Overview of project: Sharsheret is a Hebrew word for “chain". It is an American not-for-profit organization intended to support young Jewish women with breast cancer, and their families. Each year, my family and many volunteers bake pies and sell them to people all around the community for Thanksgiving. Most years, we bake over 200 pies and we sell all of them. All of the proceeds go directly to Sharsheret. The money goes towards Sharsheret's programs that support women who have been diagnosed breast or ovarian cancer. This program, Pies for Prevention takes place during Thanksgiving so people can use the pies for their Thanksgiving dessert. Our family is very involved with Sharsheret and we hope to always support this organization and never need it. My whole family dedicates time and effort to this special program. Each year we all go to the store and buy all of the ingredients needed for the pies. Once we have all of the ingredients, we begin baking pies. We send out an order form for people to place orders. We prepare the pies for all of the families that order. We bake about 50 of each type of pie. The types of pies we bake are pumpkin pie, pumpkin cranberry loaf, chocolate chip cookie dough pie, and pecan pie. We wrap all of the pies and put them into boxes. The pies are picked up from our home before Thanksgiving. One can pay for the pies which are $20.00 each and can also give an extra donation for Sharsheret. Every year we raise about $2,000 and all of the money goes to Sharsheret. This year we raised over $2,000 and we are proud to donate it to Sharsheret.
(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: This source is from the time of The Rishonim which are the early commentaries of the Gemara. The Rambam states that the second highest level of giving tzedakah is when someone gives to someone without knowing who they are giving to and the poor person does not know who they are receiving from. In the Beit Hamikdash, there was a room where many people would leave money for charity. Then, those who needed would come and take without anyone knowing. The Rambam also explains that we should only give charity to these boxes if the person in charge of it is trustworthy.
CONNECTION: When you give an organization money or food, they give it to many people in need. So too, this is what I am doing. My project was to bake pies and give the money to an organization called Sharsheret. The people that bought pies did not know where the money is going. They knew what organization but not to who. This means we all did Chesed, baking pies and giving money to people who need.
(ד) כָּל הַנּוֹתֵן צְדָקָה לְעָנִי בְּסֵבֶר פָּנִים רָעוֹת וּפָנָיו כְּבוּשׁוֹת בַּקַּרְקַע אֲפִלּוּ נָתַן לוֹ אֶלֶף זְהוּבִים אִבֵּד זְכוּתוֹ וְהִפְסִידָהּ. אֶלָּא נוֹתֵן לוֹ בְּסֵבֶר פָּנִים יָפוֹת וּבְשִׂמְחָה וּמִתְאוֹנֵן עִמּוֹ עַל צָרָתוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איוב ל כה) "אִם לֹא בָכִיתִי לִקְשֵׁה יוֹם עָגְמָה נַפְשִׁי לָאֶבְיוֹן". וּמְדַבֵּר לוֹ דִּבְרֵי תַּחֲנוּנִים וְנִחוּמִים שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (איוב כט יג) "וְלֵב אַלְמָנָה אַרְנִן":
(4) Anyone who gives tzedakah to a poor person with a scowl and causes him to be embarrassed,183Literally: causes his face to fall in shame. even if he gave him a thousand zuz, has destroyed and lost any merit thereby. Rather, one should give cheerfully, with happiness [to do so] and empathy for his plight, as it is said, (Job 30:25) Did I not weep for the unfortunate? Did I not grieve for the needy? And one should speak to him words of comfort and consolation, as it is said, (Job 29:13) [I received the blessing of the lost,] I gladdened the heart of the widow.
EXPLANATION: This source that the Rambam, wrote in his book Mishneh Torah explains the mitzvah of Tzedaka. Whoever gives tzedakah to a poor person with a scowl and causes him to be embarrassed is not doing the mitzvah properly. This will make the person feels worst and not want to accept anything. It is not so important how much you give, it matters how you give. As the mitzvah says in Devarim we should give with a smile and with joy.
CONNECTION: This connects to my project because I am happy when I bake the pies. I give the money to Sharsheret with happiness and with a smile. We reached out to everyone who wanted to buy pies and most people were happy to give it with a smile. Although, we did not see the people we were giving it to we still felt good about donating our time to put a smile on someone's face.
(ב) שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:
(2) Shimon the Righteous was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. He would say, "On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on the service and on acts of lovingkindness."
EXPLANATION: Shimon the Tzadik was a member of the Great Assembly. In the first chapter of Pirkei Avot, it says Shimon the Righteous on something he would say. "The world stands upon three pillars: upon Torah study, upon divine service, and upon acts of loving kindness". This means that our world stands on these three concepts. Divine service means davening to Hashem, learning Torah, and sacrifices. Lastly, chesed, chesed includes charity.
CONNECTION: One of the three concepts the world is based on is a kindness. Chesed also refers to tzedakah. My project was to bake pies, which is an act of kindness. Since chesed includes tzedaka. I am also doing an act of charity. This act of charity and kindness is one of the acts that keep the world stable.