Volunteering and Good Deeds
Holocaust Survivors & Synagogues- As a Financial Advisor on Long Island, I wanted to volunteer, to do chesed. I did not know what to do so I "Googled" two words, mitzvah and Brooklyn because I knew my Dad's side of the family lived in Brookyn. I found www.themitzvhahman.org and visited more than 20 Holocaust Survivors through a program, Friendly Visiting for Holocaust Survivors, a project of the JCC of Greater Coney Island, www.connect2ny.org. While in different neighborhoods, I started a project of photographing Brooklyn Orthodox synagogues, which later spread to all 5 boroughs. The end result was a book, "Ten Times Chai: 180 Orthodox Synagogues of New York City," with history and 613 color photos of existing Orthodox synagogues in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. I am grateful to all who helped and I dedicated the book to the Holocaust Survivors I met. This hanukah, I know my Grandparents and Great Grandparents are looking down from Shamayim and smiling.