Written on Monday, Finished on Friday….

Today was a day off. After the frenetic pace of the High Holidays—Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and then Sukkot and Simchat Torah, most of which involved Monday observances, all I wanted to do was stay in bed. But that is not what I do. I am a life long volunteer. So I got up.

Today was the Inaugural Interfaith Build for Habitat for Humanity Northern Fox River Valley. Where else would I be? I have now worked on Habitat for Humanity projects in Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, New Orleans (three times), Indiana and Illinois. Why? Because they understand that building houses strengthens communities. Affordable safe housing is a right, not a wanna have.

The most powerful experience of my life was working on a Habitat project the day after 9/11. I’ve told this story before. I was in New York on 9/11. I managed to get home late that night. The very next morning, the clergy of Lowell, through the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance, (GLILA), was hard at work building a house. I sheetrocked a closet. When the world seemed to be collapsing, we were building. What more powerful statement can there be for peace.

So today I painted 300 shingles for a house that was built in 1892. It was not in good shape when Habitat acquired the property. It will eventually house 2 families. Again. It will help stabilize the neighborhood. And in the process, it will build community.

I am not a great handy man. This stuff does not come easily to me. (Although I may have found my niche painting shingles!) But it is important work. So part of what I do is rally the troops and get others to turn out. I tell the story.

Part of what I did today was to tell stories of Guatemala and American Jewish World Service. As I stood there painting shingles I talked about the theory of upstream-downstream that I learned on a boat crossing Lake Atilan. Why do people wind up homeless? Follow the river upstream. Why is there such a need for Habitat and its work? Worldwide. How can we get Habitat not only to build but also to do advocacy? I talked about gemilut chasadim (acts of love and kindness) and tzedek (justice). About housing someone today who is homeless because the need is real and immediate and making sure for the long haul that all people have access to safe, affordable housing. Their new volunteer coordinator was intrigued. And she has been to Guatemala so we had that in common. There will be more conversations with her I am sure. It is about building a network. About building community.

So today I painted 300 shingles. Big deal. It is a drop (of paint) in a bucket. But it is what I am called to do.

The big deal was seeing four Jews show up to work with a historically Christian organization. Habitat is learning that we can all agree on providing affordable, safe housing.

The big deal were all the casual conversations that took place. Music. Travel. Thanksgiving. Work. Retirement. And the religious humor. Birds in the trees pooping on our fresh paint—that’s the birds and birds. They come in two by two. More boxes of shingles—everywhere? They are multiplying like fishes and loaves. And agreeing that veggie pizza is the best—works for all the vegetarians and those who don’t mix meat and milk and those who don’t eat pork.

The big deal was watching my husband hold a ladder for hours for the imam who was up on that ladder carefully measuring and then installing siding. That is the image of interfaith cooperation. Interfaith trust. Interfaith peace.

There are lots of ways and places to volunteer. Pick something you are passionate about. Pick something you love doing. Volunteer. My congregants volunteer at the synagogue. Along the way they ensure the congregation’s survival, they make friends and they build community.