By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

The biggest Sunday of the year is right around the corner: Super Sunday. That day, January 26 (two weeks before that other famous winter Sunday), the Jewish community of the Lehigh Valley will Unite for Impact at the JCC for a morning and afternoon of educational and fundraising programs and activities.

The event, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, begins at 9:30 a.m. at the JCC with a Maimonides Society Brunch and Learn. Dr. Frank Tamarkin, chief of urology for St. Luke’s University Health Network, will speak to the society’s healthcare professionals and other interested community members. 

Meanwhile, volunteers will begin making phone calls to community members and continue throughout the day. They’ll be thanking donors for pledges to the Federation’s Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs or the Israel Emergency Fund, or requesting that community members make new pledges toward this year’s fundraising goals and the effort to support Jewish needs and programs here, in Israel, and around the world.

At 11 a.m. Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy will come together for a program guided by the Jewish values: acts of loving kindness, friendship, and honor and respect. Volunteers will assemble Dignity Grows bags filled with hygiene products, make friendship bracelets, and handwrite messages to recipients.  

Noon brings an Israeli-style lunch prepared by Around the Table Catering, which operated the food truck that used to be parked in the JCC’s Tilghman Street parking lot.

Tim Brooks, regional security advisor, will talk to an audience at 1 p.m. about how to be prepared when crises arise. He’ll cover how to recognize suspicious behaviors and threats, and how to be proactive regarding synagogue and school security. 

PJ Library, in partnership with Jewish Family Service, is offering an event at 3 p.m. teaching kids what it’s like to live with visual impairment. Free preschool vision screening will be available, and, of course, there will be a PJ Library story.

Bringing the events of this day of unity to a close will be the unveiling of the Wings of Hope mural in the JCC lobby. Formed out of colorful plastic, wood, and metal toys collected from our community, the wings mural will be dedicated to the Kutz family of Kibbutz Aza killed on October 7. 

To register to make phone calls or to attend any of the individual events of the day, visit jewishlehighvalley.org/supersunday.