Temple Emanu-El gives back

In Hebrew, the words Tikkun olam means “repairing or healing the world.” This suggests humanity’s shared responsibility to heal, repair and transform and is commonly used to refer to the pursuit of social action and social justice. On June 1, Temple Emanu-El of East Meadow’s Social Action Committee lived up to those words by hosting its first Mitzvah Day, a day of community service. 

The daylong event featured hundreds of congregants gathering at the Merrick Avenue synagogue for a bagel breakfast, a blood drive and bone marrow registry, a volunteer fair, as well as many other on-site and off-site activities. The Social Action Committee, chaired by Sara Diamond and Marty Solomon, with members Randi Shubin Dresner, Rona Kauffman, Todd Weinstein, Barbara Feldman, Helen Green, Michelle Goldstein, spearheaded the initiative.

More than a dozen nonprofit groups were featured in the volunteer fair, including the Jewish Association Serving the Aging, MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care, LI Progressive Coalition, Last Hope Animal Rescue, Federation Employment & Guidance Service, Literacy Nassau, Make a Wish, Island Harvest Food Bank, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, the East Meadow Fire Department and East Meadow Chamber of Commerce.

The blood drive accumulated 31 pints of blood that will be delivered to the Long Island Blood Center. Additionally, congregants made friendship bracelets and plantings for senior citizens, blankets for the homeless, and collected non-perishable goods and monetary donations for Island Harvest.

The Social Action Committee intends to host similar future events in the future. “There was exuberance in everyone’s reaction to the day,” said Diamond. “Once you get that feeling to give, you want that feeling again. Not everyone makes the time to volunteer, but we made it easier.”

Information supplied by Todd Weinstein