Fulfilling your Mitzvah to help others
The Torah [Leviticus 19:14] states: “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind.”
Becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah is an extremely important step into adulthood. As part of that immense and powerful step you can do something meaningful to help a blind Israeli lead a more independent life.
We at the Israel Guide Dog Centre want to be part of your wonderful celebration. At the heart of our work is the concept of tzedakah. Tzedakah is not just doing something charitable or giving money it means ‘righteous behaviour’ and through that behaviour helping those in genuine need.
Our founder, Noach Braun, felt this need for tzedakah to help blind people when he finished his army service in the 1980s and discovered that there were no guide dog programmes in Israel.
So, he went and created one!
Ideas for your Mitzvah project
These are just a few ideas students have come up with. You can use your imagination to develop a project that is meaningful to you, or you can adopt one of these projects:
Sponsor a puppy – ask people to donate towards you sponsoring one of our gorgeous puppies
Organise a charity marathon X-box, Playstation or Wii event – charge people to take part
Visit the Centre in Israel – make a picture calendar of your visit and sell this to friends and family
Give up something you love for a month – no fizzy drinks or chocolate or sweets or something you love and ask people to sponsor you
Organise a bake a cake for charity day – ask people to pay to come and make some lovely cakes and then sell them to friends and family
Sign up for a sponsored walk, run or cycle – start training now and sign up for the many advertised sporting events and ask people to sponsor you.
Include a message in your Bar/Bat Mitzvah invitations about your support for a particular project.
You can turn almost any activity into a fundraising opportunity for the Israel Guide Dog Centre. Set up your fundraising page on justgiving.com and select Israel Guide Dog Centre as your chosen charity.
If you want to add some cute puppy pictures to your fundraising page just ask us at info@israelguidedog.org.uk
STARTING YOUR MITZVAH PROJECT
Once you’ve decided on your project:
Research the charity at israelguidedog.org.uk, create your fundraising page at justgiving.com and set your fundraising goal.
Customise your page with photos/videos and your reason for selecting the Israel Guide Dog Centre. Invite friends and family to support your mitzvah project via email or social media.
Call us to receive our free ‘Mitzvah programme’ guide.
Speak to us and we can help with further material. Call us on 020 8090 3455.
All mitzvah projects will receive a certificate and cuddly Labrador toy.