Mitzvah Day

Another annual Mitzvah Day has ended -- our group of 200 plus volunteers made over 8000 peanut butter and fluff (marshmallow) sandwiches. It was fun to be part of the event, and some of the people were really pushy, but more were really sincere. There was a guy and his son who came early, set up tables, worked straight through with a smile. There was a woman with her young son that worked as an amazing team, with the mom scraping the jars clean as if it was her own food she was stretching. Some brought unwrapped toys to donate. All in all, these sandwiches will make meals for many homeless people, particularly as they can be frozen for later use.
As the late Rabbi Herbert Silberman said in his Rosh Hashana remarks last September, it is important to try to help others more than just once a year. He stressed the importance of doing good deeds and praying every day, just for five minutes or sharing five cents. He would have been so proud of everyone working at all the Mitzvah projects today, urging them, in his gentle way, to do more. I so miss my weekly classes with him and his precious wife -- they imparted so much of themselves in the way they taught. This Mitzvah Day would not be complete without my taking a moment to acknowledge their special impact in my life, and on all the people that surrounded them.