B’nai Sholom to Join with Albany Synagogues in Day of Volunteerism and Social Action

B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany will join forces with three other Albany synagogues in a “Mitzvah Day” of volunteerism and social action.

Mitzvah Day is planned for Sunday, April 15.  Starting at 11:30 a.m., more than 200 congregants from B’nai Sholom, Congregation Beth Emeth, Congregation Ohav Shalom and Temple Israel will gather at Beth Emeth on Academy Road in Albany and then fan out to volunteer at sites around the Capital Region.  Participants will spend the afternoon helping with whatever work needs to be done, ranging from cleanup and flower planting at the Family Promise Day Center and sorting food donations at the Regional Food Bank to cooking and baking at Ronald McDonald House and numerous projects at Beth Emeth for more than a dozen organizations and causes.

At the end of the day, the congregants from the four synagogues will know that they have made a difference in the lives of so many people.

For B’nai Sholom, Mitzvah Day is one way it is fulfilling a recently signed Brit Olam (“Covenant with the World”), a reaffirmation of the congregation’s commitment to meaningful social justice work grounded in sacred and enduring Jewish values.  A program of the Religious Action Center of the Reform Jewish movement, Brit Olam makes B’nai Sholom part of a network of more than 150 congregations from Maine to California working in concert to repair the world through moral leadership and congregational and community-based action.

For more information about Mitzvah Day, contact Gail Kendall at 40rosedale@gmail.com.

Founded in 1971, B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany is a home for contemporary Reform Judaism in the Capital Region.  Nearly 130 diverse households from eight counties seek religious, educational and social fulfillment at B’nai Sholom.  For information about B’nai Sholom and the benefits of belonging, visit www.bnaisholomalbany.org  or contact the B’nai Sholom office at 518-482-5283 or office@bnaisholom.albany.ny.us.