Overview of project:
My project will help those in need. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation will give the money we will raise to jews that need help.The way we will raise this money is by having a bake sale. We will have the bake sale at Founder Park for the next 4 Sundays. We made an Instagram account about it to get the word out so people know about it. We hope to raise $1,000 to give to the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
End of Our project:
For the bake sale, we ended up making chocolate chip cookies, brownies, blondies, and muffins. We did every Sunday till we raised all the money. We have raised all the money we have hopped. We will are giving the money to them next week, so we won't be able to put a picture of that. We will hand them a check for 1,000 dollars.
כבוד הבריות חביב עד מאד אין לך מדה חביבה ממנה
Human dignity is extremely precious - there is nothing more valuable than it.
Explanation: There is nothing more important than human dignity. Not anything in the world. You can have anything in the world but if you don't have human dignity what is it worth. We must learn from here to make sure everyone's stays intact. As the source says" there is nothing more valuable than it."From the Rishonim ( Early Commentaries on the Gemara) and the Rulings of the Shulchan Aruch.
Connection:We are persevering peoples dignity in our project. They will not know where it's coming from so they will not be embarrassed. We are keeping their dignity intaked. And that is something that is very important to us and it should be important to everyone. That is how this connects to our project.
(ח) פָּחוֹת מִזֶּה הַנּוֹתֵן צְדָקָה לָעֲנִיִּים וְלֹא יָדַע לְמִי נָתַן וְלֹא יָדַע הֶעָנִי מִמִּי לָקַח. שֶׁהֲרֵי זוֹ מִצְוָה לִשְׁמָהּ. כְּגוֹן לִשְׁכַּת חֲשָׁאִים שֶׁהָיְתָה בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ. שֶׁהָיוּ הַצַּדִּיקִים נוֹתְנִין בָּהּ בַּחֲשַׁאי וְהָעֲנִיִּים בְּנֵי טוֹבִים מִתְפַּרְנְסִין מִמֶּנָּה בַּחֲשַׁאי. וְקָרוֹב לָזֶה הַנּוֹתֵן לְתוֹךְ קֻפָּה שֶׁל צְדָקָה. וְלֹא יִתֵּן אָדָם לְתוֹךְ קֻפָּה שֶׁל צְדָקָה אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן יוֹדֵעַ שֶׁהַמְמֻנֶּה נֶאֱמָן וְחָכָם וְיוֹדֵעַ לְהַנְהִיג כַּשּׁוּרָה כְּרַבִּי חֲנַנְיָה בֶּן תְּרַדְיוֹן:
(8) One level lower than this is one who gives tzedakah to the poor and does not know to whom he gives, and the poor person does not know from whom he receives.187Maimonides holds the anonymity of both giver and receiver of great importance, but he does not require anonymity at the highest level of giving. This is perhaps because the highest level of giving addresses the source of poverty whereas giving something to a beggar only alleviates a person's temporary need. Preventing poverty is therefore of such importance that anonymity becomes secondary in that instance. This is purely a mitzvah for its own sake, such as the Chamber of Secrets in the Holy Temple, for there the righteous would give in secret [and leave], and the poor, of good background, would sustain themselves from it in secret. Very close to this is one who gives to the kupah of tzedakah, but one should not contribute to the kupah of tzedakah unless one is certain that the one who counts it is trustworthy and wise and behaves competently, as was Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion.188See Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 10b and Avodah Zarah 17b. Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion had a reputation for competence and honesty, so he dealt with the collection and distribution of charity funds. He was later tortured and executed by the Romans.
Explanation: The second level of tzedaka is the level that the person giving the money knows who the moneys going to but the receiver doesn't know who gave it. This way the person who received the money doesn't feel obligated to thank the person that gave it. They also don't need to see the person that gave them the money and feel embarrassed. Because then it would feel bad and that isn't Kavod Habriot.
This is higher level then when the receiver knows who the giver is and the giver does't know who the giver is. Because it's better when the receiver doesn't know who gave it them.
Connection:We don't know exactly who we are giving to,but we know the organization's that it is going to. That is why our project is on the first and not the first level of tzedka. They don't know who the money is coming from so thats another reason that it is going to be on the second level. If someone from the organization sees us they will not feel embarrassed because they will not know we gave the money. That is why my project is on the second level.
Source from the Contemporary Poskim (Halakhic Decisors
Explanation:Everyone had limits for cheesed and we should try to extend them.It's hard to go above and beyond especially for someone that you don't even know. But some how we must find a way to do it. Even though you might not know them you still have a connection to them. You are both jews and should always go above and beyond for each other.
Connection:We are going beyond our limits of cheesed. We do simple things of cheesed everyday, but for this project we are going beyond our boundaries to do this. It may be a simple task, but never the less it's extending our limits of cheesed. Going beyond our limits for this project will extend our limits further. It might just a little, but a little goes a long way.
