donate dvd's to soldiers in iraq

hila sent me the following: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=70100280691
check it out.

for those too lazy to copy and paste that into their browser, the brief synopsis is that, in short, a student here is collecting dvd's for his friend's unit in iraq that has some down time and could use something to fill their time.

regardless of our views on the politics of the war itself, our soldiers have committed to risking their lives for america, and for us as citizens of the USA. perhaps our generally negative views on the war underscore the importance of showing support for our peers who are serving in this war; the discourse surrounding the war cannot make it easier to do what is already a daunting task. if there is any way in which we can better the lives of our soldiers, that would be a beautiful thing.

so please check out the facebook event and if you have any dvd's that you no longer feel the need to hold on to, follow the instructions on the facebook event page, or you can just give them to me and i'll make sure they get there.

keep up the good work!

--b

le'zecher those who were murdered at yeshivat merkaz harav

Monday night/Tuesday marks one year from the terrorist attack in which eight young men studying at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav were tragically and brutally murdered in their yeshiva.

I am sure many of you remember the images of the attack--blood on the front page of a gemara, blood spilled between the shelves of sefarim, and a yeshiva in frantic disarray. This attack stood out as particularly tragic because a house of Torah--a place that should always be safe, and, frankly, a place in which people are committed to Torah, which is described as etz hachayim--was the site chosen. The juxtapositions of commitment to pure goodness and of commitment to pure evil, of life and death, and of vibrance and absolute darkness were poignant.

In memory of the victims of this attack, people around the world are being asked to take on a mitzvah on their yahrtzeit. (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=61128912848&ref=mf)

We will be donating the clothing from the clothing drive on Monday night, and, as such, I wanted to suggest that the zechut of this donation be in memory of the victims of this attack. These young men were cut down with so much goodness left to give. May the warmth and comfort we bring to others bring some goodness in memory of those who were committed to goodness.

CLOTHING DRIVE EXTENDED THROUGH FRIDAY

Due to popular demand, the clothing drive has been extended through Friday.
So far, we have about seven boxes full of clothing to donate. You guys are incredible.
If you haven't gotten a chance to bring clothing over to Hillel yet, but have clothing you want to donate, please make sure to do so by the end of Friday because we will need to sort and fold the clothing so we can bring it up to the ARK.
Again, thank you so much for all your support.
Keep you ears and eyes open for upcoming projects (soon TBA--times for fixing up the Jewish cemetery in Woodlawn, visits to the elderly, and sandwich making--if you are interested in any of these, please email me so I can make sure to have you in mind when scheduling).
Tizku le'mitzvot.
Much love.

big mitzvah--cleaning up a jewish cemetery in woodlawn

so apparently, there's a cemetery near here (in woodlawn) that has a huge jewish section that is in terrible disrepair.
it's really sad because these are jewish graves and we, as jews, really value kavod ha'met, and also bec they are crazy old and are therefore historic.
we want to organize a trip to clean and fix up the cemetery. this is a big kavod to the dead and i think we should do it.
sundays are good. fridays work for me.
if you are remotely interested, please let me know when works for you.
david epstein is putting pictures up on facebook so please have a look.


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69158482393

REMINDER--CLOTHING DRIVE IS ENDING SOON!

Dear All,

Just a reminder that the clothing drive will be ending on Tuesday and R' Avi Finegold will be driving the clothing up on Tuesday to the ARK so really we cannot accept clothing after that point so please please please bring any clothing that is in good shape but you no longer want to Hillel or bring it to me.

I know everyone has at least two pieces of clothing they never wear and it would be a shame for it to keep sitting in the back of your closet when it could be making someone who needs it very happy.

So please go dig that shirt or pants or sweater or skirt or whatever crazy piece of clothing you may have out from the bottom of your drawer or the back of the closet and bring it to Hillel. You know you're gonna be there soon anyway.

THANKS GUYS.
Tizku le'mitzvot.

Penpal Opportunity

As many of you know, a few of us are involved with the Committee to Save Ugandan Jewry (to learn more: http://thejewsofuganda.org/ )

As such, we are setting up a penpal system that would allow Ugandan community members to have an American penpal. This is a wonderful way to establish a personal connection with the community we are trying to help support. But, aside from that, it would also provide an opportunity for them to learn more about the way in which we practice Judaism, along with helping them improve their English, which is crucially important to them.

