Dear PMN community,

On behalf of the Steering Committee, I want to apologize to the PMN membership for a mistake we made when we scheduled the PMN Fall Gathering at Camp Grotonwood in Gorton, MA from October 4 to October 6, 2024. October 4 is when the sacred, two-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah ends. We failed to give due consideration to the fact that the timing of the Fall Gathering prevents members who observe two full days of Rosh Hashanah from being able to travel on Friday, October 4th. We deeply regret having caused this scheduling conflict.

Our oversight has caused hurt feelings and excluded some members. We apologize for this harm. We were not mindful enough in our scheduling, and I am heart-broken about our mistake.

The Steering Committee’s decision was not deliberate. Many of our long-time members are Jewish and several on the Steering Committee are Jewish, including myself. It was a terrible oversight.

In many ways, Camp Grotonwood has been PMN's answer to our long search for an ideal camp for our overnight PMN gatherings, which are so powerful for building the community connections that we cherish as an organization. In 2024, the only weekend when the camp was available was October 4-6. Unfortunately, by the time we realized the scheduling conflict and its impact on some of our members, we found ourselves without an alternative plan.

Rosh Hashanah initiates a period of “Tshuva” - “turning” - profound reflection on the way we have hurt others, coupled with a deep wish for forgiveness and commitment to do better in the future. The Steering Committee definitely “missed the mark” in this case. I also regret my own delay in publicly acknowledging the mistake. The Steering Committee recommits to preventing scheduling conflicts of this sort in the future by ensuring careful consideration of the calendar of holidays to avoid hurting any of the members of PMN we hold so dear.

Next year, our three-day overnight camping experience, which we are calling a "Fall Gathering" this year, will go back to being a Summer Gathering as has been our tradition for decades. We already reserved Camp Grotonwood on Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, 2025, the same weekend when we gathered in 2023. We intend to work with Camp Grotonwood to reserve Memorial Day Weekend annually for future Summer Gatherings. We're also planning a Winter Gathering in NYC from January 24-26, 2025.

In healing and solidarity,

Erland Zygmuntowicz

Chair, PMN Steering Committee