My Bat Mitzvah chesed projects by Lucy Benjamin

As part of my Bat Mitzvah celebration and studies, I decided to embark upon a Chesed project with my friend Sara Cowen from Highgate Synagogue. I didn’t want to do something where I simply donated money, but rather I wanted to do something more personal and creative. There seemed to be so many good causes and it was really hard to decide what to devote my efforts to, so in the end I chose three separate projects.

My first was to utilise my sewing skills and make a blanket to send off to a poor family in Lvov. I haven’t been to Lvov but my mum and brother went there several years ago and told me of the poverty that they had seen, and I have heard Rebbetsin Bald speak about her work there and the community. My friend and I sent out an email requesting scraps of material, trimmings etc. that we could use. We were soon lucky enough to be inundated with fabric. We decided to make a patchwork quilt, which took quite some time and we then attached it to a blanket to give it some extra warmth. 

The second project that I chose was to make some toys out of felt and trimmings, to give to the children in the Tikva orphanage in Odessa, where the rabbi of the community is the son of my Bat Mitzvah teacher, Mrs Kruskal. It seemed fitting to make toys as I know how much comfort a cuddly toy can bring.

My third project was with World Jewish Relief. I sent an email to my friends and family asking them to give me any good as new, unwanted stationery items that they no longer needed. Soon enough, I had gathered a large black sack full of pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers etc. We took it to WJR’s packing warehouse on a packing day. I saw how each different item that has been donated gets sorted, boxed and sent off to one of the many communities that they support in places like Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine.

We spent the morning sorting mountains of sacks of old clothes, toys and baby equipment. A few items were not in a very pleasant condition or were not appropriate to be sent out. I happened to open a bag full of old underwear which all went for recycling!! But there were plenty of sacks of warm clothes, which we sorted by size and season, ready for boxing and sending off. It was quite straightforward but felt so fulfilling to know that these items would make a difference to someone less fortunate than me.

I know that these communities rely heavily on our financial support, but my Bat Mitzvah projects have also made me realise how we can recycle things that we no longer need, either to create something new or for further use. I would thoroughly recommend anyone to think about utilising their skills and giving up some of their time too!

My photos of the projects.