Students perform good deeds

The surprising snowstorm that blanketed campus early Sunday morning probably convinced most students to remain in bed a few more hours. However, for 100 or so dedicated do-gooders, the weather was hardly reason to stop them from what they had set out to do: community service. Several dozen students, most of whom were Jewish, participated in the annual Mitzvah Day, in which they performed a variety of community service activities throughout the city. Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for "commandment," but is traditionally thought of as a good deed. This year, for the first time, Penn collaborated with students at Drexel and Temple universities. The goal of the day, coordinator David Glasner explained, is to bring together the Jewish community for the shared purpose of service and charity. Glasner, a College senior, said the collaboration with other schools was beneficial because "every campus really feels ownership of the event." College sophomore Albert Sultan added that this day was in keeping with the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, which means "repairing the world." "These are the ethical values that Jews and Judaism want to represent to the world," he said. "One thing we all agree on is that the world needs to be fixed." The day began with a brunch at the Veranda on Locust Walk. Most of the participating students had found out about the event either through Hillel or through their friends. The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity showed a strong charity commitment by turning participation into a pledge event for its freshman class. Wharton freshman and AEPi pledge Michael Sand said, "Part of being in a fraternity is doing philanthropy and donating time to the betterment of the community, so Mitzvah Day gives everybody a chance to give back and have fun doing it." The students was allowed to select which community service event they wanted to attend. Possible choices included going to the Thrift for AIDS store to sort clothes, cleaning and preparing an old synagogue for Passover, celebrating Christmas in April with underprivileged Philadelphia residents and visiting a geriatric hospital. Though most volunteers sported Mitzvah Day T-shirts, College senior Ben Schein got a little more creative by dressing in a large blue and red button, the symbol of the Half Shekel campaign -- a student effort whose goal is to create a unified Jewish community on campus by sponsoring social events and an annual charity drive. At the end of the brunch, Renee Bebe, a volunteer with the Philadelphia Cares organization, spoke to the students about the value of participating in community service projects. "One project at a time is how we change things," she said. At the end of the day, those that had participated felt accomplished and proud. Malka Hoffman, a Temple University sophomore and organizer of the B'nai Synagogue trip, said she was impressed by the commitment of the volunteers. "I'm so excited that so many people cared enough to come out and help clean up," she said.