Dear JCOGS family,
The two Thanksgivings that I spent in Brooklyn, I would go to the local soup kitchen where I volunteered weekly and would help cook and serve food for the hundreds of neighbours wanting to celebrate the holiday. These were Americans who wanted to enjoy this abundant meal, but were unable to pay for it themselves, or who didn't have family to celebrate with. Later that day, Alison and I would head to Long Island to celebrate with her family, now my family, too.
I hope all of our American members, and I heard even some of our Canadian ones, were able to celebrate this year among family and friends with abundant gratitude. There is so much to be grateful for, but it all begins with the basics.
Two years ago, one of our members, Emily Rosenbaum, heard that donated clothing rarely includes socks and underwear. That’s where we stepped in at JCOGS and began a
Warm Toes Fund that supports locals from never having to walk around in a Vermont winter, or any season for that matter, without those basic undergarments.
I am writing this message on Black Friday, the day where shopping deals galore mean an explosion of buying. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good deal. But it is these moments of abundance beyond the basics, like Thanksgiving, that are meant to arouse in us gratitude for what we have. And it can inspire us to provide those basic needs for those who don’t have.
I hope you will join me in this season of abundance and giving to our
Wam Toes Fund.I couldn’t help but feel those Thanksgivings in Brooklyn that I had the best of both worlds: the give and take—the take of the abundance at our family’s table and the give of making sure that our neighbours got to celebrate too. In this season, may that feeling of abundance inspire us all to give back.
Tihiyu bri’im, be well. Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David
P.S. And in this spirit of gratitude, Alison and I are hosting a Friendsgiving hang out tomorrow/Saturday from 4-6p.m., which will include havdalah to end Shabbat. Come join us and bring your family and friends and neighbours.
RSVP HERE for directions.
