Opening Our Home to Those in Need

 

This is the bread of poverty and persecution 

that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt

Let all who are hungry, come and eat

Let all who are in need, come and share the Passover meal

This year we are still here – Next year, in the land of Israel

This year we are still slaves – Next year, free people

-Passover Haggadah

Each spring, these words are read at our Passover table!  The rabbis long ago determined the significance of these words.  Not only is this the first major reading of the seder, but it was written in Aramaic, the language most Jews understood when the Haggadah was first compiled.  The rabbis wanted everyone who sat at the Passover table, young and old, to understand our Jewish obligation to help those who are hungry AND those who are in need.  That is why many Jews open their front doors at this point in the seder, welcoming all who don’t have a place to go for the Passover meal.

This year, our annual Mitzvah Day falls much earlier in our Temple calendar.  Normally we gather to do mitzvot and acts of loving kindness well after Passover.  However, because of our quirky Jewish calendar, we’ll join together with Temple Beth Sholom a few weeks prior to the holiday.  That makes this year’s Mitzvah Day extra special!  Our theme this year is “Share your bread with the Hungry” words written by the Prophet Isaiah.  Just as Passover approaches, we will have the opportunity to gather as a community and help feed the hungry and provide comfort to all who are in need.

In connection with the upcoming Passover holiday, many of our projects this year will revolve around the issues of hunger and poverty.  We’ll join together to make and deliver meals to those in need; our youngest kids will decorate cookies to be delivered to the Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN); our teens will be making hundreds of sandwiches for hungry New Yorkers; and our Brotherhood will oversee the packing of Passover meals for Jews in the Lower East Side.

This year, we’ll also have the opportunity not just to do mitzvot, but to learn about the challenges many face.  David Napell from Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger and Christine Going from Island Harvest will join us to share their thoughts about Food Insecurity in Long Island and approaches we can take to help hungry Long Islanders.

As we begin our preparations for the Passover holiday, I invite you to join us on Sunday, April 10^th from 9am – 1pm at Temple Sinai for Mitzvah Day!  Join us to learn, to do acts of loving kindness, and to meet your fellow congregants.  Mitzvah Day is always a highlight of the year.  May we open our home to all who are hungry and all who are in need.