Home Presentation for Yom Kippur Symposium 5763, September 16, 2002
In the next few minutes I will try to express how Judaism has impacted my life through volunteering and mitzvahs. I will also give you an opportunity to participate in 3 volunteer/mitzvah projects.
My first memories of volunteering were of my father going to the army hospital during World War 2 with the B'nai Brith and a 78 rpm record recorder. They would make records for the Jewish servicemen and send them home to their families…I thing I really only remember this from pictures and that big old recorder Dad would bring home. But I do remember going with Dad to the Jewish community center on Quincy Street on Sunday mornings from time tot time for lox and bagel breakfast with the servicemen…That left a pretty positive impression.
I grew up as a Boy Scout in troop 9 at Agudas Achim Synagogue where among other things, I learned the scout motto “Do a good turn daily.” But my first real experiences with volunteering came several years later when my former scout master Ruben Karen, who had since retired as scoutmaster called and said: “Larry, the troop is falling apart and would you consider being a scout leader,” to which my reply was “sure, why not…” Some time later Reuben called again to tell me his nephew, Nelson Block, was going to become a scout and he didn't think Nelson was cut out to be a boy scout but to do what I could. I took that as a personal challenge. I am glad to say that Nelson did quite well as a Boy Scout. He became an Eagle Scout and has been a scoutmaster himself of a Jewish troop in Houston for 11 years. He has received many awards including the highest award a scout leader can earn, and he is still very active in scouting. It's things like Nelson's success that make me want to continue volunteering.
Several years later, I met Paulette and three weeks later we were married and we have four wonderful children. Incidentally, from now on, when I say “we,” I will be referring to Paulette and myself. As our children got older, we found ourselves active in Temple Youth programs, such as BEST and SAFTY as chaperones, conclave host, often having several kids stay with us for a weekend, Purim carnival helpers, transportation experts, and Barry, we have taken the challenge, we have ridden the SAFTY bus to conclaves…Oh what fund we've had.
We have a house at Canyon Lake where every summer we would host a SAFTY lake retreat where the kids come out, play on the lake and on Saturday night they have a havdala service followed by Jewish discussion groups around a campfire. This was a great experience for the kids and us. Well, several years ago as we were planning the details of a lake house weekend over the phone with a very enthusiastic new rabbi at Temple Beth-El,…Barry Block, I told him I was looking forward to meeting him at the retreat. His reply was, “I know you. I stayed at your house as a youth at a TOFTY conclave,” and he continued to rave about Paulette's cookies and the great time he had. Small world isn't it.
And here is your first opportunity to do a mitzvah. SAFTY is hosting a conclave in January and is expecting a couple of hundred TOFTYites for the weekend; they will need housing, transportation, etc. If you would like to help, you may contact the Temple office. Who knows, you may have a future rabbi stay at your home.
All of our children have attended Greene Family Camp and all have been to Kutz Camp in New York. Frank spent three weeks on the Volunteers for Israel program and several years as SAFTY advisor. Lowell went to Kutz Camp and came back with an Israeli exchange student, Danny Bichman, who spent a school semester with us, a fantastic learning experience for us all. Andrew and Laura went on the thirteen bounce tour with the JCC. Laura spent a summer in Israel on a kubutz.
We were always very supportive of all Jewish activities for our children. One thing that was very important to us was not to send our children to Services, Religious School, or Hebrew School, but to take them with us.
Many of our volunteering activities have started right here at Temple. Health-o-Rama was probably our first. Then we spent several years volunteering at SAMM's Shelter; where Temple members would man the shelter in the evenings to relieve the staff. We have helped with various brotherhood and sisterhood projects. We have been involved with Mitzvah Day where our first project was Habitat for Humanity. Our group liked it so much they wanted to do more. When I inquired what we could do to help as an ongoing project, they told me they needed roofers or sheet rockers. Knowing this would be a Jewish crew; it was an easy decision…stay on the ground. Our Temple sheet rock crew stayed active for several years. We saw a notice in the Temple Bulleting that the Methodist Hospital needed volunteers and we served there for eight years and have since continued to volunteer at the Downtown Santa Rosa Hospital.
Recently, Paulette and I had an opportunity to bring one of our projects to the Temple. We have been volunteering for Meals on Wheels for six years and they had requested that Temple become a Meals on Wheels delivery site. I am happy to say that since March of this year, Temple members have been delivering hot meals each day to about 12 of our neighbors who might not have a hot meal or see anyone else that day. That's over 1200 meals in just six months. Thanks team. Now comes your second opportunity to help out. We would like to start a second route in our neighborhood. It requires about two hours, one day per week, from about 10:30 to 12:30 PM. We deliver in teams of two so you don't go alone. If you would like to deliver Meals on Wheels with us or for more information, please contact Nancy Gerson at the Temple office.
Last year, after September 11, Paulette and I spent a month in New York with the American Red Cross driving supply trucks. We were delivering food and supplies all over New York. On our daily route we would got to both Red Cross respite centers at Ground Zero where the policemen, firemen, and volunteers could get a hot meal, shower, a place to sleep, or get clean clothes. We would stop there for lunch, and here comes the Jewish connection. As we went through the cafeteria line there was a sign that said, “kosher meals available.” Even through we don't keep kosher, you bet we ate the kosher meals, only in New York.
This pretty much brings you up to date on our Jewish connections in volunteering. Now for our future plans, in December during Chanukah, Paulette and I are joining a group of 30 B'nai Brith members on a Cuban Jewish Relief Project. We will be taking medicines, medical supplies, personal hygiene, Judaic items, light weight clothes, canned meats and other items to Cuba. The Jewish communities in Cuba are very poor and in desperate need of these supplies. And here comes your third opportunity to join in this mitzvah if you would like to donate money or items for us to take to them, please get a blue flier with all the information on it as you leave the sanctuary.
In closing, I had several thoughts to share with you and I couldn't decide which one to use. So, you guessed it, here are all of them. Why do we enjoy volunteering so much? It's that great feeling knowing you can make a difference in someone's life.
From my Boy Scout days of “do a good turn daily,” Paulette and I have adopted the Jewish version as our goal… “do mitzvah every day.” We believe it's our way of paying back.
And here's an interesting thought, to the world, you might be only one person, but to one person you might be the world. Sometimes people ask us, “How can I repay you?” Our answer is for them to just do something nice for someone else.
And I think this one sums up my Jewish involvement with helping others. Everytime I sit in this beautiful sanctuary and look up at the bimah, right there in front of me, the only thing written out, in big, bold letters, it says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” What a concept.
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