Community members range in age from young children to the elderly and so you can be paired with someone close to your age, or not.

You will have to pay for postage for your letter and for their letter in return (but postage for each of their letters is probably around $1.50, so this is a very low cost for a great opportunity and mitzvah).

Anyway, please please let me (Beruria) know if you would be interested in this.

I encourage you to learn more about this very special community by checking out the Committee's website (which I pasted above, but also appears in the links on the right side of the page).

If you have connections to a Jewish Day School--either one that you went to, one that you worked at, one that you know someone who works there--and you think they might be receptive to matching their students up to Ugandan students, please let me know as well.

I also recommend listening to members of this community singing Adon Olam-- http://www.thejewsofuganda.org/adonolam.wma

Mucho thanks.

Recap of Current Projects

1. Clothing drive is going on from now until Feb. 17. You can drop the clothing off at Hillel or give it to Beruria directly. Please share your thoughts as to where you would like to see your donations going. You can vote on the right side of the blog--there's a poll going on.

2. Any orders you make from Amazon you can make through the Project Health website (link is on the right side of the page) and up to 15% of your order will go to Project Health.

3. 10% of any orders you make from Leeya's online jewelry shop will go to charity if you write Team Chessed in your order. (Link is also on the right side of the page.)

4. Volunteer opportunity to work one-on-one with a young student who is falling behind on reading. See the blog post below this one for details.

5. Sandwich making and distribution starting next Thursday evening. (Or this Friday in NYC.)

6. Visits with elderly people will begin soon. Keep your eyes and ears open.


More to come...


And keep sharing any other ideas you have!

Volunteer Opportunity

Rebecca R. has a student who is struggling with reading and falling far behind. If she had someone to work with her for even forty five minutes a day after school, it would do wonders. This is a wonderful opportunity in that you can forge a personal relationship with this student and have the potential to deeply help her. Plus, rumor has it she's a super sweet kid.

The school is super close to campus so this is ideal for us students. They get out of school at 3.30, so it would basically be from 3.30-4.15 or so.

Anyway, someone already signed up for one or two days a week (Monday and likely Friday as well), but are there any takers for Tues., Wed., and/or Thurs.?

UPDATE: Tues. and Thurs. are now taken as well. Wednesday anyone?

Feel free to email Rebecca (rebecca.radding@gmail.com) or me (beruria87@gmail.com) or post comments if you are interested or want more details.

TEAM CHESSED HITS NYC!

(Inspired by Nadav)

What: food distribution to NYC's homeless
When: Friday, Feb. 6, let's aim for noontime?
Where: Maybe we should make sandwiches at my (Bru's) home and go from there? Unless anyone has an easier idea

Be in touch with me--you all know how to find me.

DON'T FORGET...

TO VOTE!!

(also, Bru says that I'm important)

Another Easy Way to Do Something Good

My best friend has a website on which she sells stunning jewelry that she makes herself.

If anyone orders from there and specifies Team Chessed in their order, she will give 10% of the sale price to tzedaka.

The website is http://leeya.etsy.com and there's a link to it in the list of links of potential interest on the right side of the page.

You should check it out because she has tons of styles of stuff and it's all gorgeous.

Spread the word!

Some Thoughts on Suffering and Chessed

In "Kol Dodi Dofek" (aka "Fate and Destiny"), Rav Soloveitchik sets up one of his classic dialectics. He writes that the question of suffering can be thought about in two different realms--the realm of fate or the realm of destiny (Soloveitchik, 2*). Since the subject of fate is passive and imposed upon by the world, suffering threatens his very understanding of self (3). He is forced to deny the existence of evil (4). But, Rav Soloveitchik affirms, evil does exist (4). Looking at the world from this point of view is like seeing a stunning carpet from the reverse side--we see the threads, but we cannot see how they all fit together (5). So the subject of fate is faced with a question he cannot begin to answer (5).

But the subject of destiny looks at the world in a different way. Unlike fate, destiny causes an active mode of life (6). Destiny causes people to have a special role in the world--a role of creation, shaping, moving, acting. Unlike the subject of fate, who is paralyzed by the existence of evil, the subject of destiny asks a very different question. Instead of asking whether and why evil exists, the subject of destiny asks what the sufferer does to live through his suffering (7). As a philosopher of Halakhah (Jewish law), the Rav looks at this question in terms of obligation, thus, the question becomes:
"What obligation does suffering impose upon man?" (8).

