Tag: mezuzah

Tikkun Olam? Tzedakah? Intention is how we change the world.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There is always a lot going on in the world and there is, unfortunately, always people who need our help.  One of the essences of Judaism is our responsibility to repair the world, Tikkun Olam, and to help those in need, Tzedakah.

We do this in many ways.  We support our local Jewish community through our schools, synagogues, JCCs, Federation, Jewish Family Service (JFS), Hillels, Chabads, and the many other organizations that make up our Jewish community.  We give of our time, talent, and our treasure. 

We support financially organizations that do important work in our local community, our state, and in our country.  We may support organizations in Israel like the Friends of the IDF, Jewish National Fund (JNF), or others that we learn of that inspire us.

We may donate to ‘Go Fund Me’ campaigns that help those we know or are friends of people we know who are in need.  We sign up for meal trains to provide food for those going through hard times.  We visit the sick, make shiva calls (visits to people who have lost loved ones), and help our friends with whatever their need may be at that time.

We lobby our local, state, and federal legislators to take action on the things that matter to us.  Jews are not monolithic so there are plenty of social and economic issues that matter to different people and we have the ability to do that.

This is and has been the standard Jewish way to give Tzedakah and to be involved with Tikkun Olam.  Now I am going to challenge you to look at the world in a slightly different way.

Every day that we wake up and take that first breath, we have an opportunity to make the world a better place.  It doesn’t take a lot of money.  It doesn’t take a lot of time.  It doesn’t even take a lot of effort.  It does take intentionality.  It does take a conscious desire.

When you have the conscious desire to make the world a better place every single day, it actually becomes really easy to do so.  Here is a brief list of six (6) things that you can do that take minimal/no money, minimal time, and minimal effort yet have maximum effort.

  1. Hold the door for others as you enter a building.  I do this regularly.  I let hold the door open and let people in before me.  Sometimes that means they get in line ahead of me.  They may get the table at the restaurant before me.  They may get the bank teller before me.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.  What does matter is the smile I get, the thank you I get, and the good feeling we both get from the interaction.  It can change their day and it certainly changes mine.
  • Offer to help somebody with their hands full.  The other day I was on a plane with my sons.  We had the bulkhead seats, and a mom came on board with her hands overloaded including two car seats.  Her kids were already in their seats with their grandmother.  It took no effort on my part to offer to help her take the car seats out of their carrying case, offer to help bring them back to the seats on the plane, or help with what she had in her hands.  The flight attendant did it and said he didn’t need my help, but afterwards thanked me for offering to help.  The mom got the help she needed.  The flight attendant felt appreciated and validated.  I was glad that I offered to help.  Everybody won.  All it took was the intention to help.
  • Pay attention at the grocery store and all around you.  There is usually an older person or a single parent with kids who is struggling to get through the checkout line or out to their car.  A few minutes helping them through the line and/or out to the car makes a huge difference in their day and has little to no impact on yours.
  • On the same flight, there were people who needed help taking their bags down from the overhead bin.  As I was taking mine down, I also took theirs down.  It took an extra minute to do that.  It made their life easier.  It had no impact on my time.  It took minimal effort.  It did take intentionality to ask if they needed help and then to give it to them.  A side benefit was to everybody else on the plane who didn’t have to wait longer to get off while they struggled with their bags. 
  • I was talking to a friend today who is very philanthropic.  She was telling me how much joy it gives her to give.  She gave me examples of not only gifts to organizations but how neighbors of hers had some significant unexpected expenses and didn’t have the financial ability to deal with them.  She gave them not only the money they needed but a cushion so that they didn’t have to worry and didn’t have to live with the stress.  It was something she could afford and had a huge impact on her neighbors and friends.  She got immense joy out of being able to help others directly.  Sometimes it only takes a little bit of money to make a huge difference in somebody’s life.  A couple hundred dollars may pay a utility bill that keeps it from being shut off.  A hundred dollars might clear a child’s school lunch bill, so they have dignity at lunch.  I know people who go to Wal Mart or K Mart and pay off layaway items so people can have gifts for the holidays.  It doesn’t always take big money, but it does always take intention. I promise you that helping somebody else will give you far more pleasure than anything you buy for yourself.
  • In 2018, on one of my trips to Israel, we stopped at the JNF headquarters in Jerusalem, and I had a chance to go through the records. I saw gifts that my grandparents made to JNF in 1967 and 1973.  It made me so proud to be their grandson.  My grandmother died in 1994 and my grandfather in 2001.  It was many years after the gift and after they died, yet their impact was still felt.  Intention.  Teaching your children and grandchildren about their responsibility to help others and make the world a better place is our obligation. Both sets of my grandparents did this. My parents did this. I do it with my children. If we use intention to teach our children and grandchildren, they will understand how important it is and they will make sure it is part of what they do in their lives.

