An all-season seasonal mitzvah - The Jewish Standard

Feeding the hungry is a mitzvah all year round, but it is especially so at Pesach time.

One way to fulfill this “seasonal” mitzvah, at least for the affiliated among us, is to contribute to our synagogues’ Pesach charity campaigns. By whatever name – “matzah fund,” for example, or “ma-ot chitin” (literally, “wheat money”) – the funds collected are used to provide food to people who cannot afford it, and there are many in northern New Jersey who cannot afford it. In the words of the JFNNJ’s Miriam Allenson, “there is real hunger in northern New Jersey.” (See the FYI on page 3.)

There is another way to meet the mitzvah head on. Right now, in most Jewish homes in our area, Pesach cleaning has begun. Inevitably, that means some foods, at least, will be tossed into the trash heap.

The better solution – indeed, the truly Jewish one – is to take edible non-perishables to one of the 34 collection points JFNNJ is setting up on March 25 at area synagogues, schools, and non-profit agencies.

The collected food will be distributed to seven area charities, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

We cannot stamp out hunger in the entire world. Let us at least try to end it in our small part of it.