November 17, 2008
Somethin’s Cookin’
In our November 10 diary entry, Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah, we wrote about three religious/day schools that joined together to make it possible for a new school in the flood-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast to purchase overhead projectors for six of their classrooms. While we are waiting for the projectors to be delivered, one of the religious schools, Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, wanted to do some more mitzvahs with their tzedakah (these kids are very impressive tzedakah-collectors under the guidance of their director, our good friend, Vinny Green).
By the strangest of coincidences, it seems that Libby Reichman who heads up Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Israel (http://www.bigbrothers.org.il), had a special request which the Wilshire Boulevard kids were more than glad to fulfill…one of the "littles" who is part of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program is "Shani," a 12 year-old Russian immigrant. Shani and her parents came to Israel several years ago but her father was very abusive and eventually jailed, leaving Shani and her Mom completely isolated and in despair-with no family and very few friends to help them. Mom and daughter struggle in many, many ways, both economically and with health issues, and up until recently have been living in extreme circumstances in a very poor apartment with few comforts. Through the efforts of several different people, Shani and her Mom have moved to a fresh, bright apartment and Libby felt that a brand new stove would be a very special gift for this family that has never had anything new at all.
So, with the help of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple students a new stove will be purchased for the family AND the students will also send several of their favorite recipes (written in both Hebrew and English) so Shani and her Mom can not only try out their new oven but also know that they are not alone, that there are generous kids in California who wanted to make their lives a little bit better.
Yasher koach to the WBT school…awesome tzedakah work!
