Tikkun Olam in the Neighborhood
This afternoon, there was a knock at the door. Gabriel, ever curious, scouted from our front window.
"There's a lot of people at the door!" he cheered.
I walked to the door with him. "You can open up," I said.
Gabriel opened the door. A young lady stood there, and she quickly introduced herself and the half dozen plus young people behind her. "We're from a local church, and we'd like to rake your lawn."
Our lawn was ripe for the raking, of course. Over the last two days, the large, wide-leaf tree standing directly in front of the house coughed up half of its golden leaves. They covered the lawn and the driveway.
"How much would we pay you?" I asked.
"It's free." She handed me a card from her church, the East River Fellowship . "We just want to introduce people to our church and help out the neighborhood."
I asked a few more questions and again offered to donate money. She politely refused, and I took her up on her offer.
As she and her large group of helpers pulled out their rakes, I asked Gabriel, "Wanna help?"
"Yeah!"
Gabriel and I threw on our shoes, hunted for our own rakes, and joined in the work for a few minutes. The church group worked well together, chiding each other with small talk along the way. They worked efficiently, some raking, some bagging, but teased and jostled each other along the way. This wasn't a solemn event or a check-the-card, forced community project. They were having a good time.
Gabriel and I "finished" quickly, having done way less than 5% of the work. I asked if we could donate to the church again. The same young lady I had spoken with before called over the youth adviser. He again turned me down, explaining that they just wanted to help out for the sake of helping out.
Janette and Hannah, having donned coats, joined us on the short ramp that leads to our front door. Hannah eagerly followed all the young folks raking, beating bushes, and bagging leaves. I sang a few songs for her, and she clapped enthusiastically.
The church team finished raking in about ten minutes. They packed leaf bags and tools into a pickup nearby and plotted a move to another neighbor's door (and probably their lawn).
"Thanks again," I called to the advisor. Knowing that they were probably out drumming up interest in coming to their church, I apologized, "We're Jewish."
He smiled, maybe shrugged. "It's a good mitzvah you did for us. Thank you," I said.
They headed off to their next job, making the neighborhood a better place. I marveled at their genuine display of Tikkun Olam - the Jewish concept of repairing the world through social action. In this case, these kids literally reached out and made the neighborhood a better place through an unrequested and uncompensated good work.
What a great example for both Gabriel and Hannah to see. I hope our family, and our neighborhood, will find ways to follow their lead.
-- Dad
