Social Action at Tifereth Israel

The commitment of Tifereth Israel to social action and community service has defined us since our congregation’s founding, and is a cornerstone of our continued presence in the District of Columbia. Although always evolving, our social action program embraces the core principles of serving our congregation and our community.

Our social action program is built on the belief that all the members of Tifereth Israel want to act on their personal commitments to social action through one or more activities. We recognize that some Tifereth Israel members want activities they can do with their families, and that others among us are looking for community service activities to satisfy school or other expectations. As you review the following list, you’re sure to agree that we have social action opportunities for just about anyone in our congregation.

Listed below are our major social action projects.

Funeral Practices Committee - One of the most treasured services we provide at Tifereth Israel is a halachic funeral when one of our members passes away. You can help us by serving as a shomer (guardian of the deceased prior to the funeral), or providing other assistance in funeral observance, mourning and support.

Passover/Rosh Hashanah Projects - Everyone should be able to enjoy the holidays, regardless of their circumstances. That’s why we deliver dozens of bags of holiday groceries to Jewish seniors, immigrants and others in need at Passover and Rosh Hashanah. You, too, can help brighten a family’s holiday, simply by delivering a bag or two of groceries.

Mishpocha Mitzvah - Every month, Tifereth Israel’s Department of Lifelong Learning holds a “Mishpocha Mitzvah Mania” day. Each month’s activities are different, but all are designed to promote social action opportunities for our children and their families. Pledge to help plan or participate in one or more of these monthly events.

International Jewry Task Force - Do you travel? Do you want to help traveling Tifereth Israel members with a little tzedekah? This task force will help interested members learn about the Jewish communities in places where they are traveling overseas. Where there are needs for religious items or various forms of assistance or relief, our task force will help identify and address these needs.

Sukkot in April - Every spring, we provide volunteers for this program to help renovate housing for low-income families, often at locations not far from Tifereth Israel. Whether it’s painting, hammering, light carpentry or other simple repairs, any skilled or unskilled labor you or your family can provide is welcome at this event.

Emory Church Partnership -Tifereth Israel members help our friends at the nearby Emory Church with a number of projects, any of which are available for your involvement. These include a family shelter, an annual Walk for the Homeless walk-a-thon, an after school tutoring program, job training, and other activities.

Shepherd School - Help tutor students in our neighborhood’s elementary school. Tifereth Israel offers weekly tutoring nights for Shepherd students throughout the year, where you can work with a student once, or regularly. Volunteers also can help with longer-term mentoring projects and can offer to provide other assistance to the school.

December 25 Community Service - Help our friends at one or more District of Columbia churches as they spend a day serving food to the homeless and engaging in other volunteer service activities.

PAUSE Writing Club - If someone asked you to help a child develop their writing skills without leaving your home, would you believe it? That’s exactly what we do through PAUSE, our virtual writers’ club for elementary school students in participating District of Columbia public schools. When you volunteer, you’ll be matched up with one or more students. Periodically, the students will send you (via e-mail) some of their writing. You respond, also via e-mail, with your reactions, encouragement, recommendations, etc. This is an unbelievably simple volunteer activity, and it’s quite stimulating to see what the children write!

Food and Clothing Collections - Have you ever wondered what happens to the food, clothing and other items we collect periodically to benefit clients of the Whitman-Walker Clinic and other local social service providers? Solve this mystery by volunteering to help with the planning, publicizing, collecting, sorting or delivery of these collection drives.

Luther Place Women’s Shelter - Cooking for a crowd is seldom as appreciated, as when you’ve helped serve dinner to between 20 and 30 women in a shelter. That’s what we do, one Sunday a month, at the Luther Place church’s “N Street Village” women’s shelter. With your help, this dinner becomes even easier and more satisfying for all.

Martha’s Table Van - Help address the human side to homelessness, as we drive a soup-and-sandwich van one Sunday a month, serving dinner to homeless men and women on the streets of downtown Washington, in partnership with Martha’s Table.

At Tifereth Israel, we are proud of our social action program. We are able to make significant contributions to our community and our region. A majority of our congregation’s families – yours included, we hope – already help with one or more social action projects every year.

This is the time for you and your family to review what you have done to help in social action this past year, and plan for the year to come. Study the projects listed above. Call on our Social Action co-chairs, Gene Herman and Claudine Schweber.

E-mail Social Action to ask questions, learn more about our activities, or to suggest a Social Action project.

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