LETS KIDS EXPERIENCE THE TRUE
HOLIDAY MEANING OF GIVING
JON MARKS | JE STAFF
SO WHAT KIND OF HOLIDAY GIFT DO YOU GET FOR THE PERSON WHO
SEEMS TO HAVE EVERYTHING?
Maybe it’s an opportunity for them to realize — if they don’t know it already —
how truly fortunate they are compared to others. Rather than jewelry, a gift card to a
store or restaurant, a video game or tickets to a show, why not give them a holiday
reminder of just how lucky they are?
Why not let them try to share some of their good fortune with someone else,
maybe somebody they don’t even know?
34 NOVEMBER 24, 2016
WINTER HOLIDAY MAGAZINE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



That’s the theory behind the Mitzvah Menorah that will be put
together in early December by the boys and girls in the religious
school at Main Line Reform Temple (MLRT) in Wynnewood. By
collecting various items ranging from books and clothes to video
games and brand-new sheets, then placing them in bins resem-
bling candles, they’ll eventually gather enough to bring every-
thing people in need.

“I grew up in Northern Virginia,” said MLRT Associate Rabbi
and Educational Director Kevin Kleinman, who’s heading the
project, after organizing a similar one at Reform Congregation
Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park. “My synagogue coordinated a
number of synagogues that volunteered at a soup kitchen.

“I went with my parents to do that. And my family ‘adopted’ a
Russian Jewish family and helped them acclimate to America. My
dad help the father find a job.”
The message was passed on to Kleinman, who wants the next
generation to carry on the tradition.

By collecting various items
ranging from books and clothes to
video games and brand-new sheets,
then placing them in bins resembling candles,
they’ll eventually gather enough to bring
everything to people in need .

“When I was pre-Bar Mitzvah, it stuck with me,” recalled
Kleinman, who plans to teach such lessons to his three young
children. “The synagogue can help families develop their own
sense of doing justice as a Jewish value.

“During the holiday season, we’re looking at items we can give
instead of get. So when people are purchasing items, we’re
reminded we have more needs than just providing for our families.”
While the concept of tikkun olam and tzedakah are by no
means exclusive to the Reform movement, no other denomina-
tion has used Chanukah as the focal point for performing such
mitzvahs. Some prefer doing it during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Broomall synagogues Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid and
Temple Sholom join forces for Thanksgiving.

And the Reconstructionist movement, while embracing the
idea, hasn’t yet formalized it.

In fact, while Kleinman’s Mitzvah Menorah is tailored for the
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM The Main Line Reform Temple Mitzvah Menorah is comprised of
donation bins that resemble Chanukah candles.

Philadelphia community, the Reform movement as a whole has
created Ner Shel Tzedakah: the Candle of Righteousness. The sixth
night of Chanukah — presumably after everyone’s received the
bulk of their gifts — has been designated as a special night, which
even has its own blessing.

“Families and individuals devote the sixth night of Chanukah
to learning about the problem of poverty,” the project is explained
on reformjudaism.org. “They donate the value of the gifts [or the
gifts themselves] that otherwise would be exchanged on that night
to organizations that assist the poor, locally or globally.

“By making donations on the sixth night of Chanukah, families
help the Jewish candle of righteousness glow brightly for those in
need. Don’t let the light go out.”
Among their suggestions for ways to participate include
making donations in honor of others to help poor families keep
the heat on during the winter, inviting a welfare agency to
match your family with a local family in need, joining a local
Meals on Wheels program to deliver hot meals to homebound
individuals, or volunteering at a hospital, shelter or soup
kitchen. Beyond that, Kleinman wants to specifically involve the chil-
dren at MLRT in a more personal way.

See Menorah, Page 36
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WINTER HOLIDAY MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 24, 2016
35