Mitzvah Night – Honoring Kelly Gaines and Sharing Our Light With Those in Need

When I explained last year to my son’s Kindergarten secular school teacher that Maxwell did not celebrate Christmas or believe in Santa, she said to me in a consoling voice, “Oh, that must be so difficult.”

“No, not really,” I responded. “We have an abundance of great Jewish holidays.”

As Jews, we are blessed with so many wonderful celebrations, and Chanukah is among them. What I love most about our winter holiday is its simplicity and its length. We are given eight nights to savor the light, to enjoy good company, to put our menorahs in the window and proclaim proudly to the world the miracle of Jewish survival.

The Talmud teaches that light for one is a light for one hundred. In order to share the light of our blessings, Temple Beth El will have its first ever Mitzvah Night on Friday, December 15th. In order to brighten both our sanctuary and our city of Charlo�e, we invite you to bring your menorahs so that we can light them during the opening of our Shabbat service, and we encourage you to pick a description a gift off our Giving Tree (that is set up in the Beth El lobby and online) and bring a present for an individual in our city who is in need.

Additionally on this first Mitzvah Night, we will honor Kelly Gaines for her stellar work in chairing our Social Justice and Action Committee for the past five years. She embodies the rabbinic statement, “One mitzvah leads to another.” Through her passion for healing our world, she has inspired hundreds of our congregants to feed the hungry, embrace the stranger, and help the needy here in Charlotte and across the globe.

When asked, Kelly said the best way to honor her is by becoming involved in the many Beth El projects that heal our city and world. At the Mitzvah Mall during our oneg, you can learn about the variety of Beth El’s social justice and action projects already in the works and commit yourself to becoming involved.