大象传媒

From Laura Marks, a campaigner for social action and interfaith relationships.

How many Jewish men does it take to change a lightbulb?听 I don鈥檛 know, it鈥檚 never happened.听 Well, true to the old joke, it certainly hasn鈥檛 happened in my house.听 My husband couldn鈥檛 tell dimmer from a strimmer, a socket from a sprocket or an LED bulb from, well from anything actually.听

And this week in the Jewish calendar, is the time for doing more practical, action based good deeds, what we call, Mitzvahs.听 With lockdown in force around the nation, never were they needed more.听

In line with other faith communities, Jewish buildings have become even more active centres of good deeds than usual this year, with armies of volunteers serving the local need for nourishing food, phone-calls, human contact, even household repairs, and of course, love. We are on acts of kindness, what we call Chessed, overdrive.

听

Doing chessed obviously isn鈥檛 just Jewish鈥�buying poppies for today 鈥� Remembrance Day, Captain Tom is revving up his Zimmer frame, Joe Wicks is pumping iron for 24 hours for Children in Need, and Marcus Rashford is ensuring that we provide lunches for hungry children - the power moving from his feet to his elbow.听

With so many of us reeling this week from the premature death of former chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, what many people don鈥檛 know is that he was a do鈥檈r too.

Visiting a local hospice with me, and other faith leaders from across the religious spectrum a few short years ago, Rabbi Sacks volunteered not just to watch but to join in our activity, redecorating the walls of a sitting room.听 So, a Rabbi, an Imam and a vicar painted a wall.听听 It sounds like the start of another bad joke - but it wasn鈥檛, it was for real with all of them clutching their paintbrushes, covered in paint, and with newspaper stuck to their shoes.

Rabbi Sacks knew the value of action.听听 鈥淲e are changed鈥�, he wrote, 鈥渘ot by what we receive, but by what we do.鈥澨�

My husband may not change the lightbulbs in our house, but in this month of Mitzvahs, the light of action, good deeds and chessed will shine bright 鈥� so I can find the LED bulbs stored in the cupboard myself.听