MITZVAH DAY

MITZVAH DAY 2005 – A SUCCESS!!

“One who rescues a single soul is credited with saving the world”

-         Sanhedrin 4:5 (Jerusalem Talmud)

 On May 15, 2005, more than 613 members of the Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple community participated in Mitzvah Day. Joined with a generosity of spirit, our synagogue-community helped to repair the world.

The conception, design, and coordination of Mitzvah Day fell to the tireless hands and hearts of Heidi Solomon and Jennifer Stern. Heidi and Jen spent practically a year planning this event, and it showed. A great supporting staff of Elizabeth Freeman, Iris Greene, Dara Holop, Debby Jacoby-pessar, Lonnie Kritzler, Cathy Lipton, Laura Munson, Staci Rosen, Hedy Silber, Barbara Smith, along with Joe Ginn and staff, plus Gerda Hieber and her staff helped make everything run smoothly.

 Kudos to the Pre-School and Religious School students for their participation in enhancing our Mitzvah Day activities – from the Kindergartners and first graders who gave a fabulous concert to the 7^th graders who used their tzedaka collections to purchase food for their MAZON project; and the eighth graders who participated in Project Chai (see below).  Thanks to Laurie Spielman who moved from event to event to take pictures.

 Below, you will find a snapshot of Fairmount Temple’s Mitzvah Day 2005:

• Mitzvah Day began early! After Chavurat Shabbat, congregants, under the creativity of Pam Berkson, made gift bags and journals for The Gathering Place that were distributed the next day at a Breast Cancer Retreat.
• The Fairmount Temple choirs (led by Cantor Sager) graced the Eliza Bryant Senior Center residents with their songs of ascent. Team leader Iris Greene saw to it that everything ran smoothly.
• Living up to the name Anshe Chesed (People of Loving Kindness), Mitzvah Day enabled our community to host residents with a variety of disabilities from group homes in the area. The Fairmount Temple Fun Fest featured an inspiring concert led by Matt Cohen with the Kindergarten and 1^st grade students of our religious school. Afterwards, the residents were treated to a fantastic carnival in the Bogomolny Faigin Activity Center.
• Mitzvah Maker Melinda Blatt led a group of congregants in an intergenerational celebration with residents of Greens of Lyndhurst.
• Sometimes a smile is the best gift one can give. Disabled children and those from broken homes were treated to some frivolity by our Mitzvah Clowns. Rabbi Caruso, Nancy Glick and Jeremy Goldberg (along with some helpers) brought joy to those who in need of a smile.
• Babies and small children who have experienced violence, homelessness, and neglect find a peaceful shelter at Providence House. To ease the trauma of being displaced, team leader Ronna Fox and other mitzvah heroes made 130 fleece Blankets of Love for these precious children.
• Children who have been abruptly removed from their homes due to imminent danger benefit from the National Council of Jewish Women’s (NCJW) Dignity Project. Jen Stern and friends assembled 51 Dignity Bags with essentials for kids placed in emergency foster care.
• Cleveland Municipal public schoolteacher Stephanie Bluffestone, along with Laura Creed and Priscilla Dann coordinated our new Ready, Set…Read program. Fairmount Temple mitzvah makers recorded 120 books to audio tape to enhance learning for children of the city’s public school system.
• Fairmount Temple was the site for an ambitious sorting project to fold and organize loads of donated clothing from the synagogue’s contribution bins. Donations are distributed to the homeless and indigent of the City of Cleveland. Marilyn George served as the tireless team leader for Sorting on Site.
• More than 130 lives were saved due to the giving spirits of 44 members of our community. The Red Cross Bloodmobile departed our parking lot with many more pints of blood than anticipated. Indeed, it was practically standing room only in the Weinberg Hall as team leader Jim Levine welcomed all comers with a smile.
• JFSA’s Project Chai provides crisis intervention for families experiencing every form of abuse. After an initial presentation by its director Brynna Fish, team leader Susan Ringel, along with Rabbi Kalfus and our 8^th grade youth (and some parents too) distributed informational materials to increase awareness.
• Did you know that the Cleveland Foodbank distributed some 6 million pounds of food to hunger centers in the Greater Cleveland area last year? That’s more than 4 million meals provided for the needy! Char Portman and a cadre of workers sorted and shelved food for the hungry.
• Brought back by popular demand, baking Cookies for Firefighters proved once again to be an attractive activity for temple families.
• The Ronald McDonald House serves children with serious diseases such as cancer, leukemia, cystic fibrosis and heart defects. Team leader Debbie Rodriguez and friends prepared a lovely breakfast for families of children undergoing treatment at our local hospitals.
• If you have never served a meal or met the “guests” who come for a hot lunch at Trinity Cathedral each Sunday morning, just ask Julie Raskind. Julie and her team served meals to more than 200 people at Trinity. The energy is electric and the feelings of fellowship endure.
• Heidi Solomon led an effort with willing teenagers to do the hard work of composting for our Mitzvah Garden.
• Scott Wise joined others to power wash a group home of New Avenues to Independence for our Spring Spruce-Up. New Avenues provides opportunities for people with disabilities to become more independent.
• While pulling invasive plants at the South Chagrin Metroparks Reservation may seem like hard work, an enthusiastic group led by Elyse Gustafson and coordinated by Dan Feinstein happily enjoyed spending the day outdoors.
• Play Ball! That is exactly what Rabbi Ruben did when he joined team leaders Eric and Marcy Silver and residents of New Avenues to Independence for a picnic and a playful game of softball.
• $290 was raised to help send kids from Jewish Big Brother Big Sister Association to summer camp.
• Thanks to Marc’s XS Merchandising, Trader Joe’s and Papa John’s Pizza for their generous donations to Mitzvah Day. Also, we are grateful to the Cleveland Cavaliers for allowing the Beefcakes on the Lake to entertain at the Play Ball! project.

  THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO SUPPPORTED AND PARTICPATED IN MITZVAH DAY!

See our Calendar of Events for a complete listing of upcoming events and Shabbat services.