Cookies and community: a perfect recipe

Members of the Rhode Island Jewish community will gather at the Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence at 3 Shalom Drive in Warwick on Feb. 15 from 1:30-4 p.m. for Purim Mitzvah Day.

The purpose is to bake more than 500 hamentashen – a cookie recognizable by its triangular shape, stuffed with poppy seed or fruit filling – with the goal of delivering the baked goods to friends and neighbors throughout the state. This act is meant to ensure that everyone has enough food to enjoy the traditional Purim feast. It is also seen as an opportunity to strengthen relationships among people.

“Our community works hard during Purim to ensure that Jewish residents in nursing homes receive a mishloach manot bag,” said Michelle Cicchitelli, chief program officer at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Jews are obliged to give at least one mishloach manot – a gift of food that contains at least two different types of ready-to-eat items that Jews send to each other during Purim. The tradition comes from the biblical Book of Esther, where the Purim story is recounted. Esther 9:22 reads: “as days of feasting and gladness, and sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor.”

“Because of its overwhelming success, Purim Mitzvah Day has become one of our most popular activities – drawing dozens of volunteers of every age and ability,” added Susan Adler, director of Jewish Eldercare of Rhode Island, a program of Jewish Seniors Agency.

In addition to baking, other activities will include decorating mishloach manot bags, a costume parade through the facility and stories read by the Tamarisk residents to young children.

Purim is a festive Jewish holiday that commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. This year, Purim is celebrated on Thursday, March 5 (beginning at sunset on March 4). Purim Mitzvah Day was started as a way to increase awareness and create a greater sense of community while helping others. It provides an opportunity for different generations to work collaboratively while preforming a mitzvah – a term that literally means “commandment” and is the general term for a good deed or act of kindness.

This event is sponsored by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence, Jewish Seniors Agency and University of Rhode Island Hillel.

For more information, contact Michelle Cicchitelli at mcicchitelli@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 178.

KARA MARZIALI is the director of communications for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.