Loving One’s Neighbor

“Let your house be open wide and let the poor be members of your household.”

Room at the Inn: As part of a community-wide interfaith effort, Shaare Emeth opens its doors to homeless families on the 3rd Wednesday evening of each month. Volunteers prepare meals, eat and spend time with guests, spend the night at the temple or drive the families to and from their day site. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, e-mail David Gerst at dgerst@hotmail.com.

December Tzedakah Opportunities: During this holiday month, Shaare Emeth sponsors a variety of ways for members to volunteer to bring a bit of light into the lives of others. Opportunities include delivering Meals on Wheels, helping to wrap holiday presents, cooking meals for Ronald McDonald House and more.

Habitat for Humanity: For the past ten years, Shaare Emeth has joined forces with Jewish Social Action Network to raise funds – in part through the sale of one-of-a-kind House Pins - and build homes in St. Louis for this national program which helps people become homeowners.

“If we save a single human being, it is regarded as if we have saved an entire world.”                                                                                                                                Talmud

Shaare Emeth sponsors a semi-annual blood drive with the American Red Cross. There are opportunities to donate blood and/or volunteer at the drives.   Information on organ donation and blood platelet donation is also available.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleaning of your harvest... but leave them for the poor and the stranger.”
                                                                                                 Leviticus 19:9-10.

High Holy Day Food Drive:   Each year we collect food and money to distribute to MAZON, the St. Louis Food Bank and the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry.

Ongoing Food Collection:   A collection bin for nonperishable food items designated for the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry is located inside the main entrance to Shaare Emeth.

Protecting the Environment:

“The Earth is Adonai’s and all that it holds, the world and its inhabitants.
                                                                                                             Psalms 24:1

St. Louis Environmental Initiative...   Shaare Emeth is part of this organization which represents a community-wide effort to plant 60,000 trees in the St. Louis Region — a tree for each member of the St. Louis Jewish community. Recycling and Other Efforts...  Shaare Emeth maintains an ongoing paper recycling effort. We also distribute low wattage light bulbs to our members every year at Chanukah as a way to remember the “miracle” of conservation.

Throughout the year, Shaare Emeth asks its members to give to worthy causes through our collection drives. Watch the Bulletin for upcoming drives, whether they’re for warm clothes, school supplies, holiday toys, athletic shoes, baby items, etc.  Drop off all items in the bins in our new Tzedakah Center.

Advocating for Social Justice:

“Whoever is able to protest against the transgressions of the world and does not, is responsible for the transgressions of the entire world.”
                                                                                                                        Talmud

Acting on Current Events:

Shaare Emeth is a member congregation of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Save Darfur Coalition and Missouri Healthcare for All. Members can also speak out and write letters to our representatives to demand justice on important social, legislative, and ethical issues.

“Shaare Emeth Effort to Develop Social Justice”, organizes programs through which our community can repair our world. These acts of Tikkun Olam include: Food Drives, Winter Clothing Drives, School Supply Drives, Mitzvah Mall, Habitat for Humanity, Room at the Inn, Mentor St. Louis, Mitzvah Day and other programs that help the hungry, homeless and oppressed and advocate for social change.

Join hundreds of Shaare Emeth members to really make a difference in our St. Louis Community.  Choose from a wide range of mitzvah projects to protect the environment, feed the hungry, honor the elderly, and perform other acts of kindness.  Contact Program Director, Ronnie Brockman, by email at rbrockman@shaare-emeth.org or by phone, 314-569-0010, to serve on the planning committee or to volunteer.