Congregation Beth Mordecai

An inclusive congregation affiliated with the Conservative Movement.
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DAY 494: The Keif (or “Fun”) of Rubber Ducks

November 6, 2013
By bethmordecai
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DAY 494: The Keif (or “Fun”) of Rubber Ducks

Dear Hevreh,

Last night, many of you received an email from our esteemed Executive Director Elliot Rubin about selling ducks for our Rubber Duck Race fundraiser on December 8th. (In case you did not receive the email, you can read it here). The focus of that email was on the importance of selling ducks as a mitzvah, as a command, in which we recognize our obligation to raise valuable tz’dakkah for our community and the greater Perth Amboy community. While that sense of mitzvah is extremely important, I want to focus in this journal entry on another way to look at this campaign we’re undertaking over the next 33 days. This process should be keif, or FUN!, because c’mon…we’re selling rubber ducks!

I don’t know about you but when I look at a rubber duck (especially the countless numbers of them that are sitting in my office) a smile crosses my face. Whether it’s nostalgia for the times when I could play with rubber ducks in a bath or just imagining lots of little rubber ducks floating down a river, there’s just something keif about the whole experience. Perhaps it’s appropriate then that one of the Talmudic translations of the word keif is “beach, or shore,” as if to say that the feeling we should keep with us throughout this campaign is the lighthearted fun of sitting on a beach watching a group of (rubber) ducks float in front of us.

Here’s one idea to keep that lighthearted sense of fun throughout the process. Whenever you sell a raffle ticket, you can give out a small little duck for that person to keep (as I said, we have a number of them in my office if you’d like to pick some up). But don’t just give them the duck, take a picture of handing them the duck along with the raffle ticket and send that picture to us at officebethmordecai@gmail.com or tag Congregation Beth Mordecai when you post them on Facebook. We’ll collect all of these photos and send them out on occasion for all of us to see just how much fun we’re having.

Kol Tuv,

Rabbi Ari Saks

P.S. Just to get us started, here is a picture of me buying my first rubber duck for the race!