Far be it for us to bring down all the enthusiasm for this latest Star Wars experience, but the branding of this movie is not just within the walls of the cinema; it seems like droids and lightsabers are showing up on clothing, toys and school supplies, and certainly will be a hit come time for Purim costumes.
Many of us have seen the film or have ordered tickets way in advance to perhaps view prior to our annual December 25 takeout order from Chopstix or Estihana.
We wish to remind everyone that perhaps more than your fair share of charitable reminders are arriving in the mail to help you contribute prior to the end of the 2015 tax year. But the truth is, many of these recent pieces of mail, which have nothing to do with furry space creatures, has everything to do with pledges that we made at times earlier during the secular year. And perhaps let go.
Some of those pledges are hard wired into the functionality of important Jewish organizations, perhaps to provide a safety net for a Jewish family who is deciding whether to pay the electric bill or buy the children boots or gloves for the winter weather.
When you spend cosmic prices on Star Wars movie tickets and any other action figures, backpacks or accessories your children can’t absolutely be without, remember to take care of those end-of-year tzedakah obligations.
The movie might be the most wonderful film you’ve ever seen. But it is a fantasy. What’s not make-believe is that our community goes into a time warp of its own in the months prior to Purim and Passover. That’s when chesed organizations start looking ahead about how they’ll keep families warm, fed and sheltered and the children in day school.
Taking care of our community, with a donation to any of our local shuls or rabbis’ discretionary funds, to Project Ezrah, to SINAI Schools, to Tomchei Shabbos or any of our other very worthy local organizations, doesn’t require 3-D glasses, but the clarity to see that our families are taken care of. That’s worth the price of any Star Wars admission.
And the service we can accomplish as a community? It’s the work of Hashem, and it’s light years ahead of any movie.
May that force be with you.