The Rav continues to discuss the obligations that suffering imposes--particularly that suffering should push us towards teshuva, or bettering ourselves (8-9).

I think, though, that this question is enough to provoke us to think about how we respond to suffering--both our own suffering and the suffering of the people around us.

We cannot know why we suffer. Philosophy, and Jewish philosophy in particular, has grappled with questions of theodicy for thousands of years. There are many approaches to suffering; the book of Iyov (Job) alone presents several thoughts. At best, maybe we cannot understand suffering because we are only able to see the frayed ends of thread on the wrong side of a beautiful carpet.

While this is a question with which we should continue to struggle, we should not let ourselves be paralyzed by our fate. Indeed, as people of action, people of destiny, people who feel responsible to turn the world into a better place, we should ask ourselves how to move forward. When we see people starving on street corners, we cannot know why that was their fate, but we can ask how we can help them. When we see people dying of cancer, we cannot know why that was their fate, but we can ask how we can help them.


And when we feel our own pain, our own struggles, our own suffering, we cannot know why that is our fate, but we can ask how we can move forward, how we can transform our pain into goodness, how we can learn from our pasts and presents to better not only our own futures, but those of the people around us.




----
*Soloveitchik, Joseph. Fate and Destiny. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 2000.

PROJECT NUMBER ONE--Clothing Drive

Dear All,
This one's super easy, so let's do it.
If you have clothing to donate, you can give it to me (Beruria) or you can bring it to Hillel and I will make sure to set up a box for clothing donations there.
Ideas of where to give the clothing/to whom to donate it? Feel free to post comments regarding this.
And mucho thanks to Hila for this beauteous and simple idea.
I think probably any lightly used clothing should be okay. If we decide on a place/a cause, we can figure out more exactly what can be donated (for example, maybe shoes could be).

If people have hats to donate, we can give them to cancer patients through the Heavenly Hats organization--http://www.heavenlyhats.com/heavenlyhats/hat+drivesevents/default.asp

UPDATE: We have four boxes of clothing so far. Keep it up!

An Easy Way to Do Something Good...

We all (most) use Amazon pretty regularly, so here's an easy way to do some good.

Amazon has selected a few charities to which it will donate part of its proceeds, so long as you access Amazon through the website of the charity. I don't know what all of them are, but I do know that Project Health is one of them.

Project Health is an organization that does several fantastic things, and you can learn all about them by going to the website (http://www.projecthealth.org/). One program with which I am involved is the Family Help Desk program. We have desks at a few hospitals across the country, including three in Hyde Park (at Comer, which is UChicago's children's hospital), the Friend Family Health Center, and La Rabida Hospital. Students volunteer to take shifts at the desk during which they help families of patients acquire resources to help fulfill their psycho-social needs. For example, we might help a client find employment, pay their utility bills, or have access to food to feed their families. Just as Teach for America helps to close the gap between good education and low income, so too Project Health works to close the gap between good health and low income. It's a fabulous cause, and I highly recommend you reading up on it, or even getting involved.

BUT you can easily help the cause without doing any of that (even though I would hope that people would want to know about the cause they are helping) by having your Amazon orders give part of the money to Project Health.

SO next time you put in an Amazon order, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go through the Project Health website (http://www.projecthealth.org/) and you will see (on the lower right) a link to Amazon. Amazon will donate up to 15% of proceeds to Project Health so this is such an incredibly easy way to make sure that a great organization gets money it needs to fund its operations.

Ideas for Operations

Operation #1: Making sandwiches for Hyde Park's Homeless.
When: Every Thursday (starting next week, not this one because I'll be in NYC). 4.30 pm. Place TBA (since Hillel closes at 4.30 on Thursdays... Not sure what to do about that)
Why: Because we have responsibility to the people around us. If you are one of those people who believe people choose to be homeless, I don't want to hear it, and you don't have to come.
I'll buy some bread and peanut butter. Feel free to donate some materials to the cause.

Operation #2: I'm gonna ask Rabbi Brackman about visiting elderly people in the area.
All details on this one TBA.
In addition, there is a nursing home near the Shoreland (Montgomery Place) that I will try to contact and see if we can put together a regular group that visits, although I hear they're not so open to this.
Also, a lot of elderly people in the area can use help with grocery shopping and errands, ESPECIALLY in the winter months. I'm going to see if we can find people who can use our help.

