Mayer Aaron Levy and His Lemon Tree

 "Mayer Aaron Levy and His Lemon Tree" embraces three important Jewish principles:  1) The learning of Torah; 2) The importance of work, and 3) G'milut Chasadim - actions that help people in need as well as the community. These deeds help make the world a better place. Mayer stands out because in addition to learning Torah he is also lucky enough to have a lemon tree that helps bring in added income. Earning this money is a family project: Mayer and his children pick the lemons off the tree; Mayer's wife Raizel brews a special lemon juice from the fruits that are picked; and Mayer goes to town to sell bottles of the juice. Mayer understands that the family has more than enough lemons to make a living and devises a secret method of helping the needy in order to teach Raizel and his family the importance of "tzedaka."

 

Help the Poor in Your City

 

Set Up A Lemonade Stand

Make lemonade by following the recipe below. Make sure you have several pitchers' worth of lemonade.
Set up a lemonade stand in front of your house. Decide how much to charge for a glass/cup of lemonade.  Put a big sign on the stand with the price and a sentence explaining that the proceeds of the lemonade sales will go to the poor.

 

Lemonade Recipe
Ingredients
¾ cup fresh lemon juice
2 quarts water
½ cup sugar

Preparation
Pour water and sugar into a large pot. Heat until the sugar melts, slowly stirring the water mixture all the time. Once the sugar melts, remove the water mix from the fire and pour in the lemon juice. Mix well and chill in the refrigerator before serving. When you serve the lemonade, cut thin slices of lemon and attach one thin slice to each glass.

This recipe yields 8 glasses of lemonade.

 

Create Your Own Food Basket

Buy a medium size basket and place it in the kitchen. Have each of your children place at least one non-perishable good in the basket (e.g. box of crackers, canned fruit, canned vegetables, etc.) every Friday before Shabbat.  Do this for a month. At the end of the month donate this basket to an organization helping needy people, then start a new basket for the next month.

Shabbat Around the World

We Jews are a diverse people, with communities all over the world creating engaging Shabbat customs.

You can learn about them through my unique,
digital-story / lesson-plan series that
It Gets You and Your Students Involved!
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