Mitzvah Day is the largest, Jewish-led day of social action in the UK. It brings thousands of people together of all faiths and none, and all ages, to give their time, NOT their money, and make a difference to their local communities.
Examples of projects undertaken on Mitzvah Day are cooking for the homeless, bringing sunshine to seniors, engaging in environmental and conservation projects, collecting money for charity etc, building genuine connections between charities and communities.
This year, MKDRS decided to participate in Mitzvah Day (Sunday 17th November), by encouraging our community to bring in donations to the Shul for the Milton Keynes Food Bank. Our task was to then box up and label the many donations we received and take them to the local Food Bank.
We combined this activity with a lovely ‘Bring And Share’ Community Lunch, which was a fantastic opportunity for everyone to get together for a catch-up. As usual, we were able to offer a fabulous buffet lunch, thanks to the generosity of our members, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
As we’re always keen to gain our members’ opinions, during lunch, we took the opportunity to initiate a discussion on the Synagogue, in terms of what we do well and suggestions for future activities. We were delighted to hear that everyone present agreed we’re an extremely friendly, non-judgemental community, and our Shul feels like a ‘home from home’, which is especially important to our members who live in predominantly non-Jewish areas.
We also received some very positive suggestions for more social events, such as theatre trips and synagogue visits, and ideas for alternative services that will help to make our Shul more appealing and unique.