Intention is always the key.  There are so many opportunities to make a difference, to change the world, that it is easy to miss them. I heard a story years ago about the father of the author Alex Haley. One interaction with one random man, changed his life forever. It allowed Alex Haley to become the person he was. The world got the gift of Alex Haley’s writing, all because of this one man, his intention, and his decision to help somebody in need. That man truly changed the world. Read the story, “The Man on the Train” and realize that you too can change the world, one person at a time.

The Man On The Train

I want to highlight two things that I have found to be meaningful and make a difference. Maybe one or both speak to you. Maybe neither does. I hope one or both do.

When I was in Israel in May, we met with Lt. Colonel Rabbi Yedida Atlas.  His title is Director of Special Projects.  What he really does is oversee the part of the IDF that ensures that their Torahs (yes, they have a torah with every unit) and their mezuzahs (yes, they have a mezuzah on all the doors of the barracks) are kosher.  As we talked, he mentioned that with all the reserves called up and with all of the new barracks being constructed near the Gaza border and now in the north, they need approximately 5,000 mezuzahs!! 

Rabbi Atlas talking to us about what they do and what they need. He is showing us the special IDF tzitzit that soldiers have asked to wear.

I work with a client that is in the business of providing fair trade, kosher mezuzahs, so I reached out and told Rabbi Atlas we would find a way to make it happen for the IDF and the soldiers.  Because Rabbi Atlas’s unit does the checking on the mezuzahs to make sure they are kosher, the cost is only $60 for each mezuzah.  That means our challenge is to raise $300,000.  Working with my client, we secured a match, reducing the need to only $150,000.

Each mezuzah now only costs $30.  So if you are interested in supporting the IDF and helping with them getting mezuzahs for their barracks, here is the link to buy them.  It’s also fully tax deductible!  You get to do a mitzvah, help the IDF, help Israel, get a tax deduction, and feel good about what you are doing.  How many ways do you need to win?

Protect the Space Where IDF Soldiers Sleep and Gather

The second really amazing thing also has both a serious and fun component.  Many people don’t know that Israel has some amazing vineyards and a booming wine business.  Some of the wines from the Carmel mountains are incredibly highly regarded.  My friend Adam Bellos, founder of Wine on the Vine, has amazing Israeli wines available for sale.  So if you like wine and want to support Israeli vineyards you can order wine on his website.  That’s not the cool part of what I want to highlight.

On October 7th, not only were 1,200 people murdered, 257 were taken hostage.  There are 120 still hostages today.  Adam works with some of the families of the hostages and got their permission to use their pictures on certain bottles of wine to create Wines of Hope. As such, every bottle of wine tells a story. Wines of Hope tells the story of the 257 hostages who were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and specifically the 120 people who remain there until today. With every sip you take, you drink the wine as a symbol of hope and a yearning for the return of the hostages.  One day, we will be able to drink together with them, fully rejoicing and celebrating true freedom.

In addition, one-third (1/3) of all the proceeds will be donated to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

You can support the families of the hostages, you can remember the hostages, you can support Israeli vineyards, you drink good wine, all while doing a mitzvah.  Imagine the conversations about the hostages while you drink the wine.  The awareness brought to those who may not know or really understand what happened on October 7th and what is happening with the hostages now. 

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who has been a hostage since October 7th.
Noa Argamani, recently rescued from being a hostage in Gaza.

