Wow, March has been a fun filled and exciting month! Earlier this month we had a FSU Pesach Fun Fair. At the fair, we played learning games to learn about the history, culture, important people, and general information about the cities we are visiting in the FSU. The fun was topped off with two tables full of authentic Russian and Ukrainian recipes! The food was delicious, and just helped to make us more excited for the incredible adventures ahead of us.

This week, we had a mock Pesach Seder. At the Seder, we learned different ways to teach the different parts of the Pesach Seder to our FSU communities. We sang some songs, learned some more Russian words, and began to really think about our experiences to come! As time goes by, and we get closer to the date, we continue to get more and more excited! We are so excited to share these amazing Pesach experiences with our brothers and sisters in the FSU!

As the winter months are coming to an end here in Jerusalem, we are getting so close to our adventures in the FSU! Each committee is planning programs to get us all ready for our trips, whether it’s an educational email about the different regions we are visiting or it’s a program with several of the Progressive Rabbis from the FSU. The programming committee is busy working on examples of possible Seders for us as well, and the logistics committee is just about to buy all of our tickets and take care of our visas!

It’s hard to believe that in just about 6 weeks we’ll be on our way to being with these great Jewish communities. All of us are excited to share our love and passion for Judaism to these vibrant communities! Thank you to all of you who have supported our cause. Without your help, this wouldn’t be possible!

Our letters are all mailed and we have started to receive some donations from our families and friends.

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed and thank you in advance for those of you who will contribute. We have begun to plan our calendars for the year to get ready for our trip.

We have established several committees to help us plan our trip:

• The programming committee is responsible for planning all of the Seders and Pesach programming while we are in the FSU. Look for their work to be on the web site soon!
  
• The education committee is responsible for planning educational events prior to our trip in order to help us learn about the cities we are going. This includes learning some Russian, learning about the cultural differences, and what it means to be a Jew in the FSU. As we get educated, we also invite you to learn as well. Be sure to check our education page to learn about our trip, and the communities that YOU will be helping to celebrate Pesach in 2008.
  
• The logistics committee is going to purchase all of our tickets, make our hotel reservations, arrange for our visas, and deal with other matters in preparation for our arrival in the FSU.
  
• The fundraising committee is working hard to make sure we raise the funds necessary for our trip.

We are working hard to get things on the calendar and are really excited to keep the ball rolling. Our final exams for first semester are right around the corner, so we’ll be incredibly busy with the exams, but then we will be hard at work in January.