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  Social Action  
 

 

   CARING, CONCERNED, COMMITTED

 

As a caring community, Congregation Mishkan Tefila recognizes the mandate of our Jewish heritage to pursue justice through social action and acts of loving kindness.

 

To accomplish this, we weave our social action mission into our daily programming for our community and the community and the community-at-large.  Our social action programs bring adults and children together to work on projects such as our annual Mitzvah Day, Jewish Coalition for Literacy, Jewish Children and Family Service's Family Table, and our Mitzvah of the Month program.  We partner with Save Darfur, Cradles to Crayons, The Home for Little Wanderers and others, with the goal of helping those less fortunate.

At Mishkan Tefila, we choose to lead by example in performing mitzvot, and helping to repair the world.  Join us and help make a difference.

Lisa Rubinstein, Vice President & Social Action Chair

lisaruby1@verizon.net

Cheryl Grau, Family Table Coordinator                                                                                 cherylgrau@aol.com  

 

 

  Jewish Family & Children's Service Family Table

 
 

 

Family Table Monthly Commitment

Congregation Mishkan Tefila has a longstanding commitment to JCFS Family Table.

This year 5770, each month, CMT donated

100 boxes of CEREAL and 100 cans of Kosher SOUP to FAMILY TABLE

At Mishkan Tefila, we encourage community-wide support of Family Table by making it a practice of bringing donations when attending programs, meetings or just stopping by the shul for a visit.  Deposit boxes are located in the main lobby, the Nursery School lobby, and outside the Religious School Office for the convenience of our member and friends.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service Family Table has grown dramatically in scope and breadth since its inception, helping forty families in 1993, to over four hundred needy individuals in Greater Boston today. Those served include low-income families, isolated seniors, disabled adults, unemployed, and the working poor. With the donation of food from forty-eight collection sites, such as our temple, JF&CS Family Table currently provides kosher food, fresh produce, dairy products, meats, and Jewish ritual and holiday items each month.


In addition to monthly groceries, Family Table provides emergency food orders to individuals upon request. Emergency food is supplied on a one-time basis, although, any emergency clients become monthly recipients once they qualify for assistance.

 

                 Family Table is a year-round mitzvah!

We encourage CMT members and friends to continue to be a part of this vital and meaningful mission.

Please put FAMILY TABLE (kosher cereal and soup) on your shopping list over the summer months; and leave your donations in the drop-off box located

in the Main Lobby of the synagogue.

 
     
  Social Action Looking Back … & ... Moving Forward  
 

As the weather turns warmer, most of us take advantage of the rising temperatures and the sunny days to become more active. Looking back on the three seasons passed, our social action committee members are fulfilled by all that Mishkan Tefila accomplished, and more importantly, we are energized to do more!


Beginning in the fall with our support of “Connect Africa,” we donated much needed school supplies to orphaned children in Uganda. Closer to home, we celebrated our 2nd annual CMT MITZVAH DAY in October by making holiday cards for seniors, birthday boxes for under-privileged children, serving meals to the homeless, gardening and building projects for group homes, and cleaning and organizing our beloved shul, amongst numerous other projects.


As winter moved in, we collected toys for needy children and provided Hanukkah gifts for the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Center for Family Assistance, and we donated monies to support a Hanukkah gift drive for IDF soldiers. Hopefully, the soldiers also enjoyed our personalized holiday cards crafted on Mitzvah Day and sent to Israel for them.
The earthquake in Haiti was devastating, but continuing our tradition of Tikkun Olam, many congregants generously donated warm weather clothing and diapers to help a Haitian relief organization.


As the temperature dropped even lower, we collected and distributed dozens of winter coats, boots and mittens for men, women and children. Cradles to Crayons, The Long Island Shelter and various other local shelters were thankful recipients.


Acknowledging a need in the Temple community, several members joined together to establish a Caring Committee at Mishkan Tefila. This dedicated group of volunteers offered to be available for phone calls to the sick or bereaved, provide rides to doctor
appointments or lend an ear or hand to a member in need.


Then, as the flowers of spring began to bloom, we at Mishkan continued our support for those who are still finding it hard to put food on their dinner table. Our on-going support for Jewish Family and Children’s Services Family Table included donations of Passover foods for Seders; and post–Passover, our cereal and soup collections continued to fill the cupboards of those in need.


In June, CMT volunteers will go out and deliver the groceries directly to JF &CS grateful recipients!


This spring we also supported the efforts in Israel to help fund water initiatives through collaboration with JNF’s “Essence of Life” campaign. Yasher Koach to our Temple member, Murray Gorelick, who is spearheading this project.


And rounding out the year, hopefully, you’ve gathered your pennies to support our final spring Mitzvah of the Month ~ “Pennies for Peace,” a program of the non-profit organization, Central Asia Institute. The mission of the Central Asia Institute is to help children in Pakistan and Afghanistan have access to education where it never existed, as well as to broaden and enrich education where it does exist in the developed world, so students have the opportunity to become more educated global citizens.


We believe this is an impressive demonstration of community members who are committed to social action. Yes, we did a lot -- and yes there is always more to be done. 

Social Action encourages you to ask yourself: did I participate in any way? Could I have done more? Is there something of special interest to me?

Our response: Get involved, volunteer, and support our social action efforts at Mishkan Tefila. Your help is needed and the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to repair our world is a wonderful feeling!


This summer --- the choice of Mitzvot for June, July and August are yours alone to do!

We offer some suggestions:

    

     Support Israel and America with your money -Check labels to see where things are

     made -- buy those items made in Israel and America first!

     Go green: ride your bicycle to do errands, recycle more, buy a water bottle (not bottled

     water), use a recyclable shopping bag instead of “paper or plastic,” change to LED light

     bulbs, etc. Find ways to be green in your life, and help to save our planet.


     Perform acts of loving kindness alone, with your family or with friends. Make note of the

      mitzvot you perform (walking for breast cancer, riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, etc).

Please share your ideas, and your experience with others:

Send an email to Social Action Chair Lisa Ruby at lisaruby1@verizon.net and tell her about your personal experiences.  Let's us share your good deeds with the community, and, hopefully, your experiences will encourage others to perform similar mitzvot.

Send me your ideas and plans of how you will take an active role in Social Action at Mishkan Tefila on an on-going basis.

Remember --- Social Action is always in Action at CMT!

Thank you for your continued support, and have a great summer!

 
     
  Social Action Resources  
 

Combined Jewish Philanthropies

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Mazon: A Jewish response to hunger

Anti-Defamation League: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism

 
  300 Hammond Pond Parkway, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 617.332.7770