Press
Temple reaching out to help those in need
2010-12-22
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer, News Transcript
MANALAPAN — Miracles are alive and well at Temple Shaari Emeth, Manalapan, courtesy of the Miracle Menorah event that has been running since November.
The event, which was the brainchild of Joan Fischer of Marlboro, is a way for the temple’s congregants to support the community at large by providing holiday gifts to individuals in need. The effort ran through Dec. 21.
Fischer, who co-chairs the temple’s Social Action Committee with Suzanne Wycoff, said when people support the Miracle Menorah they are doing a “mitzvah” (good deed).
A handcrafted menorah — a candelabra used throughout the festive holiday of Hanukkah — sits in the temple and displays tags labeled with gift ideas. A person may select a tag, buy that gift and return it to the temple, which then distributes the gifts through various organizations.
“The children from the temple really love it and this is a great fun way for them to be involved in giving back,” Fischer said.
This year the Miracle Menorah is assisting Redeem Her, a nonprofit inmate and exoffender, self-directed, self-help service organization based in Toms River, and Home Front Hearts.
The mission of Home Front Hearts is to “serve our country by providing resources to families of service members, increasing public awareness of the struggles of military families, and engaging both individuals and businesses in building communities that are responsive to the needs of these families.”
The effort has provided gifts for more than 100 families to date, according to Fischer, who said many congregants have told her these are the best gifts they have bought during the holiday season.”
Fischer explained how the Miracle Menorah began.
“We used to have large holiday parties at my house for Hanukkah,” she said. “People would always bring a gift for the hostess when they visited. I asked them to start bringing an unwrapped toy instead of a gift for the hostess.”
Fischer then delivered those toys to the Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Manalapan and to 180 Turning Lives Around, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence in the community, and to Redeem Her.
“When I became chair of the Social Action Committee at the temple, I thought it would be nice to expand what I was already doing at home to the temple and its congregants,” she said.
“We started small the first year, but it has grown over the years,” she said. “For Redeem Her, we now give age-appropriate toys for the children and also gifts for the moms, such as perfume, and personal care products like make-up and accessories, things to make them feel good about themselves that they cannot buy themselves.”
Fischer said the Miracle Menorah has also provided gifts for the children’s caretakers and gifts for the youngsters to give their moms as well.
In working with Randi Cairns, the executive director of Home Front Hearts, the Miracle Menorah is part of an ongoing effort to provide items that service members or their families need or want.
“We don’t want anyone to go without,” Fischer said. “It is our way of performing tikun olam (healing the world).”
Fischer noted that Temple Shaari Emeth is also involved with the Freehold Clergy Association’s emergency housing program which offers overnight shelter and a hot meal to individuals who have no place to go at night during the winter months.
“We don’t just give them a place to sleep,” Fischer said. “Our overnight volunteers interact with the men and allow them time to play games, read, and watch TV, a time to be social with one another. And, we welcome everyone.”
She asked anyone who may be in a position to donate new hats, scarves and gloves to do so.
“I am very blessed,” Fischer said. “It has been important to me and my husband, Aaron, to raise our kids to know that you share what you have with others. You give to those who cannot do and the best way to do that is like this, anonymously. And when you give from the heart, it doesn’t matter how much you give.”
Rabbi Melinda Panken of Temple Shaari Emeth said she was very pleased to see how the program has grown over the years.
“I am always pleased to see any event that gets people past getting things for themselves and instead brings happiness and comfort to others we don’t even know, but who are in need.
“In keeping with the spirit of Hanukkah, I ask my congregants to set aside one night of Hanukkah to give to others either by donating something to someone in need or by having the children take one toy they have received and bringing it to someone who needs it. It’s not about what we get, but about what we can give,” Panken said.
