We’re asking you and your family (and any of your friends you want to pass this along to), to try doing a few kind acts every month and letting us know what you do, by filling out our 1 minute survey when you do an Act of Kindness. We’re hoping to reach our goal of 18,000 by Rosh Hashanah 5783 and you can help us get there! Throughout the year we’ll be sharing some kind acts from our community right here, so check back here often for updates.
Let's embark on a kindness journey
We are taking life into our own hands, not just waiting for God to seal us in the book of life, but giving our actions power and choosing kindness as something to keep coming back to. There is power in what we attend to - what we put our time, effort, talents, money towards, and it can be towards a better world.
So together, let’s embark on this journey and see what we can do. And luckily kindness is something that catches on quickly (it’s the good kind of contagious), that makes others want to be kind too, and the ripples continue and continue. We’ve all heard of Random Acts of Kindness, but we want these to become part of the fabric of our everyday experience and to acknowledge the power of this work in the world, so we’re choosing to call them Regular instead of Random.
Why Regular Acts of Kindness?
The poem U’netanah Tokef that we read on Rosh Hashanah asks many questions about what will befall us humans in this next year. It reminds us that there are many moments in life we cannot control, big moments of hardship and even big moments of joy. There will be people who live, and there will be people who struggle, who perish; “who will rest and who will wander?” Sometimes this poem can feel bigger than us individuals, can feel like it is talking more about the larger “narrative” of our world; but what if it was about our individual selves, or our shul community.
In that frame, this poem also reminds us that what we can control is how we act and respond to life in and around those big moments. We get an opportunity everyday to be someone who is kind, who is helpful and thoughtful, and there are thousands of little moments to do this. These little moments can add up to changing these bigger moments, possibly even altering/mitigating the intensity of the human condition for ourselves and for others. Sometimes we can impact those around us with our acts that ripple bigger than anything we can know. This is where we came up with the idea of Regular Acts of Kindness (RAK) at Shaarie Torah.
Rabbi Oren’s Rosh Hashanah Drash on Regular Acts of Kindness.
Kindness Submissions
Here's just a few recent submissions from our community. Don't forget to add your acts of kindness using our form!
EXAMPLES OF RAKs
Here are just a few examples of little and big ways to do an RAK. I’m sure you can think of a dozen more in your life! Big or small doesn’t matter at all; it’s much more about the spirit with which we choose to do the act. As the year goes on, we’ll be posting little or big RAKs that you can do in our community yourself or with your family, so look out for those in our eblasts!
If you’ve got any volunteer projects or RAKs that you love to do, we’d love to hear about them! Send them along to Leslie at info@shaarietorah.org.
Paying for coffee for someone behind you in line at the coffee shop
Paying in advance for a service (like a haircut) that you might not be able to get due to COVID.
Kids doing chores without being asked to help their parents out
Donating money to an organization
Giving someone on the street an extra scarf, hat, socks if they need it
Hold open the doors for people
Leave extra quarters at the Laundromat
Sending a hello or a postcard to an old friend
Making food for someone in need
Keeping a protein bar with dollar taped to it, in case you pass someone in need (Rabbi Oren’s been known to keep a few of these in his car).
Looking the cashier/waiter in the eyes and telling them you appreciate their hard work
Baking an extra challah and giving it away
Donating old clothes to the Give Bin or canned food etc. to a organization in need
Giving out water on a hot day
Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant
Helping to keep your favorite park clean
Baking/cooking extra to give to your neighbors
Creating or finding little stickers that say “you’re great” and handing them out to your friends
Creating or finding little stickers that say “you’re great” and handing them out to your friends
Do a favor without asking for anything in return
Planting a tree
together we can create more kindness
“Ah, kindness.
What a simple way to tell another struggling soul
that there is love to be found in the world.”
-A. A. Malee
Office hours: 10am – 2pm on Mon, Wed, & Thurs by appointment only at this time.
You can always call us and leave a message or send general questions to info@shaarietorah.org
- 503-226-6131
- info@shaarietorah.org
- 920 NW 25th Ave. Portland, OR
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