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Rabbi Karp's Sermons ... ROSH HASHANAH HUNGER
APPEAL Shanah Tovah everybody! Happy New Year! May the coming year be for you a year filled with blessings. May it be a year of joy and happiness, of health and prosperity, of love and friendship. In 1993, I began the practice of opening our Rosh Hashanah services with a hunger appeal. In each of these appeals, at this time of year at which we count our blessings, I have asked you to serve as a source of blessings for others. And over the years, you have responded, and responded enthusiastically. As I stand here before you this evening, I know that there is no need for me to exhort you concerning your profound responsibilities toward this all too important mitzvah of tzedakah. By your actions over the past several years, you have more than adequately demonstrated that you understand these responsibilities and that you take them very seriously. As members of this congregation, each one of us should feel justly proud of all that we have accomplished over the past several years through our efforts to help feed the hungry of our community and of our planet. It goes without saying that this year we are continuing our High Holy Day efforts to feed the hungry. As in past years, I call upon you to participate in three separate hunger programs: 1) the Quad Cities CROP Walk Against Hunger, 2) the U.A.H.C. Hunger Project, and 3) MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. When it comes to CROP, our congregation has a long and wonderful history. Every year, our contingent of walkers has grown, and last year was no exception. For last year, we had 76 members of our congregation walking, which was up from 74 the year before. Now two additional walkers may not seem like a lot to you, but considering what weather we had for last year’s CROP Walk, frankly I am amazed that we had that many. As those who walked remember, it was a miserable rain storm. If it wasn’t for that rain storm, there is no doubt but that our delegation would have been far larger. And as for raising funds, last year we held our own, raising $1,867.50, which was just $17.00 short of the year before. Once again, if it wasn’t for the weather, we would have raised more. I want to show you something; something which we should be very proud of. (Hold up CROP plaque). This is the Golden Shoe Award. It was presented to our congregation last year by the CROP organization, in honor of all that we have done in the past. For in spite of how small our congregation is, ours is one of the leading congregations in this community in its support of CROP. This year’s walk will take place on Sunday, October 15th, starting at 2:00 p.m. As our congregation has done during the past two years, we will be hosting a pizza luncheon for all CROP walkers. The luncheon will take place immediately following religious school. Then after the luncheon, we will travel as a congregation to the jump off site for the walk. Two things are required in order to be eligible to attend the luncheon. First, you must walk in the CROP Walk. Secondly, as an admission fee, you must either bring in two cans of food, or pay $2.00, which will also go to CROP. While we have been very good in our support of CROP in years past, it is especially important for us to support CROP this year; support it with walkers, support it with pledges. It is especially important because this year’s CROP Walk was originally scheduled for Erev Yom Kippur. It was so scheduled because there were other charitable events which were on the community calendar for the other possible dates, including October 15th. However, when our congregation lodged its protest concerning the date, there was a groundswell of support for us from across the Christian community. It was very clear that the perception was, that a CROP Walk without Temple Emanuel would just not be a CROP Walk. In the end, the CROP committee unanimously voted to reschedule the walk, simply to accommodate us. They did this fully knowing that these other conflicts might very well cut into their own success. Therefore, we as a congregation have a moral obligation to do everything in our power to put our best foot forward in appreciation and in gratitude for the risk that they are taking on our behalf. Therefore, I call upon all of you to seriously consider both walking and pledging. And if you are someone who prefers to pledge, but not walk, then please consider pledging more this year than you have in the past. For years, as a part of the U.A.H.C. Hunger Project, we have placed grocery sacks on your seats, and have asked you to take them home, fill them with non-perishable food items, and bring the filled sacks back here by Sukkot. After Sukkot, that food has gone, and will go, to the Riverbend Food Pantry, from where it will be distributed to the hungry of our community. This year, as you probably have noticed, there are no sacks at your seats. There is a good reason for that. Last year, we had an extremely unfortunate incident. Right after the Concluding Service on Yom Kippur, one of our elderly congregants slipped and injured herself on a grocery sack that someone left on the floor under their seat. While feeding the hungry is extremely important to us, so is the safety of our. Therefore, we did not put the grocery sacks on the seats this year. Rather, you will find them in the lobby, on carts. We implore you. Please take one or more home, fill them up, and return them to us. Many of the sacks have been decorated by students in our religious school. I hope that you have noticed our display in the lobby of some of these wonderful pieces of art. In our religious school, we strive to teach our children the importance of tzedakah, and with these beautifully decorated sacks, our children are in turn teaching us. By the way, last year we collected 1,386 pounds of food, which was 50 pounds more than in 1998. MAZON is a national Jewish organization which raises funds to support agencies around the nation and around the world which work to alleviate hunger. For years, we have been placing MAZON pledge envelopes in your prayer books. Until two years ago, those envelopes were address to the MAZON offices in Los Angeles. But two years ago, MAZON asked us to participate in a pilot project, in which we would print our own envelopes and have them addressed to the Temple. Their hope was that by collecting the donations locally, we would be better able to keep track of our congregation’s support of MAZON, and might be better able to increase that support. Well, based upon our results, and the results of the other congregations participating in this pilot project, MAZON is now encouraging all congregations to do the same. Going into this project, MAZON estimated that a congregation’s fund drive would be successful if 5% of their membership contributed at least something to MAZON. Well, last year almost 15% of our congregation contributed to MAZON. That was three times MAZON’s estimate of a good campaign! And we raised a very respectable $1,233.00, which was 25% more than we raised the year before. Once again, ours is a record to be proud of. The bottom line is that over the years, our congregation has developed a beautiful and praiseworthy tradition of opening up our hearts at this time of year and reaching out to help our fellow human being who live in hunger. We are the molders of that tradition, and we are the heirs to that tradition. As the year 5761 begins, may we continue to prove worthy of that tradition. AMEN |
