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October 24, 2025 - 3 Cheshvan 5786
Dear Friends, As I sit down to write this, I am wearing a brand-new pink t-shirt I just bought for Breast Cancer Awareness month. But, long before Wear Pink Day was a national thing, long before NFL players donned pink cleats and catching gloves, breast cancer awareness was a central part of my life. I lost both my grandmothers to breast cancer, and have supported friends and family through their own battles with it as well. This Shabbat morning, I'm looking forward to welcoming and having a Torah-side chat with Sheila Sasson, an emissary from Sharsheret, a Jewish not-for-profit organization that provides personalized support, lifesaving education, financial assistance, and genetic counseling to empower those faced with or at increased genetic risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Sheila will share with us her background and how she first connected with Sharsheret, tell us about the sacred work Sharsheret does, and how we can get involved to help save lives. Many of us know the passage from Tractate Sanhedrin in the Babylonian Talmud that teaches us: "Everyone who saves even a single life, it's as if they've saved an entire world." But perhaps not too many folks know the prooftext, or traditional reasoning, given for this most famous dictum. The Rabbis say that this is why all of humanity descended from the same couple; so that no one could ever claim supremacy over another tribe or people. It follows then that every single life is sacred and holy, fashioned in the image of God, and therefore worth saving. I hope you will join me for this important and inspiring conversation tomorrow morning, and I pray we will all be moved to be advocates, teachers, and messengers, empowered to save as many lives as possible. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Joshua Strom
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