Supporting Our Work of Chesed – An Invitation to Help from Rabbi Robert A. Nosanchuk

A new member recently approached me in the school wing of temple,  so gratified that he and his partner had chosen to make Anshe Chesed their home as a Jewish family. Another saw me after a Shabbat service, grateful for my assistance at the naming of his granddaughter, and asked me how he could best thank the temple for making yet another milestone in his life an uplifting one for his family.

I encouraged him- if he wanted to show his gratitude and commitment to the chesed for which our temple stands, that he could share a meaningful gift with our Friends of Fairmount Annual Campaign.

When I think of Friends of Fairmount, I see it as a very powerful way to show gratitude and appreciation for our temple’s longstanding role as a leader in chesed (“kindness”) here in Cleveland. I know the same is true for my colleagues Cantor Sager and Rabbi Caruso, whose leadership in this community are precious to us all. When each of us see the growing number of our members who are giving to the Friends of Fairmount campaign, it feels like such an important vote of confidence in our efforts to make chesed a realized value here at temple.

This is true whether the chesed is in the form of the caring teachers and student leaders (madrichim)  in our vibrant schools, retreats, and holiday programs, or whether the kindness is in the outreach from temple volunteers, staff and clergy as they respond to a lost job, a recent hospitalization or a death in the family.  It is this core value that you are supporting when you or someone you love, honors temple with support through the Friends of Fairmount Annual campaign, be it right now as 2013 comes to a close, or before July when the 2013-14 appeal, led by our member Todd Silverman and a dedicated team of volunteers, will conclude.

In the coming weeks, gifts to Friends of Fairmount will be helping to support vibrant programming such as:

• Our Musical Shabbat service on Friday, December 6, at 6:15pm, which will showcase our many choirs, youth and adult, singing music from Chanukah, and celebrating our love of Israel and Chanukah Mitzvah Day on Sunday, December 8  in which we expect that nearly 400 members will share mitzvot of kindness all day long with those in need of attention in our community, ranging from our long-standing outreach to Jewish military members to the many aging members of our community, and those who are dealing with hunger and poverty in their lives and families.
• Our upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr. events in collaboration with Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. This growing program, which features celebration, learning and mitzvah projects, has become, over the last 5 years, the marquee event in the faith communities of Cleveland celebrating and continuing the civil rights commitments and legacy of Dr. King.
• Our Fairmount Young Professionals programming will continue into the winter and spring seasons and holidays, in which so many new young members of Fairmount Temple are joining together to celebrate Shabbat programs, volunteering in our temple’s caring community initiatives and making connections and kindling friendships key to our future as a temple and the Jewish community.
• Our outreach to elderly and often homebound members through Senior Connections calls, assistance with live-streaming technology to enjoy Shabbat services from a distance, and delivery of holiday packages, pastoral care and an upcoming mid-winter community event are just a sampling of the chesed we offer in the Jewish community.

On our temple’s website, you can view a list of all members who donated to the previous campaign and at temple. You can also view in the kiosk as you enter temple, the honor roll of members who supported at the level of $250 or more. Won’t you please join this list and offer a pledge to Friends of Fairmount? As you may know, the financial support provided by dues commitments provides less than half of what our temple requires to continue to lead the Jewish community, to lead in chesed, to lead the community in new initiatives of lifelong learning, prayer and social action.

Thanks- in advance- for your generosity, your kindness and support,

Robert A. Nosanchuk

Senior Rabbi

rnosanchuk@fairmounttemple.org