Wednesday 22 March 2017

March 22, 2017

Shhhhh..... don't tell anyone. We may have exceeded the number of persons allowed in Christ's Church Cathedral's hall.

The number of guests just kept on climbing and seemed stuck for a while on a Gretzky (our way of saying #n-n,) but then Rob arrived, balloons fell from the ceiling (only kidding), followed by our Russian friend, Rasputin, (not really his name) who took us right to (Roman) CI.  Interestingly, in life, it’s natural to ask, “How many people did you feed?” “What’s the final number for the wedding?” “How many fans for the game?” However, in Jewish practice, there’s a prohibition on counting Jews. Many sources can be cited for this practice; I like these three.

When the Jews escaped from Egypt and began their journey through the desert to the Land of Israel, G‑d requested that a census be carried out, but not in the conventional way. G‑d commanded each person to give a half of the ancient shekel coin in a nationwide collection, following which Moses would count the coins and know how many Jews there were.

The number of children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which shall neither be measured nor counted. Hosea 2:1

This prohibition emphasizes the uniqueness of each human being. A person’s unique qualities can never be reduced to some numerical quantity.

As we get set to end our 2016/2017 season next Tuesday, you have mentioned that, ever since we survived the January St Mary’s flood and moved to CCC’s smaller hall, it was a shame that, overall, we fed fewer guests. It saddens us deeply to think that many of our regulars were hesitant to move with us to an overcrowded replacement site. However, we must understand that it would have been physically challenging and/or psychologically distressing to some. Each individual is sacred; each person’s hunger is inimitable. We did our best and we know that it made a difference. THAT is something we can all count on.

More about last night. We usually serve dinner at 5 pm but Peter, our security man, showed us who's the boss, and said that we'd better empty the ovens at 4:50 before 'things' got out of hand.

Food is love and the romance was on for the sweet potato & lentil soup, meatloaf, chickpea/veg/couscous salad, coleslaw, pasta and fruit proving once again that the cooks have more than time on their hands, passion in their hearts and the needs of others on their minds!

Finally, some friendly reminders with flyers attached:
This Saturday night, the fundraising concert for OOTC at Erskine Presbyterian.
The Annual Volunteer Dinner – Thurs. April 20 – RSVP by March 31 – please come; you'll be the best of the approximately 15 x Chai in attendance!

Cindy

Sunday 12 March 2017

March 12, 2017

Chag Sameach!!

Hope your Purim is awesome.  This update covers the whole megillah!  Ugh. So many updates, invitations, announcements.

Thanks to the B'nei mitzvah classes from Beth Jacob Synagogue and Temple Anshe Sholom. There has never been better assembled Purim mishloach manot and bags of toiletries, ever! After he described himself as a hellion when he was their age, our dinner guest Ralph gave the students personal insights of the importance of OOTC on his life. It allows him to save money to purchase other important things like a new pair of pants and running shoes. It helped him to handle social situations as well as connecting him with very nice people, US, and delicious and nutritious meals are consistently offered by our friendly and generous group.

The upcoming Hamilton Jewish News' centre spread will feature our Tuesday OOTC program in its Passover issue. Thank you to editor/reporter, Wendy Schneider, who interviewed so many of our guests and volunteers early in the season. She was so impressed that she became one of our team.
Attached, you're invited to:

1. The Annual Concert for Hamilton Out of the Cold – called "Singing for Supper" - Friday, March 25, 7:30pm at Wednesday's site, Erskine Presbyterian Church. $10 (kids free)  Nikki and Shaun (professional singer and musician) put a tremendous amount of effort into putting the concert together and all proceeds go to OOTC.

2. The VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION DINNER - Thursday, April 20 at a new OOTC site, St Nicholas. Please RSVP to Norma or myself no later than March 31st.

An old friend, Simon, returned to Hamilton and found us at our temporary location. "I'll never forget how when I lived at the Y, you would allow me to have breakfast at James St Baptist, and you'd bring me the newspaper too."

I forgot to show you the Hanukkah message from a table of guests, see attached.

Feeling silly yet? Here's help:

Q: What did Adam tell his kids as to why he no longer lived in Eden?
A:  Your mother ate us out of house and home.

Q:  The ark was built in 3 stories and the top story had a window to let light in, but how did they get light to the bottom 2 stories?
A:  They used flood lights.

Q: Why was Goliath so surprised when David hit him with a slingshot?
A: The thought had never entered his head before.

Finally, my family has a yahrzeit tonight and tomorrow night at 6 pm. If you're around Rabbi Hillel's, 71 MacDonald, tonight and the BJ tomorrow night, that's where minyan and hamantashen will be!
Chag Purim Sameach

Cindy