Last night, we allowed our 126 guests permission to suspend any New Years Resolutions regarding dieting…. Just for that night! That’s just what they did! First course was an outstanding pureed butternut squash and carrot soup which led one guest to say, “Youz guys have to make this more often!” Along with tossed salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, celery and crunchy chow mein noodles, and hot beta veggies, there was 54 kg of “Quiet Chicken” with a mushroom/cream sauce over 6 kg of rice. Why is it called “Quiet Chicken?” Because that’s what the dining room becomes when guests enjoy.
As many of you know, this week, Madeleine Levy was named Hamilton’s Citizen of the Year. As a native of New York, Madeleine certainly has just begun her remarkable legacy in her new home. Her involvement in this community includes The United Way and Holocaust Education. For many years, she helped co-ordinate our night of Out of the Cold with Gloria Silverman. If you think we do a lot for our overnight guests, Madeleine used to show movies at night….with popcorn! Guests still reminisce about her warmth and humour and immeasurable generosity! Mazel Tov, Madeleine.
Nineteen guests slept over. Last week I gave a pair of Lowell’s reading glasses to a guest, who last night, thanked me again. He thinks of our generosity each and every time he reads. It makes me think that everyone can make a difference in this great city of ours. All of you do … each week at OOTC, and probably more often than you think. One quiet kind act at a time, one quiet chicken at a time.
Cindy
If you have more time in your day, read the attached which was discussed at Beth Jacob Synagogue’s Rabbi Selsberg’s Ethics group study class last week. Think about your involvement, individually and collectively, in creating An Ideal World. If anyone would like to contribute to these casual weekly missives, please “send” away!
An Ideal World?
There is no one official description of the Jewish ideal world; in this matter, as on virtually every other topic, Jewish sources include many voices. That is not to say that Judaism is incoherent in its ideals, though, for many of the factors described in some sources complement those in others…
… Judaism portrays all human efforts as being in partnership with God. Sometimes God is the dominant partner, as in the Exodus from Egypt, but even there, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and according to legend, Nashon ben Aminadav played crucial roles in enabling the Exodus to happen. At other times, human beings must take the initiative, as in our efforts to form a society devoid of gossip and defamatory speech, for example. Most of the time, tikkun olam (repairing the world) happens as a result of partnership between God and us and that is illustrated in the cases of people finding cures for illnesses and then ensuring that all the world’s people can take advantage of those cures. Thus, as we consider Jewish visions of the ideal, we should take note of the varying roles played by God and by human beings in enabling the ideal to become more and more real.
Elliot N Dorff, The Way Into Tikkun Olam
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