This past weekend was a whirlwind of volunteering at our synagogue. It was our intention when we moved to Nashville to get involved in the Jewish community as a way of making friends and connections in our new hometown. This community is quite a bit smaller than the one we left behind in L.A. so it wasn’t very difficult. Actually, the community here seems to depend quite a bit on newcomers to grow and expand. It’s very exciting, but also exhausting trying to maintain a balance so as not to get burned out too early on. I really enjoy kids, so I’ve made myself useful with the teen youth group and pretty much anything else relating to the youth of the community. It’s lots of fun and I get to spend time with my son without being in his face too much. Although you’d probably get a different viewpoint from him!
Volunteering is a cornerstone of Jewish tradition and a value I hope we’ve passed down to our children. I learned it from my parents and I believe it is one way of helping to repair the world, a core Jewish value. Do you have a story of volunteerism that has really touched your heart or your life in some way? Have you been the beneficiary of volunteer efforts and would like to share the story with me? I’d love to hear how helping others or being helped has changed your life. Take Your 10 Minutes now!
Your 10 Minutes 
My husband and I are big volunteers. We’ve done it because it makes us feel good and we like to feel good. What really surprised us was that when we needed some support, people came seemingly out of the woodwork to help us. They weren’t even the same people we had helped. They didn’t even know we had volunteered anywhere. It’s like “volunteering energy!” You give it and it comes back!