Mitzvah Day volunteers spread good works across North Jersey and beyond
NOVEMBER 2, 2014, 4:25 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2014, 9:11 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
In Washington Township, volunteers wrote messages on baseballs to send to members of the U.S. military. In Paterson, a group braved the windy, bitter cold to pick up trash on the grounds of the Great Falls. And in Teaneck, in fellowship Jewish and Korean-American teenagers teamed up to paint a residence for developmentally disabled men.
More than 1,000 people across North Jersey on Sunday collectively contributed their small good deeds, so-called “mitzvahs,” to make the world a better place. These volunteers participated in the 17th Annual Mitzvah Day, the signature event of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, which is based in Paramus. This year there were activities at some 40 sites in Bergen and Passaic counties.
Volunteers had a wide array of choices, like cleaning up various park sites; assembling and packing gift packages for U.S. soldiers and clothing for children in Israel; and even a “Stitch and Schmooze” fest where knitters whipped up such items as scarves and hats for needy families.
Temple Beth Or in Washington Township hosted a “Put-It-in-Your-Pocket Mitzvah Fair,” where roughly 300 volunteers gathered to make small gifts to send to members of the U.S. military and in some instances, to Israeli soldiers. Participants have several choices at that site, with many doing all three.
Billy Cook, 13, of Washington Township was overseeing the signing of 400 baseballs as part of his Billy’s Baseballs non-profit. As his Bar Mitzvah project last year, self-described “die-hard Yankees fan” Billy came up with the idea of asking people to write notes and sign baseballs to send to U.S. troops, thanking them for their service and sacrifice.
Frank Kirk of Ridgewood accompanied his daughter Alison, 12, as she decorated baseballs with small flowers and wrote her messages, including, “Thank you for protecting us.”
Kirk said that earlier Rabbi Noah Fabricant had told the synagogue one never knows how important their mitzvah can be.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/mitzvah-day-volunteers-spread-good-works-across-north-jersey-and-beyond-1.1124983
