Shul News

We all love Thanksgiving. For many, it is a day spent with family and friends, enjoying traditional foods and reflecting on the blessings in our lives. But for the youth of Anshe Chesed of Linden, the celebration begins early in the morning.

This Thanksgiving, Anshe Chesed’s youth continued their annual tradition of expressing gratitude to our local heroes by delivering pies to the Linden Fire Department and Police Department. After a delicious hot breakfast, parents and youth came together to bake apple, pumpkin, and cherry pies from scratch, while also creating heartfelt thank you cards. The pies and cards were then hand delivered as a small token of appreciation for all that our first responders do for our community.

“Hakarat Hatov is one of our most fundamental values,” said Rabbi Katz. “We wanted to emphasize to our children and remind ourselves that we should never take for granted those who dedicate their lives and often sacrifice time with their own families on Thanksgiving to keep us safe.”

The morning concluded with a spirited flag football game in the park. While Rabbi Katz declined to discuss the final score since gloating is of course an aveirah, he did note that he was very pleased with how things turned out. And while everyone is a winner these days because we all played hard and had fun, it is worth mentioning that some of us made a few more catches, ran a few more yards, and crossed the goal line a few more times just saying.