Community Soup Kitchen
Inspired by Rabbi Jackson Mercer at Base BSTN
INTRODUCTION:
Bring your community together to support your own community! In this program participants will come together to make soup that can be frozen and later distributed to community members who are sick or going through a tough time. During this program, participants will learn about the Jewish idea of gemillut chasadim (acts of loving kindness). Through a textual framing activity participants will learn about what a few Jewish texts have to say about gemilut chasadim. They will be invited to reflect and respond to those texts by decorating the soup containers with thoughtful messages and blessings. And finally, everyone will take part in making and freezing soup together so the Moishe House can become a place that people can contact when they need a pick me up or just a delicious meal.
MATERIALS:
- Printed copies of Loving Kindness Learning Cards (below)
- Plastic freezer safe soup containers
- Pot/Ladle
- Cutting Board/knives
- Aprons
- Soup Recipe
- Matzo Ball Soup
- Vegetable Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Or any soup recipe you love!
- Soup Ingredients
- Sharpies
- Stickers/labels
- Optional: Snacks and drinks
PROGRAM OUTLINE (~60 minutes):
- Welcome and Framing (5 minutes)
- Loving Kindness Learning (10 minutes)
- Soup Making (45 minutes)
Welcome and Framing (10 minutes)
- Welcome guests, invite them to grab an apron or a snack/drink.
- Gather everyone and explain that we’re going to do a brief activity to learn about the Jewish idea of gemillut chasadim (acts of loving kindness). Then we’ll put that learning into action and do some gemillut chasadim for our MoHo community by making soup that can be gifted/brought to community members who are sick or just need a little pick me up!
Loving Kindness Learning (10 minutes)
- Follow the instructions on the first page of the Loving Kindness Learning Cards (below).
- For the reflective activity referenced on the first page of the Loving Kindness Learning Cards, have each participant take a soup container and decorate it with blessings or uplifting messages inspired by their learning. This way the people receiving the soup will also get a sweet message!
Soup Making (45 minutes)
- Pick a soup recipe and break up the steps into stations to which you can assign different groups of participants.
- Example groups:
- Food washing
- Chopping, grating, etc…
- Stove prep (sautéing, boiling, stirring, etc…)
- Prepping the containers (Be sure to label the soup clearly with ingredients and any allergens)
- Packaging/freezing the soup
- Cleanup/dish washing crew
- Community promotion
- Have a group in charge of letting your community members know that your MoHo is now offering soup for community members who are sick, going through a tough time, in need of a pick me up, or just a delicious free meal! You could even have people volunteer to be soup deliverers
- Example groups:
