You can Help Identify and Support Eight Points of Light This Hanukkah. American Mussar Will select Eight local charities to receive a Point of Light Award, one for each night of Chanukah. And you get to help choose which charities AM will give to.
All you need to do is go to the American Mussar Facebook page, and post the name of the charity, a link to the donation page, and a sentence or two describing what they do.
At the end of each day, American Mussar will pick one of the organizations nominated that day, and BOOM: we’ll donate $180. Not only that, every entry will get free publicity on the American Mussar Facebook page. And, we will interview the director of the charity, and write a blog post the following day about each and every one of the eight winners. Thus, these worthy organizations will get some exposure on a national level, and we’ll use the example of their work to teach an American Mussar practice.
Why American Mussar Is Recognizing Eight Local Charities
American Mussar teaches us how to bring our Soul towards balance by taking action.
Did you know that word Chanukah means rededication? The Israelites needed to rededicate the Temple after it was defiled by the Greeks. In addition to our usual Chanukah activities, like giving presents and eating latkes, we have an opportunity to do some rededication work as well.
American Mussar teaches that we all have a Divine spark that is occluded by our baggage. If you are unsure of the Divinity, you can think of this as the spark of humanity that we all share. Rabbi Yoel Glick likens the Divine Spark to the light of Chanukah. Rabbi Glick teaches that our Divine spark is a source of “amazing inner strength,” which gives us “the courage to face anything.” Moreover, he urges us to reorder our life towards Divine service. And if you are unsure of the Divinity, Divine service simply means making the world a better place.
We’d love to help you make your community a better place by supporting a local philanthropy. Please take a moment and go to the American Mussar Facebook page to nominate a group. While a given charity can win only once, they can be entered again each day. Click here to go to Facebook.
Dr. Greg,
You are so amazing for doing this!
Deanna
I would like to nominate Sojourn to the Past. this educational organization takes high school students (and some lucky parent volunteers, like me), to the deep south to see the sites of our civil rights movement, and meet the people, now aging, who changed our country for the better. It’s a powerful journey, made more powerful by pairing students from affluent and disadvantaged high schools together as roommates. This experience changed my life, and that of my daughter. In these times of escalating racial tension, aspersions cast on our brothers from south of our borders, and calls to monitor and restrict the freedom of American Muslims simply because of their faith, the need to educate our children on the good that can grow from courage is greater now than ever.
Thank you Loree. Sounds like a great organization! I’ve posted the nomination on http://facebook.com/americanmussar. One criteria for winning is the number of “Likes” the post gets. Please feel free to ask friends to visit the page and vote with their Likes.
I’d like to nominate the Rotary Club of Great Neck Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation (http://portal.clubrunner.ca/6507/SitePage/about-our-club). They do wonderful work in the community, including providing free Thanksgiving dinners (for a family of 6) to over 1,000 families on Long Island through various religious and civic minded charities.
Thank you Leonard. They are in the running. I’ve given talks at a number of Rotary clubs – great choice! I’ve posted the nomination on http://facebook.com/americanmussar. One criteria for winning is the number of “Likes” the post gets. Please feel free to ask members to visit the page and vote with their Likes.