The Making of a Mitzvah Hero*
By Bill Begal
co-founder of Mitzvah Heros Fund Inc.
http://www.mitzvahheroesfund.org
I have been asked by numerous people how does the “Mitzvah Hero” become a “Mitzvah Hero?”
Is there a ceremony or official check list?
Do you get a special button or get inducted into a secret society?
Does one start off as a Mitzvah Hero in Training and work up to full status?
NO.
First off, let’s define what a Mitzvah is. Mitzvah literately means commandment, or commandment of the Jewish Law. A mitzvah is also referred to as a good deed
Now, I don’t think that someone wakes up or set out to become a Mitzvah Hero.
In my experience, it is someone doing what they think is the right thing to do.
It usually starts out small, and it culminates with an “ah ha” moment
Seeing something that makes you tilt your head and go hmmmm, this is not right, or what can I do to make this situation better.
It then becomes the quiet, undetected work that just happens because someone cares, wants to quietly help, wanting to right a wrong or offset an injustice.
Days, weeks, months or even years go by with out recognition.
But this is ok. Making the world a better place is the work, not self recognition.
The spotlight or limelight is not what drives the Mitzvah Hero
It may then become someone life’s work of passion, or even legacy. But most if not ALL of the Mitzvah Heroes I have met and know don’t think of themselves as a Mitzvah Hero.
If fact, just the opposite, they don’t want attention for themselves, but rather the cause that they have taken up, this is where the focus needs to be.
Anyone can do it.
Regardless of your religion, age, race, sexual orientation, educational level reached.
There is no wrong or right idea
Dream big
What makes you happy?
What motivates you?
- Ask local dry cleaner for out of date inventory and take it to a homeless shelter, keep it in your trunk and deliver it as you see people need it.
- Ask your Dr. what is done with expired sample medicines, collect and distribute to needing parts of your community or adopt a community in another part of the world ( or ask you Dr. to introduce you the pharmaceutical rep for many more samples)
- Ask your local bakery what is done at the end of the day with items not sold. Offer to collect and redistribute.
- Knit a scarf a month and then give to needy folks in the winter months – needy could be an old age home that you begin a rapport with and get to know the people that you are knitting for.
- Take your pet dog, cat, bird, or hamster to visit hospital or old age homes. Training may be needed, but the calming wagging tail is worth the smile on someone’s face
- Sell something on eBay and donate the proceeds to your favorite charity, school, teacher who’s classes cant afford the basic items, or recreation center that needs a new basketball
- Reading to an elderly patient in a hospital, holding a hand, listening to a story of an older generation and how they lived. Restoring and protecting ones dignity is huge.
It is all about being inspired and inspiring people to motivate and stand up and get active in your town or community. Trusting your gut when you feel that something is not right and a change needs to come about. Doing what may not be popular, easy, fun, or vogue. But doing what you know to be right, so that when the person in the mirror looks back at you at the end of the day, you both can sleep well knowing that the world is just a little bit better of a place because you are both in it.
* The phrase “Mitzvah hero” was coined by Danny Siegel (www.dannysiegel.com)
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