Mitzvah Heroes - See four a day and call me in the morning

Exhaustion is a small price to pay for the great day we had. Mitzvah heroes are exhilarating, inspiring individuals. Today we got an update from Karen London, who works with survivors of terror through Atzum. We’ve decided to help a client of hers whose husband is 100% disabled to help her buy a mac so that she can do graphic desing from home (the National Insurance paid for her to take the course, but she can’t leave her husband and children alone during the day. She needs another $600 if you have a few Franklins lying around with no mitzvahs to do. We go an update on work in places like Sderot, Jerusalem and other places.

Then we spend a solid two hours with the Rabbanit Bracha Kapach, number one teacher of mitzvot in the world. She told the group from Olam Tikvah in Fairfax, Virginia, travelling with their rabbi, David Kalendar, her history in mitzvah work, her family history and about her grandchildren. She gave us all a bracha for health happiness and success. I feel better already.

Then we took the Virginians to the Meled High School to spend time with my teacher and friend, Menachem Gottesman. Menachem considers himself a worker in critical cardiac care – he mends sick and broken hearts. His educational philosophy, his patience, his skill and his results are all incredible. I learn so much from every encounter.

Mary and I walked from Meled to Crossroads (after a Middle Eastern lunch at Rachmo) and spent time with Caryn Green and one of her alumni. Over the years, I haven’t written too much about Crossroads, so it may be time. Crossroads provides services to teens in downtown Jerusalem. Some of these teens (about 60%) are Israel, many American and British. Some are here on year programs; some of the families have had difficult aliyah experiences. Crossroads has social workers and program staff that work with the teens, both in their center and in street. They help with social, legal, substance abuse, violence; they run GED classes, art, cooking, music dance classes; a job search service with resume writing help, school placement help – it’s really a great place. They’re a block from Zion Square, and we learned a lot from Caryn during our time there.

At this point it was nearly 6 – I walked Mary back to her hotel and walked the rest of the way to the German colony (we don’t have a scale, but I have to imagine I’m still losing weight). After a short rest, I ran into my group from the morning leaving their closing banquet at La Boca. I said good bye to them, went for coffee and a bagel at Holy Bagel and then Yossi called – they were coming to the neighborhood to meet friends for dinner and he had Friday free, so I went home with them so we can do a bit of wine tasting Friday morning before I cook for Shabbat.

Shabbat shalom. If you want to stop by, I’ll be at Shira Chadasha tonight; I usually sit near the wall in front (if I get there early enough).