Project Porchlight Blog

The Jewish holiday Purim commemorates a time centuries ago, when the brave and beautiful Queen Esther saved Jews living in Persia from annihilation. Purim traditions include dressing up as characters from the Purim story, eating triangle-shaped pastries named after the story’s villain, and sending gifts of food to friends and to those in need.

Each year, Congregation Sons of Israel and the Politz Day School of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, sponsor hundreds of traditional food-filled gift baskets, a custom known as Shalach Manos.

“Every year we choose a different theme,” says Helen Baker, part of the team of women that organizes the Shalach Manos. “This year, it was ‘Going Green.’ Being environmentally friendly is on everybody’s mind these days.”

A total of 480 Shalach Manos baskets were sent out on March 10. They included a variety of organic foods--all kosher, naturally. The baskets also contained a non-edible green gift: An energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, courtesy of Project Porchlight.

“I saw an article in our township magazine about Project Porchlight, and I thought it was a wonderful addition to our project because it fit right into our theme,” says Helen. “It helps educate our recipients about a way to use light bulbs that are more environmentally friendly.”

Project Porchlight New Jersey contributed the CFL bulbs as part of its campaign to distribute 300,000 free energy-efficient light bulbs to residents across the state. The campaign is made possible thanks to funding by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP).

“We’re happy to help Project Porchlight disseminate information about CFL bulbs and make people aware of the fact that by using these light bulbs, they are doing wonderful things for our environment,” says Helen.

One of the basic foundations of Judaism, Helen explains, is known as “chesed,” or acts of loving-kindness. “That can mean being kind to each other and kind to the environment,” she says.

Sons of Israel Rabbi Ephraim Epstein (pictured here), explains that respect for the environment is a basic tenet of Judaism. “God created the world to be able to share his goodness with others. The world exists and is sustained because of God’s original divine kindness that created the world and all of life, including humanity,” he says. “Therefore, humanity is called upon to imitate the creator by transmitting the goodness of the world to each other and to subsequent generations as well.

“In essence, the ultimate conservationist is God himself, who created the world with all of its energy,” Rabbi Epstein continues. “By conserving, we’re trying to transmit and share the gift of the world around us with everyone else and future generations as well.

“Every small act adds up and has a cosmic consequence,” adds Rabbi Epstein. “We are confident that with the usage of the lights from Project Porchlight, we will all do our part individually to make a huge difference in our community and be a light unto other communities.”