Nachamu 5772: The Need for Comfort on Our New Doorstep

Our congregation's move to East Greenwich engages us in the life of the greater East Greenwich community more fully than in previous years, when we were still rooted in Cranston.  The faith community here in East Greenwich is a mutually respectful and supportive coalition of houses of worship in town.  We saw this ourselves when the clergy of several East Greenwich churches wrote letters on our behalf to the East Greenwich Zoning Board and came to testify at a number of Zoning Board meetings as well.
     My clergy colleagues in these churches have told me that together their congregations sustain and maintain an Interfaith Food Cupboard housed at St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Peirce Street.  This is a model of community cooperation with which we are familiar through our participation in and support of the Edgewood Food Pantry housed at the Church of the Transfiguration on Broad Street in Cranston.
     East Greenwich enjoys a reputation as a beautiful town with affluent residents and a superb public school system.  This is a hard-earned and well-deserved reputation.  There is another side to East Greenwich from which many of us are sheltered:  there are hungry adults and children in town who the professionals call "food insecure."  That means they do not always know if there will be a next meal, let alone where it is coming from.
     Chris and Steve Bartlett, who run the EG Interfaith Food Cupboard at St Luke's have reported that in July alone 256 individuals received food from the Cupboard, and this includes 21 new families who had never turned to the EG facility for this support in the past.
     This coming Shabbat is referred to in our calendar as Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Consolation.  The consolation is God's response to us on the loss of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 AD at the hands of the Roman Empire.  The loss posed a fundamental theological challenge to Judaism, as it was through the korbanot, the sacrifices at the Temple that Israel drew closer to God and atoned for their transgressions.  In an early rabbinic gloss on the Mishnah (Avot d'Rabi Natan 4:5) Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai consoles a colleague who is mourning the loss of the Temple.  Rabbi Yohanan says:  Be not grieved, my son.  There is another equally meritorious way of gaining atonement even though the Temple is destroyed.  We can still gain atonement through deeds of lovingkindness. For it is written (Hosea 6:6): "Lovingkindess I desire, not sacrifice."
     
Our consolation, at this distance of two thousand years, should also be expressed through acts of lovingkindness.  I hope you will all take a moment during the summer weeks that remain to drop off non-perishable food at our TY house for all three of our food-support projects: the Edgewood Food Closet, the Chester Kosher Food Pantry, and our East Greenwich Interfaith Food Cupboard.  You can designate where you want the food to go, or you can leave it to Beverly Goncalves, our Social Action Chair, to divide up the food and pass it on to those who deliver it.


Here is some basic information about the EG project:
East Greenwich Interfaith Food Cupboard

 The Interfaith Food Cupboard, located in St Luke’s Parish house on Peirce Street, is open from 10:30 AM -12:00 noon each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The service is available to any East Greenwich resident, member of an East Greenwich congregation, referral from a clergy or someone in need of emergency food.   We are currently asking for donations of the following food products: canned ham, chicken or fish, cereal, oatmeal, canned fruit, soups, pasta sauce, juice and juice boxes, jam/jelly and crackers. Other products that we always need include staples like cooking oil, mayonnaise, salad dressing, mustard, sugar, flour, coffee, tea, etc.     If you would like to make a cash donation rather than food, your check can be sent to your clergy or directly to the EGIFC.  We have a very dedicated volunteer staff and on their behalf, we thank you for your support of the East Greenwich Interfaith Food Cupboard.      Chris and Steve Bartlett