In order to enable everyone to fulfill the Rebbe’s directive of Mizvtah Matzah, a group of yungeleit in Rockland County are working to make it easier than ever to pick up matzah to hand out to everyone who needs it.
Yungeleight in Rockland County, New York are setting up shop to allow others to fulfill the Rebbe’s directive of making sure every Jew has shmurah matzah for the seder. The group raised money to order 200 lbs of mitzvah and set up a makeshift store open to everyone who wishes to be a part of Mivtzah Matzah.
According to Levi Tiechtel, one of the organizers, “Hundreds of anash families would like to be a part of Mivtzah Matzah, but sometimes it isn’t practical for various reasons.” Therefore, a group of yungeleit came together to make it easier for anash to fulfill the Rebbe’s directive.
Last year, Rockland Anash was approached to begin the initiative in honor of the Rebbe’s 120th birthday and due to the success and interest of last year, this year they are bringing it back bigger and better than before.
Under the representation of Iggud Anash a few young men came together to raise the funds necessary to purchase over 200 pounds of matzah. Bochurim and anash worked together to package the shmurah matzah into smaller boxes filled with 3 matzahs each.
The matzahs are stored in a makeshift storefront at the home of Adam Goodfrind, another organizer who is heading the initiative. Here, those wanting t do Mivtzah Matzah can pick up their matzah, alternatively, if there is someone who needs matzah they can go to the house and pick it up themselves. They offer all of the matzah at zero cost, although they do accept sponsorships and also offer brochures and other mivtzoim materials as well.
Levi Teichtel continues, “We are not giving out the matzah ourselves, but we are providing it to those who have people they know that still need matzah, whether its neighbors, family members, or co-workers.”
Rockland Anash involved all the local schools by sending out flyers and incentivizing the children with a raffle for those who participated in the mitzvah matzah. They led similar campaigns for sukkos, Chanukah, and Purim last year as well. All of their previous programs have been focused on children doing the miztzoim, but for the first time, the group decided to try to involve all ages, children adults, and families together.
This year’s Mivtzah Matzah is already a smashing success one week into the program and one week to go, they have already run out of matzah and are ordering more daily.
“The beauty of this campaign is that not only are many yidden who need matzah receiving it” Levi continues, “but the anash community is using this as part of their Pesach preparations, aside from the cooking and cleaning. They feel very involved. It changes the whole feeling of the community being involved in something like this.”
The initiative is the zechus for an immediate Refua Shleima for Yosef Yitzchak ben Sima Chasa.
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