Mitzvah Day helps those who can’t say ‘thank you’ (Congregation Emanu El Mitzvah Day in Huston, TX)

[Lovetsky Anna]

Mitzvah Day helps those who can’t say ‘thank you’
Congregation-wide event teaches importance of community service to future generations.
On Sunday, Nov. 16, Congregation Emanu El hosted its 17th annual Mitzvah Day. More than 500 volunteers, along with nearly 300 students from Emanu El’s Helfman Religious School and Becker Early Childhood Center, participated in the congregation-wide community service event.
This year’s Mitzvah Day involved 33 different service projects, all designed to help families and individuals in need, to strengthen local interfaith community relations and to fulfill the mitzvah of tikkun olam (repairing the world). .
Projects held at the synagogue included toy drive and gift-bag decorating for BEAResource; toy drive and Chanukah gift-bag decorating for Count Me In; food preparation for Kids’ Meals; assemblage of arts-and-crafts kits for Texas Children’s Hospital; assemblage of birthday gift bags for Child Advocates; food drive for the South Main Food Bank; clothing drive for the Emergency Aid Coalition; and lunch and a concert by Shir Magic for United Cerebral Palsy and Project Shalom. Emanu El also hosted an on-site blood-donation drive through St. Luke’s Hospital.
Projects held at Mitzvah Day’s partner agencies included landscaping at AIDS Foundation Houston; trip to the Houston Zoo with Casa Juan Diego; bingo at the Center for the Retarded; singing and dancing at Goldberg B’nai B’rith Towers; park beautification at Hermann Park Conservancy; food donation and sorting at Houston Food Bank; medical supplies sorting at Medical Bridges; lunch and games at Mission of Yahweh; dance and art project at Richmond State School; landscaping and cleaning at SEARCH Homeless Project; concert at Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services; supplies donation and cleaning at SPCA Houston; food service at Star of Hope; and games at Zuma Fun Center with families served by No More Victims, Kids’ Meals, Fifth Ward Enrichment and Covenant House.
Marci Arnold and Laura Mayer Cyprow co-chaired this year’s, as well as last year’s Mitzvah Day. More than 50 volunteers assisted the co-chairs by serving as individual project team captains.
“Mitzvah Day is such a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the community, and in the lives of others,” Arnold explained. “For the volunteers, we often hear people say that they feel so thankful to be able to do something meaningful to help others. Many of our volunteers bring their children along to teach them the importance of community service and social action.”
Mitzvah Day’s partner agencies, and the people and communities they serve, are very appreciative of the assistance and love they receive from the volunteers, Arnold noted.
“One of the tenants of Judaism is tikkun olam, and this is what Mitzvah Day is all about – going out to do what you can to help others in need, Jews and non-Jews alike,” she said. “For the greater Houston community, I think seeing Congregation Emanu El out there en masse really shows that we put our words into action.”
Emanu El congregant Terry Stukalin has been volunteering for Mitzvah Day since the event began in 1992. This year, she and her daughter, Lauren, helped make sandwiches at the synagogue for the Kids’ Meals project.
“We’re here today because it’s important to give back to the community,” stated Stukalin, whose nursing career enables her to perform mitzvot – and to help save lives – on a daily basis. “We’ve been doing Mitzvah Day for as long as I can remember, and we love it.”
Natalie Baker was another congregant working on a project at the synagogue. She helped pack boxes alongside Alan Martay of the Emergency Aid Coalition, and with dozens of other volunteers, during the Mitzvah Day clothing drive.
“It’s just good to take time to help other people,” Baker commented. “And, it’s a lot of fun to do with a big group of people.”
David Silverman was one of many volunteers who worked on projects outside the synagogue. Silverman has been a member of Emanu El’s volunteer choir for the past three decades. As in years past, he and his fellow volunteer choir members spent Mitzvah Day singing for elderly residents at Seven Acres.
“The residents love having us perform for them,” he observed. “Many of them sing and clap along, and it really cheers them up. Seeing them enjoy the music so much, in turn, makes us feel really good.”
Betsy Goodfriend and Paige Robbins are fourth-graders at Emanu El’s religious school. Their class traveled to the Houston Food Bank to volunteer for families in need.
“We all brought bags of canned goods to donate,” Betsy pointed out.
Paige added: “We’re going to the Food Bank, because there are people who need food, and we want to help them.”
Emanu El’s seventh-graders performed an Israeli dance routine for residents at the Richmond State School. The students also gave the residents “blessing trees,” which they made from colored paper in an arts-and-crafts project.
“It was fun, really fun,” seventh-grader, Jeremiah Leventhal, remarked during the bus ride back to the synagogue. “It was definitely worth getting up at 8 o’clock this morning.”
Caty Arriaga, another seventh-grader, added: “Today’s trip made me feel good inside, because we did something good and made another person’s day.”
Both Caty and Jeremiah noted that their class’ Mitzvah Day project was all the more meaningful, since they performed a good deed for many people who are unable to say “thank you.”
During the opening ceremony of this year’s Mitzvah Day, Steve Weingarten, Emanu El president, encouraged his fellow congregants to make every day a mitzvah day. Before sounding the shofar to kick off the event, Emanu El Senior Rabbi Roy Walter called upon the congregation to lead by example, and to help make the world a better place for all.
Mitzvah Day co-chair, Arnold, expressed gratitude for being given the opportunity to help provide others with the opportunity to perform mitzvot and community outreach.
“I really feel good about what we’re doing,” reflected Arnold, who was joined by family volunteers, husband Mark, and their three children, Alyssa, Jacob and Braden.
“On a personal level, for my own family, I feel like my kids seeing me involved in something like this shows them that Mom really cares about doing mitzvahs and good deeds, and really getting out there in the community and helping others,” she said. “Modeling that behavior means a lot, because Judaism teaches that it’s not just what we say, but it’s the things that we do, that are so important.”
By MICHAEL C. DUKE 20.NOV.08
Jewish Herald - Voice