There’s no doubt about it. This weekend is going to be cosmic.
Jewlicious readers know that this Friday marks the kickoff of the Jewlicious @ the Beach Conference. (I also understand that April 8 also brings us a very rare partial solar eclipse.) But yet another reason to remember April 8 this year is that it has also been proclaimed “Make a Difference Day” by non-profit Jewish values organization Areyvut.
Areyvut, whose mission is “to empower Jewish youth with experiences that will enable them to infuse their lives with the core Jewish values of chesed (kindness), tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (social justice),” announced that it had invited schools, synagogues, families and community organizations to dedicate their day to helping others:
Areyvut’s “A Kindness a Day Calendar: 365 Ways to Make a Difference,” which offers 365 suggestions of how to incorporate tikkun olam into everyday life, is already uniting Jewish communities across the country in an effort to inspire acts of kindness. On April 8th, the A Kindness a Day Calendar encourages people to: “Try to be totally unselfish today.” On “Make a Difference” Day, this effort will be strengthened; thousands of students and families will turn the calendar’s suggestions into action with the help of educational resources that Areyvut will provide.
According to the Areyvut website, “synagogues, schools, and organizations will be extending the activities throughout the weekend (Sunday, April 10th) so that everyone can be included in this event.”
Like I said, kids. Mitzvot are like, totally cosmic.
Coping With Tragedy
Fighting Terror With Kindness
By Shmuel Greenbaum
info @ TraditionOfKindness . org
Kindness has been my personal response to terror. My wife, Shoshana, was murdered by a suicide bomber. She was one of over 100 victims that were killed or injured on August 9, 2001 at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
Sometimes I wonder whether telling my story can really help others. Since, the way I am coping with tragedy is so different than the norm, would anyone else understand it?
Many of the rabbis that came to visit me told me a story about a carpet. “Sometimes you only see the knots on the back,†they said; “Only later do you see the beautiful design on the front.†I thanked them for coming and explained that I see the beautiful design now. I see the “big picture.â€
I have always been interested in the “big picture†– in how to make the world better. Since I was a kid, I always liked to tackle these big problems by assembling a group of experts to solve them. As a teenager I designed a system to tap hydroelectric power from the wastewater of apartment buildings. I contacted a local engineering school and assembled a team of academicians to prepare the plan for the US Department of Energy.
After my wife’s violent murder, I began a project to teach people how to be kinder. The project has just started to take off. At the moment, we have more than 40,000 subscribers on six continents to our “Daily Dose of Kindness†e-mail. Everyone who signs up for this e-mail list is also automatically signed up as an advisor. As I said before, I like having many advisors. Right now, I have over 40,000 “Kindness advisorsâ€.
Last week, one of my Kindness advisors sent me an e-mail link to an article in the New York Times about how medical researches have found that acts of kindness stimulate the brain in the same place that physical pleasures do. So now medical researchers have shown that doing kindness causes enjoyment. From this you can see one way that I cope with tragedy – I receive tremendous pleasure by promoting kindness.
My favorite author on kindness is Zelig Pliskin. In his book Kindness, he presents eighty-five techniques to find new opportunities to do kindness by improving yourself and improving the world around you. In one chapter he explains how you can feel the thrill of an international sports victory every day if you visualize 100,000 people applauding for you and cheering you on when you do an act of kindness. Studies have shown that our hormonal system has actual biochemical responses even though the victory is totally a figment of our imagination.
Shortly after my wife’s death, I prayed with great intensity to G-d to help me to make the world better. From the feedback I am getting from my kindness projects, it is clear that my prayers are being answered and that I am helping to make the world a little kinder – one person at a time. This feeling of Divine assistance combined with the biochemical responses to my imagined victory has given me tremendous emotional strength.
Join Us!
Be a “Partner In Kindness.”
Visit our websites:
English:
http://www.TraditionOfKindness.org (Daily Jewish e-mail)
http://www.PartnersInKindness.org (Weekly Non-Sectarian e-mail)
French:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Potentiel_de_Bonte (Weekly e-mail)
Spanish:
http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/LapracticadelaBondad/ (Weekly e-mail)
Portuguese:
http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/ParceirosNaBondade/ (Weekly e-mail)
If you would like to do a very easy, but powerful act of kindness, forward this e-mail to friends and relatives. If you know of any groups that are interested in having me speak, I don’t charge a fee, other than travel from New York (if I am not already in the area).
Safiyyah, your response is actually very similar to the general responses by some of the observant Jews who visit our site. There’s nothing wrong with the food, per se, it just feels wrong.
Hahaha. TM, I wouldn’t buy it. I mean, Muslims don’t eat pork. It’s seen as unclean, and some Muslims would in fact say it is repugnant. So the idea of bacon-flavoured chips, even artificial, seems ‘distasteful’ to me.
But if someone wants to eat it, I don’t really see a problem with that. It’s not the flavour that’s a problem, it’s the actual pork itself.
This is so awesomely great!
Yes, Safiyyah, but how do you feel about artificial bacon flavored chips?
Even this non-Jew is impressed! 😉
Wow, impressive organization with impressive ideas.