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Centenarian donates her piano to Soloway Jewish Community Centre > p. 3
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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin MARCH 3, 2014 | 1 ADAR II 5774
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Hundreds gather to perform good deeds during Mitzvah Day Event should be a “beacon for other groups in the city to follow and replicate,” Mayor Jim Watson says. BY MONIQUE ELLIOT
Hundreds of volunteers – from young children to seniors – spent the morning doing good deeds during the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s eighth annual Mitzvah Day, February 9. A total of 544 community members eagerly signed up to give back to the community in the spirit of tikkun olam (repairing the world), one good deed at a time. The good deeds piled up quickly, with 74 team captains wrangling the participants – including 120 students from Ottawa’s Jewish supplementary schools – to and from such activities as writing letters to lone soldiers in Israel, decorating cards for sick kids at CHEO and Roger’s House, and making sandwiches for the Ottawa Mission, among others. The majority of the 15 different mitzvot were held on the Jewish Community Campus at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre and Hillel Lodge, while three were held offsite. One of the main events of the day was when three young girls had their ponytails cut so that the hair could be donated to Locks of Love, a charity that provides hairpieces for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss.
inside:
Mayor Jim Watson, who cut Talia Freedhoff’s ponytail, had participated in the Locks of Love hair-cutting at Mitzvah Day last year and joked that he hoped for sharper scissors this time. “I’ll never make it as a barber, but, once a year, I think I can handle it,” he said. “It was a little difficult cutting through some of the hair,” Watson smiled. “But it’s such a wonderful sight to see these young girls doing something year-long, and which culminates with the cutting of their hair for cancer patients on Mitzvah Day.” The other girls donating their ponytails were Abby Tatham, whose hair was cut by Mitzvah Day co-chair Linda Melamed, and Elana Rogoff, whose hair was cut by Josh Engel of Mitzvah Day sponsor GGFL Chartered Accountants. Mitzvah Day co-chair Warren Melamed, Linda’s husband, said his family’s decision to accept the Federation’s request that his family take on a major role in organizing Mitzvah Day was an easy choice. “We said yes because we thought, not only is it a nice way to get involved with the Jewish community and to help and See Mitzvah Day on page 2
Inspiring film on world’s oldest Holocaust survivor > p. 5
PHOTO: MONIQUE ELLIOT
(Front, from left) Abby Tatham, Talia Freedhoff and Elana Rogoff had their braided ponytails cut at Mitzvah Day so the hair could be donated to Locks of Love. (Rear) Mitzvah Day MC Patricia Boal of CTV Ottawa with haircutters Linda Melamed, Mitzvah Day co-chair; Mayor Jim Watson; and Josh Engel of GGFL, a Mitzvah Day sponsor.
PHOTO: WARREN MELAMED
Funds raised by the extreme football game were donated to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada. Mitzvah Day co-chair Michael Melamed (centre) presents the cheque for $1,000 to Dr. Vladimir Contreras Domingues and nurse Carolyn Pugeliese of the Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Stuart Hendin’s mission to Afghanistan > p. 12
John Diener on genealogy and genetics > p. 20
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