I AM writing to urge all your readers, of any faith and of none, to help the Jewish community mark Mitzvah Day on Sunday, November 21 by working with us to support local community projects.
Mitzvah Day literally means good deed day. It is a day when Jews up and down the country will give, not their money, but a little bit of their time to make a difference where there is need.
This Mitzvah Day more than 15,000 volunteers will support the homeless, clean up a local park, repaint a local charity office, visit an old people's home, collect food for those in need, or do one of 250 other good deed projects. On the same day the UK Hindu community will also be launching its own day of social action, National Sewa Day.
At Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, we will be collecting toys and children's books for the Children's Ward at Northwick Park Hospital, planting trees at Heartwood Forest near St Albans, and collecting non-perishable goods outside Waitrose in Northwood to support the Northwood Live at Home Scheme.
The Children's Ward collection and tree planting will be done together with the local Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh volunteer organisation as part of National Sewa Day (the Hindu equivalent of Mitzvah Day), and the Waitrose collection is a joint effort with St Matthew's Roman Catholic Church in Northwood.
If you can spare a few new or unused small children's toy or books for our community hospital, please drop them into us. And if you see a group of Jewish and Catholic teenagers congregating outside Waitrose, please make a donation.
Whatever our faith, in these difficult times we can all do something on Sunday to bring about positive change. I thank your readers in anticipation for their support.
RABBI ATHIAS-ROBLES Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue
