SPECIAL EDITION -- SEVENTY

Wisdom Wherever You Find It

Celebrate your birthday by counting your blessings and finding a tzedakah (charity) to match each one. Jack Riemer (paraphrase)

Rabbi Jack Riemer is an inexhaustible fountain of wisdom. Among other things, his sermon-writing is legendary. Another rabbi once said to me he was tempted to steal Rabbi Riemer’s trash just to get the sermon drafts he threw away. Of course, it’s not necessary – he is as generous as he is prolific.

A long time ago, he made the suggestion I cited, and I jotted it down in notes I kept of smart things people have said.  I rediscovered the idea when I was going through some old files while I was trying to decide how to celebrate my big birthday on August 10. Inspired by this notion, I sat down to make a list of seventy charitable organizations that had been a blessing to me. It was not hard to do, though I am sure I left some out.

I then wrote a note to each one, enclosed a check for a very modest $18, and sent them off to arrive on or about my seventieth birthday.

Just to avoid insult to anyone, each of the recipients was a blessing to me personally at one or many points in my life. There are a lot of synagogues, most of which are nowhere near where I live today. There are plenty of groups that have morphed into something completely different than when I was connected to them. And in one case at least, my blessing is not available to others; Loretto Hospital no longer has a maternity department. You can’t get born there anymore.

My choice of how to commemorate my milestone is not meant to criticize those who encourage others to donate to a chosen cause.  Even if social media companies get a few pennies from every such donation, there is value added from the generosity of spirit that motivates the suggestion and the response. 

The point of sharing this with you is not to make myself look good. The small donation means very little to any recipient, and I am just fortunate to have the resources to share with others in this way. It is not even to lift up Rabbi Riemer, though he unquestionably deserves it. Instead, it is to encourage you to take stock of your own blessings and find a way to acknowledge them with a note, a call, a gift, even a prayer of gratitude. The satisfaction of counting your blessings, cliché though it seems, can see you through hard times and elevate the good ones. In my case, acknowledging my age and recognizing that I have arrived at it qualify as both.
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Happy birthday to me.

Adat Ari El
Agudas Achim Congregation of Northern VA
American Civil Liberties Union
American Jewish Congress
American Jewish University
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Bend the Arc
Beth Ahabah
Beth El Hebrew Congregation
Beth Hillel B'nai Emunah
B'nai Israel Congregation
Cantors Assembly
Charles E Smith Jewish Day School
CLAL / Rabbis Without Borders
Clergy Leadership Incubator
Columbia University
Commonwealth Baptist
Cubs Charities
Danny Siegel  c/o The Good People Fund
El-Hibri Foundation
Faith and Politics Institute
Friday Morning Music Club
Gesher Jewish Day School
Good Faith Media
Hebrew University (AFHU)
Hillel
Interfaith Alliance
IsraAid
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Jewish Funeral Directors Assn.
Jewish Insider
Jewish Publication Society
Jewish Theological Seminary/Rabbinic Training Institute
JTA
Loretto Hospital Foundation
Mah Tovu
Masorti Foundation
MIT
Moriah Congregation
National Cathedral
National Council of Jewish Women
NCCJ
New Trier Scholarship Fund
Northwestern University
Pozez JCC
Rabbinical Assembly
Ramah
Religious Action Center
Schechter Institute
Scholarship Fund of Alexandria
Sefaria
Shoulder to Shoulder
Sutton Place Synagogue
Taam Yisrael
Temple Beth-El
Temple Micah
Temple Ramat Zion
Temple Rodef Shalom
The Forward Association
The George Washington University
Trinity UMC
UCSJ
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism/USY
University of Connecticut (UConn Foundation)
University of Virginia
Virginia Theological Seminary
Weinstein JCC Richmond VA
Westminster Presbyterian Church
World Central Kitchen

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