Sukkot in Spring

[A house] must be made as a place for people to live. It must be made as an honorable place.
–Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin & Mezuzah

For many years, in the spring, our synagogue has participated in a hands-on housing-related service project in support of our extended community: Sukkot in Spring. Continuing in that tradition, on April 15, 2018 Etz Hayim  joined forces with our friends at Agudas Achim and the organization Yachad** on the nation’s largest home/community repair program sponsored by the Jewish community. Yachad’s mission is rooted in the Jewish commitment to seek justice by engaging in acts of loving kindness, and and it is a meaningful opportunity for us to come together with our extended community to see the impact we can make in a day.

**ABOUT YACHAD:

Yachad (www.yachad-dc.org) is a local nonprofit housing group that repairs homes in the D.C. metro area, ensuring that lower income families have a safe, secure place to call home. Sukkot in Spring is Yachad’s signature program. Since 1992 hundreds of single-family homes, group houses, and community centers have been repaired through this program.

Yachad’s mission is to bring communities together by preserving affordable homes and revitalizing neighborhoods throughout the District of Columbia and the greater metropolitan area. Yachad means “together” in Hebrew, and that is how they do their work – through partnerships with homeowners, houses of worship, nonprofits, and other community stakeholders. They mobilize skilled and unskilled volunteers, invest financial resources, and, through their work with groups like ours, transform people and properties.