Operation #3: Learning Torah
When: Well I don't know whatever happened to my Weekly Beit Midrash program, but we're gonna learn mishnayot at Hillel every shabbos. Anyone is welcome. We'll be in the beis (beit midrash for the sephardim among us--third floor sacred book library for those who like English better). You'll know when because I will inevitably yell that we're going to learn upstairs. I guess this one is less chessed related, but whatever, mitzvot are good too. Plus, maybe we'll learn about tzedaka and then we can tie it in. Or not.

Operation #4: (Thanks for Hila for inspiration)--clothing drive. Lots of us have lots of clothing to give away.
Let's gather it in one place and give it to people who need it.
This one's open for discussion re: where to give the clothing.

Operation #5: (Also thanks to Hila)--challah baking and proceeds to tzedaka--
This one takes a lot more time and also people buying the challah etc., so maybe this could be a less regular event.

Operation #6: (Thanks to Nathalie)--crocheting/knitting hats for cancer patients
This one is easy for anyone who knows how to crochet or knit. If you don't know how to, I would be thrilled to teach you how to crochet. We should probably go downtown to acquire some more yarn because I'm a tad low, but that can be fun too.

Operation #7: (Also thanks to Nath)--tutoring
There are loads of opportunities to tutor around campus--Calvert House and NSP are just two of many options. I don't know that we should start from scratch, but we can definitely help people find a way to do this, as well as just encouraging ourselves to do it since it is such a wonderful thing to do, and something we are all capable of.

Operation #8: (Thanks to Hillel Gray)
Volunteering at soup kitchens in the area. Hillel has suggested one in the comments section, but there are a whole bunch in the area. I'll work on looking into this, and I actually have a bunch of numbers in my phone from a CFI event.

We should also stress that there are so many small things we can do that have a huge impact on the people around us. We can not talk lashon hara, we can be aware of the feelings of people around us, we can hold open doors, we can help an elderly person cross the street. I don't have to go through the small acts of chessed (or even sometimes just refraining from doing bad things) that we can all do, but we should heighten our awareness to them.

Any other ideas--feel free to email me (beruria87@gmail.com) or post comments.

Team Chessed Begins!

Okay, I know you guys think I'm nutso, but I'm all for being a better person, SO I am initiating Team Chessed.
Basically, the point is to be a better person vis-a-vis other people. There will be no talk of goals and institutionalizing this establishment. All I'm saying is I want to work on doing some volunteer stuff and am inviting you all to join me. But, seriously, no talk of the philosophy behind the mission and why this versus that. You are welcome to do whatever good things you think you should do to be a better person. I stand behind you. But really this one's just because I feel like I can afford to do more good stuff, and would love company. I want practice and less theory.

(For the record, I am all for discussing the philosophy behind priorities and choices, but that's not my goal in this project. Lord knows we do plenty of theoreticizing (yes, I made that word up), and often that comes at the expense of acting.)


SO

Operation #1: Making sandwiches for Hyde Park's Homeless.
When: Every Thursday (starting next week, not this one because I'll be in NYC). 4.30 pm. Place TBA (since Hillel closes at 4.30 on Thursdays... Not sure what to do about that)
Why: Because we have responsibility to the people around us. If you are one of those people who believe people choose to be homeless, I don't want to hear it, and you don't have to come.
I'll buy some bread and peanut butter. Feel free to donate some materials to the cause.

Operation #2: I'm gonna ask Rabbi Brackman about visiting elderly people in the area.
All details on this one TBA.

Operation #3: Learning Torah
When: Well I don't know whatever happened to my Weekly Beit Midrash program, but we're gonna learn mishnayot at Hillel every shabbos. Anyone is welcome. We'll be in the beis (beit midrash for the sephardim among us--third floor sacred book library for those who like English better). You'll know when because I will inevitably yell that we're going to learn upstairs. I guess this one is less chessed related, but whatever, mitzvot are good too. Plus, maybe we'll learn about tzedaka and then we can tie it in. Or not.


I would make a facebook group, but you guys know... me and facebook=not such a good shidduch. SO sorry. Just let me know if you're in or whatever have you.


Also, shamayim points are always good, for those of us who may have less sense of duty towards--heck, I don't know--the universe.


MUCH LOVE.
Beruria