You can order your bottles of wine here

We are often too focused on the people who can make large donations. Bill Gates. Mackezie Scott. Warren Buffet. Michael Bloomberg. Susan and Michael Dell. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. Bernie and Billi Marcus. The people who named the performing arts center in your town. In reality, we can all have the same effect every single day if we use intention. People don’t think about the big names every day, but they do remember the person who held the door for them. They remember the person who helped with their luggage on a plane or helped them at the grocery store. They appreciate the person who helped pay their utility bill or paid off the student lunch debt far more than the big name donors.

Intention is everything. If we live with intention, we change the world around us. The person that you help today may be the parent of the next Alex Haley. They may become the next Alex Haley. We never know what will happen, other than the life of the person we help will be better because of it and our lives will be better because we did something to make the world a better place.

What will you do today? How will you change the world today? Because you can. With intention.

The power of the mezuzah and the connection to Ethiopian Jewry

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

A friend of mine who is a Rabbi came by today to give me some Shmura matzah for Passover.  It’s a special, hand baked type of matzah.  Since I’m gluten-free, I can’t eat it, but we’ll use it on the Seder plate.  While he was here, I had three new mezuzahs that I had just gotten to hang on my 3 back doorframes.  The ones I had were too big, so I needed new ones.  So I asked him to hang them with me.  I’ve hung my other mezuzahs myself but since he is a friend and a Rabbi, I thought this would be a nice thing to do together.

I have the privilege of working with a program called MyZuzah.  The concept is that the mezuzah is a great Jewish symbol, it provides protection to the home, is easy to put up, is a low barrier entry to something Jewish, and is a visual, daily reminder of being Jewish.  MyZuzzah provides free mezuzah cases and kosher, fair trade scrolls, known as klafs, to anybody who doesn’t have a mezuzah on their front door.  It’s a cool program and helps start a Jewish journey.

They also have a great store with cool cases that you can buy.  I have an awesome mezuzah on my front door and a very cool one on my office door.  But I didn’t have one on my doors to the back patio or the backyard.  As we worked together and I looked at the store, I saw that they had ones made by the Ethiopian Israeli community.  Not only were they beautiful, but I have a personal connection to this community.

My childhood friend Grace works for the Ethiopian National Project (ENP). 

With Grace when she and ENP visited Orlando earlier this year

This is a project created by the Israeli government to help Ethiopian Israeli children with their education in order to have better success in life.  The original Ethiopian Israeli’s didn’t speak Hebrew and didn’t have formal education so they couldn’t help their children in school.  This mean the first generation of children struggled to have success.  Their children then had similar struggles, resulting in the creation of the ENP.  Since their creation, the ENP has had incredible success helping this community improve their academic effort, get into better military units, and have success in college.  Their results are extraordinary.  I have had the opportunity to visit the ENP sites on two occasions.  The kids were amazing and inspiring.  It was clear the impact the ENP programs were having on these kids.  One of the adults at the site took us to the roof to teach us Ethiopian dancing.  It’s still one of my favorite Israel memories.  I’ve become friends with Roni Akale, the Director General, who made the walk from Ethiopia to Sudan in 1993 when he was 20 years old.  I love hearing his story as it never gets old.  His success is a model for the Ethiopian Israeli children of today as they see somebody like them who is a huge success.

With Roni, the Director General, who made the walk from Ethiopia to Sudan in 1983
Ethiopian Dancing on the roof of the ENP
More Ethiopian dancing on the roof of ENP. It was so much fun

This isn’t my only connection.  When I was in Seattle, I had the privilege of meeting Sid Weiner.  Sid was an amazing man who in the early 1980s began working to ‘Save all Ethiopian Jews” by creating a program by that name, also known as SAEJ.  SAEJ rescued Ethiopian Jews in many ways.  Two of my favorite stories that Sid told me about how they did it were as follows.

Sid Weiner at his birthday party
Sid telling us stories about his life at his birthday party

First, they met with Secretary of State George Shultz.  They advocated to issue visas for the Ethiopian Jews to come to the United States.  After much conversation, Secretary Shultz agreed to allow them make fake visas so that the Ethiopian Jews could escape Ethiopia and come to the US under the condition that they only stay 24 hours in the US before flying to Israel.  So that’s what Sid and his team did.  They made fake visas, flew Ethiopian Jews to New York using them, put them up in a hotel for the night, and put them back on a plane to Israel the next day.  It’s truly an amazing story of ingenuity and daring. 

The second story was about how they would create fake adoptions so the new adopted children could come to the US to live with their new parents and family.  These adopted children would arrive in New York and promptly board a plane to Israel where they would make Aliyah and become citizens.  Sid didn’t know how many children he ‘adopted’ this way.  He said that one time in Israel, he was with a group of Ethiopian Israelis eating dinner when he realized that at his table were four of the children he had ‘adopted’!  He hadn’t seen them since they were in New York years earlier. 

Needless to say, the Ethiopian Israeli community has personal meaning to me.  So the opportunity to buy the three mezuzah cases and kosher, fair trade klafs that I needed for my doors AND have them be made by the Ethiopian-Israeli community AND be beautiful Ethiopian art was something I couldn’t pass up.  So I bought them and today they were hung.  Every time I look at those doors, I have a smile on my face.  Not only have these mezuzahs made the door frames more beautiful, I did a mitzvah in putting them up, they offer protection to the home, and they are a tie to the Ethiopian-Israeli community.  What a win for me!

The 3 mezuzahs I bought that were designed by Ethiopian Israelis

That’s the thing about Israel – there is incredible diversity and amazing different cultures to explore.  In Tzfat I always get food from the Yemenite place.  It’s delicious and they even have a gluten free option now.  I’ve been getting food from the same place and from the same Yemenite Israeli man since my first trip in 1989.  I love getting Hummus from Abu Ghosh, an Arab town, 10 kilometers west of Jerusalem.  While others may disagree, I think the hummus from Abu Ghosh is the best in the world.  I’ve spent time with the Druze and had lunch with them.  It’s fun learning about their culture, sharing a Druze meal, and talking.  There is nothing like visiting Haifa and the Bha’i Gardens.  Learning about the Bha’i religion and the Bab is interesting.  The only way to tour the entire gardens is with a member of the Bha’I faith who gives you the tour.  It’s truly spectacular and never gets old.

The Baha’i Gardens during the day – it’s beautiful to see and walk through
The Baha’i Gardens at night – it’s simply spectacular

So how does this all tie back to the mezuzah and hanging it with my friend Amram today?  When we purchased our house, the first thing I wanted to do was hang a mezuzah on the front door to mark it as ours.  When I created my home office, the first thing I wanted to do was put up a mezuzah to mark the special change in the room.  A mezuzah marks your home as a Jewish home.  In these times it may be scary to clearly mark your home as Jewish, but as we approach Passover, lets remember that marking our homes as Jewish is what saved the Jewish first born from the angel of death when they ‘passed over’ the homes that had the marking on it.  It’s a symbol of pride and of commitment.  When I was in Havana a number of years ago, we visited the Hotel Raquel in Old Havana.  This Jewish inspired hotel not only had Jewish art throughout and matzo ball soup on the menu in the restaurant, it had a mezuzah on each hotel room door.  As we toured the hotel, it was the mezuzah on each door that struck me the most. 

Each room at the Hotel Raquel has a Jewish biblical name and a mezuzah on the door

In these crazy times when antisemitism is rising and all around us, Israel is fighting the evil of Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran attacked Israel with drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles, and we see hate all around us, the simple act of putting up a mezuzah is a simple, yet powerful statement.   Every time I see the mezuzah on my front door, on my office door, and now on my back doors, it puts a smile on my face.  It’s a reminder of what being Jewish means.  It’s a reminder that I am part of a mishpacha, a family, that goes back thousands of years and is worldwide.  Jewish homes all over the world and for centuries have had a mezuzah on their front door.  It is truly l’dor v’dor, generation to generation, strength to strength, that we are here, we aren’t going anywhere, and we will not only survive, but we will thrive.

So if you don’t have a mezuzah on your door and want one, there is now no excuse.  MyZuzah will send you one for free and show you how to hang it.  You can easily mark your home as a Jewish home and tie it with generations of Jewish homes along with Jewish homes all over the world.  Each time you walk past it, you will be reminded of being part of the Jewish people.  It’s a pretty amazing little thing that can change your life.  Hanging those three mezuzahs today brought me great joy.  I hope you choose to hang one and that it brings you great joy too.