Dear Community,

V'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. Love your neighbor as yourself.

We will read the Golden Rule over Shabbat. The 11th-century Talmudic commentator Rashi tells us that this is the most important commandment of all. Not because it is simple, but because it is demanding. It is an active, daily, sometimes uncomfortable commitment to see the people around us fully - their dignity, their struggles, their needs - and to respond.

We are a caring community that has long lived this obligation. It pulses through the work of the Pearl Society, through the Jewish leaders who helped found transformative initiatives like Achievable Dream and through the interfaith efforts to build bridges of understanding across differences. Tikkun Olam, the idea that we have a role in repairing the world around us, is at the heart of so much that we believe and do.

And at the same time, we have been asking ourselves: How do we, as a Jewish community, mobilize on a larger scale to translate our deepest values into action that lifts the broader world around us?

In May, we will be launching Dignity Grows, a national nonprofit championed by Jewish communities across the country. Period poverty is rising at an alarming rate, leaving countless individuals without access to basic hygiene products. Dignity Grows is tackling this crisis head-on through local community action, national research and advocacy.

With the generous partnership of TowneBank, the J is proud to bring Dignity Grows here. Each month, Dignity Totes filled with essential hygiene products will be distributed through local partner social service agencies and community organizations to women, girls and families across the Virginia Peninsula. We are grateful to the many social service agencies that have already stepped forward to serve as distribution partners. If you know of an organization that would like to join them, please share our partner sign-up link. There is no cost, no minimum and no barrier to participation. Just a shared commitment to human dignity.

Now here is where you come in.

Thousands of Dignity Totes will be assembled over the course of the year. Supplies are purchased by the pallet, not the bag. Packing them takes time, hands and heart – and we need yours.

Join us for the Launch of Dignity Grows on Tuesday, May 12th at 6:00 PM at Coastal Fermentory Uptown. We will come together as a community — all ages, all abilities — to pack Dignity Tote Bags for our distribution partners. No experience necessary. Just show up, ready to work and ready to make a difference.

Dignity Grows is one example of what we can accomplish when we expand our vision of the Golden Rule. What else can we do to love our neighbors today and in the future? This Shabbat, let's pause to think about it. I would love to hear your ideas.

Shabbat Shalom,

Eric Maurer
CEO
emaurer@jewishpeninsula.org