Outreach in the Form of a High Holy Days Box

Before we get too far away from Rosh Hashanah, I want to document a cool experience that happened at work, of all places.  It happened last Thursday afternoon, when few of us were there, as classes had ended and grades had been turned in.

I heard a man's voice talking to one of our faculty members.  She brought him to me asking how many Jewish people we had working on the campus.  We could only think of one, and she was working from home where the internet was stable.

The man held a stack of boxes.  He handed us one, along with his card, and asked us to give it to our colleague:

When our Jewish colleague returned on Friday, we were all interested to know what the box held.  It had a picture of a shofar, so that's what I was expecting.  But no, it was a delightful collection:

There was a sweet cake, a small jar of honey with a twirler, a small cup, and a stress ball in the shape of an apple.  Underneath it all, under the blue cardboard, was a game for kids and some information about the holiday.

I always wonder how people respond to this kind of outreach within their own religion.  Does a gift box like this seem overbearing or insulting in some way, like one can't be trusted to find their own ingredients for a significant celebration?  Our Jewish colleague was charmed and touched.

As someone who has done community outreach for a church, I loved the idea of the box, but I wondered about the cost.  I also wondered why the rabbi decided to stop at our nondescript building.  Did he load up the car with boxes and stop at every workplace along the way?

I also wondered how he was received elsewhere.  I like to believe that South Florida is a crossroads kind of community, the intersection of many different types of cultures.  I want to believe that this kind of intersection leads us all to be more tolerant, but I know it's not always true.  I know that antisemitism is on the rise, and I worry about what it means for the safety of us all.

I'm glad that people will still show up with a good will gesture like a box of treats for the highest holy days.  May we all be blessed and have a sweet new year.