What mitzvah is practiced by Jews from across the spectrum of observance? Is it having a Pesach Seder? Fasting on Yom Kippur? Lighting the Chanukiah? I would suggest that the mitzvah which is observed by the largest numbers in the Jewish community is tzedakah--the giving of funds to help those in need.

While we should strive to take on more mitzvot in our lives, we should nonetheless be proud of our already significant efforts in giving tzedakah, and continue to strengthen our commitment to this divine obligation.

Tzedakah comes in many forms, and they are all important. Your contributions to our synagogue--through dues, building fund, tributes and fundraisers--help to maintain our religious home for the present and future. Your annual gift to Federation's Annual Campaign demonstrates your pride as a member of the greater Detroit community and your desire to help locally and internationally at the same time.

Another place you practice the mitzvah of Tzedakah is at our daily minyan. At each service, except on Shabbat and Yom Tov, the pushke is passed around so those in attendance can make a contribution. These collected monies form the basis of our synagogue Tzedakah Fund.

During the course of each year, it is our honor at B'nai Moshe to distribute portions of the Tzedakah Fund to worthwhile causes. Among the many recipients of our Fund are: The Jewish Theological Seminary, Yad Ezra, The Conservative Yeshiva, and the Hillel programs of area campuses.

So under normal circumstances, we all do our best to give what we can, and to distribute our available funds to the causes we deem most worthwhile. My friends, these are not normal circumstances, and we face the challenging task of adding to our Tzedakah dollars this year in order to both maintain the synagogue and community, as well as bring relief to those in particular crises.

Earlier this year our synagogue formed a partnership with the Ben Aroya family, a household which has faced death and injury as a result of Palestinian terrorism in Israel. Through our generous gifts to Mishpacha Achat (The One Family Fund) we have made a difference in the life of a grieving family.

I want to put two more important causes on your Tzedakah radar screen. You might soon be called by a member of the Jewish community, and quite likely, a member of B'nai Moshe, to discuss your contribution to the Federation's Annual Campaign. At that time you will also be asked to give an additional donation to the Israel Emergency Fund, whose purpose is to bring relief to the far too many Israeli citizens living in poverty. Specifically, your gift to the Israel Emergency Fund will provide a hot, nutritious meal and after-school supervision to children living in our Partnership 2000 region in the Central Gallilee.

As Conservative Jews, we have the added responsibility this year of providing extra financial support to Masorti Judaism, our sister organization in Israel. Masorti has become a vital part of the spiritual life of Israel. Masorti consists of more than 50 congregations, offering the wisdom and guidance of Conservative Rabbis and educators to an Israeli population in need of a path between the ultra-right and the ultra-secular. 150,000 Israeli Jews have found a spiritual home in Masorti. In addition to the synagogues, the leaders of Masorti have reached out to provide Bar/Bat Mitzvah training to Israeli children with special needs, education for Israeli women, and extended outreach to Olim, especially from Russia, Ethiopia and South America.

As the Palestinian terrorism has negatively impacted the entire Israeli economy, so too have our brothers and sisters in Masorti been terribly hurt financially. The leaders and teachers of Masorti synagogues and programs are struggling to make ends meet and we can act now to ease their burden.