In Pirkei Avot, the rabbis wrote,
“Mitzvah goreret mitzvah, averah goreret averah,” one mitzvah(commandment/good
deed) leads to another mitzvah, and one transgression leads to another
transgression. I don’t think they could have ever envisaged how true this
statement would be in the age of social media. The craze of video challenges
has grown over this past year, both with positive and negative effects.
Earlier in the year, we witnessed
the craze of “neknomination” in Europe, as teenagers and young adults
challenged one another to participate in risky behavior, recording the evidence
to post online and then challenging their friends. We saw how one averah
(transgression) really led to another – with devastating repercussions for some
of the people involved.
More recently, we have seen the
viral video challenge used in a positive way through the ALS Ice Bucket
Challenge. People have been challenged to pour a bucket of ice water over their
head or donate $100 to the ALS Association. While there have been many articles
written about the positives and negatives of this campaign, one thing is clear:
It has led to a significant rise in the amount of money raised for ALS
research.
Now it is time for us to bring
this into a Jewish context so that one mitzvah can really lead to another.
Traditionally, the month of Elul is a time when we prepare ourselves for the
impending High Holidays. It is a time for spiritual reflection and an opportunity
to get our “accounts” in order before we stand before God in judgment between
Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. With this in mind, our community created the Elul
Mitzvah Challenge as an opportunity for mitzvot to go viral.
Want to participate? We’re asking
you to record a 30-second video of yourself doing some mitzvah (or an element
of it) that you find meaningful, and then post it on Facebook with the hashtag
#ElulMitzvahChallenge. Then we want you to spread the word by challenging three
of your friends to record their own video and do their own mitzvah. Our aim is
to reach 613 videos, one to represent each one of the traditional 613 Biblical
mitzvot. If (and hopefully when) we reach our target, we at The Community
Synagogue of Port Washington will make a donation of $613 to the "36
Rabbis Shave for the Brave" and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, raising
money for research into finding cures for childhood cancers.
For more information, visit
ElulMitzvahChallenge.com or check out the Facebook page.
Moses Maimonides, known as the
Rambam, taught that we should all see the world as though it is a scale held in
the balance, with one mitzvah capable of tipping the scale for the good. With
the Elul Mitzvah Challenge, we have the chance to join together as a community
and tip that scale. We hope you will join us.
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