A lot of `mitzvah' goes long way in helping community.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

Got mitzvah?

Much of Lane County's Jewish community did on Sunday.

Mitzvah means "good deed" in Hebrew, and "Mitzvah Day" has been "a very big thing all over the country," said Margot Helphand, a member of Eugene's Temple Beth Israel who helped organized Lane County's first-ever Mitzvah Day event.

"I think it's our obligation to help others," said 87-year-old Alice Resseguie, wearing one of those royal blue "got mitzvah?" T-shirts that nearly 220 volunteers donned. Resseguie, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., after fleeing Nazi Germany at age 14, was busy cutting and tying blanket ends at the new Temple Beth Israel synagogue that opened last June at East 29th Avenue and University Street in south Eugene. "Mitzvah is a good deed," Resseguie said. "And we try and help people in need in the community."

Volunteers participated in 11 projects Sunday that benefited area nonprofit agencies, from Womenspace and the Relief Nursery to First Place Family Shelter and Comforts for Children, an agency that collects blankets for at-risk children in Lane County.

Volunteers also descended upon Mount Pisgah to remove invasive plants in Buford Park and garden at the Native Plant Nursery. Some just walked across East 29th Avenue to weed and build compost bins at Harris/Eastside Elementary School. Others visited and sang with senior citizens at the South Hills Rehabilitation Center on East 28th Avenue.

Those who were unable to participate were encouraged to bring canned foods to the temple, donate toiletries ?and basic home supplies, provide used books for children and/or make a financial contribution.

"It's great - they're doing this amazing job," said Emily Baran, the night shelter coordinator at St. Vincent de Paul's First Place Family Shelter on Amazon Parkway, speaking of the foursome who showed up to clean and reorganize the shelter kitchen that serves homeless families.

Inside the kitchen were Barry Nobel, Roz Slovic, Martha Ravits and Kellie Kreitzberg, who brought cakes and strawberries with them.

"We're jumping in and washing the shelves," Ravits said. "Making sure everything is sterile and ready to use."

"It's really nice to be able to participate in a community activity," Slovic said.

"And I think it also gives us insight into the community's needs," Ravits added.

"It's a treat," Baran said. "We don't get deep-cleaning like this every day."

Helphand and fellow "Mitzvah Day" co-chairwomen Justine Lovinger and Sandra Luks organized a steering committee in December. They held a meeting to measure interest. "We were overwhelmed," Helphand recalled. The numbers who registered to help were "beyond our wildest expectations," she said.

In addition to the Temple Beth Israel congregation, help came from the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Federation of Lane County, the TBI Sisterhood, the Or haGan and Ahavas Torah synagogues, the University of Oregon Hillel and UO Jewish Student Union, and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.

The day began with a kickoff breakfast at the temple sponsored by Humble Bagel and Toby's Tofu. Project teams then dispersed about 10 a.m.

Asked if Mitzvah Day will be an annual event among the Jewish community, Helphand said, "There's no question."

"I think you did such a good job with it that people would wonder why if you didn't (do it annually)," Rabbi Maurice Harris told Helphand.

As for the significance of doing it on April 26, that was just a Sunday that worked for everyone, falling between Easter, the Eugene Marathon this Sunday and Mother's Day the following Sunday, Helphand said.

After the date was selected, though, some realized that April 26 was the 17th day of the Counting of the Omer, she said. The Counting of the Omer begins the day after Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, and ends on the 50th day, which is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the commemoration of the anniversary of the day God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

The 17th day is the day of "beauty and compassion," Harris explained.

"When I found out (April 26th) was the 17th day, it was like, `Wow,'" Helphand said.

Mitzvah Day is also about sharing in the Hebrew phrase known as Tikkun Olam, or "repairing the world," said Yedida Bessemer, who teaches Hebrew school at Temple Beth Israel.

"It's our responsibility to make sure we do as much as we can to help," said Bessemer, who led students Sunday in writing letters and making cards for the Neve Michael Children's Village for at-risk youths in Pardes Hanna, Israel. Helphand and her husband, UO landscape architecture professor Kenny Helphand, will deliver them in June.

Students Clarae Smith and Sophie Kreitzberg, both 11 - who also made toiletry kits for homeless children - were more than happy to help.

"I think it's really cool," Clarae said. "It's fun to get to help other people."

"Because there are people who are less fortunate than us," Sophie said.