The Tzedakah Project--April
The MathNerd's doing the charity thang before the end of the month? What's happened? Well, this year, the end of April brings Passover. Loyal readers might remember that getting ready for Passover is labor-intensive, and that living with Passover can be ridiculous in both senses of the word. You might also guess that preparing for the holiday is also pretty damn expensive. Clearing the house of all chametz includes using up or replacing any product that might have come in contact with offending substances...you need special condiments without wheat-derived additives; new bottles and bags of oil, sugar, frozen veg, dried fruit; butter without toast crumbs. You know that big stock-up you do when you move to a new place? Passover shopping's kind of like that, except all the staples you buy are about three times their usual price because they're made special for a single week of the year (well, and because I'm a blonde Jew in Iowa. In a city, things are only about twice the usual cost).
Everyone groans about the cost of stocking up for Passover, so it's traditional to give sums we call something along the lines of Maot Hitim. Basically, it's money to help folks who might otherwise not be financially able to have a seder or buy Pesach-appropriate foods. I'd like to imagine someone else might be grateful to recieve matzah...because I'm sure not looking forward to it.
By the way, I'm still looking for suggestions about the March Project.
Everyone groans about the cost of stocking up for Passover, so it's traditional to give sums we call something along the lines of Maot Hitim. Basically, it's money to help folks who might otherwise not be financially able to have a seder or buy Pesach-appropriate foods. I'd like to imagine someone else might be grateful to recieve matzah...because I'm sure not looking forward to it.
By the way, I'm still looking for suggestions about the March Project.