Omer Appeal: Let’s Show We Care

You will by now be accustomed to being asked for your support and participation in the appeal for food or money for our Omer Appeal.
Pesach and Shavuot are harvest festivals celebrating and giving thanks for our food. The period between the two festivals is known as the days of the Omer. The Omer (literally: sheaf) was an offering brought to the Temple on the second day of Pesach.
I proposed that during the seven week period of the Omer this year, each time any one of us comes to Beit Emanuel, for any purpose, we bring with us an Omer offering. This would be a single item of non-perishable food: tinned foods such as fish and meat, peanut butter, soup, tea, coffee, or sugar, mealie meal and maize rice. As an alternative, a donation of at least one rand would count.
At the end of seven weeks the accumulated food will be divided between Beit Emanuel Sisterhood and the United Sisterhood to aid the charities they support. The cash donations would also be given to a charitable cause.
The members of BE have supported this project in a magnificent way. Lots of food and money has come in. Please keep up your support during the last two weeks of the Omer. If you haven’t yet given to help the needy, there is still time to catch up.
Rabbi Ash