u-n-for-giving-ahmadinejad-forum-have-you-no-shame/

Please check out our Jewish News Online section for additional perspectives on the emerging Iranian crisis as well as other topics of interest to Jews throughout the world.

It seems that summer has yet to arrive but Labor Day and the school year are right around the corner.  I hope everyone has made plans to attend Altoona Jewish Community night at the Altoona Curve game on Wednesday, August 12^th.  Also our community has been invited to attend a seminar of the Blair County Genealogy Society.  The Speaker is David Horowitz and the subject is tracing one’s Jewish roots.  Both events are featured below on our home page.

I hope our families with young children have signed up of the PJ Pajama program also detailed on the home page.  This program is a great way to spend time with your children through age appropriate Jewish storybooks and music.  The last program I would like to highlight is our annual picnic.  We will be returning to Diamond Carriage Farm for pumpkin carving, wagon rides, and fun around the bonfire on Sunday afternoon, October 18^th.  More details will be forthcoming.

Congratulations to Bill Wallen and Hazzan Horowitz for the their participation in “A Matter of Faith,” which recently concluded.  I was able to attend the last session and found the program to be very insightful.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the upgrades to our website and I want to thank everyone who has submitted content and photos as we seek to continue to provide new content on a regular basis.  Enjoy the rest of the summer and I look forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming events.