Wardrobe for Opportunity Mitzvah Project

It was a wonderful coincidence for me last week, that it was the letter "tzadee" which was chosen to be JQuest's letter of the week. The word "tz'daka" (one of our Jewish life vocabulary words) begins with that letter. And tz'daka was precisely the topic I wanted to introduce to the Edot students during the weekday sessions. First, I introduced the concept of a root from which all words are built - the shoresh, as it's called in Hebrew. Most Hebrew shorasheem (plural for shoresh) are composed of 3 letters, and this, in fact, is the case for the shoresh of the word tz'daka - "tzadee"-"daled"-"koof" are the 3 letters composing its root. I then shared with the students that all words built from the same word in Hebrew must have a meaning in common - for "tzadee-daled-koof" the meaning is "justice."

When I asked the students to share what they believe the definition of tz'daka is, not surprisingly most said "charity." As it happens, tz'daka is not charity. The word "charity" comes from the Latin, "cara," meaning "heart." Thus, acts of charity are those from the heart - voluntary acts of giving. Judaism does have a category of giving from the heart, called "G'milut Hasadim" (Acts of Lovingkindness). Tz'daka, on the other hand, is a commandment (found in the Book of Leviticus). We are commanded to give 10% annually to the needy of the land. Talmudic era Rabbis (whom we recently learned about in our Babylonian Jewish edah unit of study), sought to "flesh" out the commandment by explaining how we should give tz'daka. I read two stories to the students, "Rabbi Elijah and the Rich Man" and "The Traveler's Donkey"; the first story shared how important it is to feel empathy with the needy (and thus, hopefully, will lead to giving more than the required 10%), while the second shared how important it is to give "freely and gladly."

Yesterday, we learned that Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon (known in Greek as Maimonides and in Hebrew by the acronym, Rambam) taught that there are 8 "levels" of giving. The best way, he said, is to teach a needy person the skills required to earn a living, thus providing him/her a sense of dignity and the ability to eventually help others in need. The worst way is to give the required amount grudgingly in such a way as to humiliate the needy person.

As a culminating activity to our "mini-unit" on tz'daka, the students in each session yesterday joined the other two 5th/6th grade tracks in the Beit Knesset. There, two volunteers for the Wardrobe for Opportunity organization (both members of Temple Isaiah!) shared how the organization helps people who have been out of work for various reasons to prepare to re-enter the workforce (just as Rambam taught was the best way to give tz'daka!). Clothing and accessories which had been donated by JQuest families over the past few weeks was distributed on 8 tables, and our students were instructed to sort the clothing in 4 piles: clothes appropriate for interviewing and working in an office environment and in good condition; clothing which had holes or stains on it; jewelry and other accessories which could be used for WFO's purposes, and clothing which was in good condition but not appropriate for the workplace or interviewing (this clothing would be donated to a hospice the organization works with or might be sold to raise money to buy underwear and other clothing needed, but not donated).

Volunteers Debra K. and Wendy D. shared how WFO works together with the Pathways for Success program; WFO provides appropriate clothing for interviewing and workplace; PFS program provides training in skills needed for 21st century positions, as well as information about how to write resumes and present well during an interview.

During the presentation each session, our T.A.'s distributed the clothing to each table.

After viewing a 10-minute film focusing on three people helped by WFO, the students moved to the tables and set to work sorting the donated clothing and accessories.

If you weren't sure which pile a piece of clothing belonged in...

...our volunteers provided advice.

Teachers and T.A.'s got in on the action as well.

Just because clothing was neat looking (and some had come directly from the cleaners!), didn't mean it automatically passed inspection. EVERYTHING had to be closely examined.

There were 3 or 4 students at each table; the room was filled with the sounds of voices deciding on which pile a piece of clothing should be placed.

Agreements were quickly reached, and clothing appropriate for WFO was put on hangers, to be hung back on the portable clothing rack.

The BK was a beehive of action!

 And after all the clothes had been sorted, and the clothing going to hospice had been packed in large, black plastic bags, we all sat down in front of the ark again, and Debra K. shared the following story:

I'd like to thank all the generous donors who helped us fulfill the mitzvah of tz'daka - the commandment to create a just world by giving things to the needy. Yasher Ko'ach!