Pots and Pans for Purim becomes tradition

By JEFFREY BABENER

article created on: 2010-02-11T00:00:00

One week earlier, the family was homeless. Now mother and children share a meal at their own kitchen table, prepared with pots, pans and utensils, the origins of which they have no clue. Obviously, they come from somewhere and they have a story, just like us. The family were thankful to whomever was the anonymous hand behind their first home-cooked dinner in several months.

One week earlier, those pots, pans and cooking utensils had no home either. Their sole function was to make a thunderous cacophony at the mention of Haman, the ancient villain from the Jewish story of Purim. Afterwards, they were donated to people in our extended community as part of the Pots and Pans for Purim project.

In synagogues throughout Portland, families brought pots, pans and cooking utensils, in lieu of the traditional “grogger” noise makers, for the one time jeering of Haman and for donation to Portland’s Community Warehouse, Portland’s furniture bank, a charitable volunteer-driven nonprofit that redistributes donated home furnishings to approximately 10,000 people per year through more than 100 social service agencies.

“It is like a match made in heaven, clattering and clunking for Haman and pots and pans so families can cook a meal for their children,” said Roz Babener, Community Warehouse founder and volunteer.

Although Jewish celebrations of Purim focus on the “good fortune” (Purim translated means ‘lots, chance’) and lucky rescue of the Jewish people from the evil intentions of Haman,  the malevolent adviser of King Ahasuerus,Talmudic scholars often focus instead on the hidden face, in Hebrew, “Hester Panim,” of God who, behind the scenes orchestrated the fortunate fate of the Jewish residents. The message? God is there to help, even if we aren’t aware.

Thus, the Purim story is told in the Megillah Esther, the story of the heroine Esther, the young lady who changed her name from Hadassah to Esther to hide her Jewish identity.

Talmudic scholars often noted the word play between the name Esther and Hester, explaining the Purim story as both Megillah Esther, the story of Esther, and, Megillah Hester, the story of Hester, the story of the unexplained or the revealing of the hidden.

At last year’s Purim celebration in Portland, members of the synagogues gathered their noise maker pots and pans and cooking utensils for donation to the Community Warehouse and subsequent distribution to scores of needy families. The hidden face behind the supper table belonged to the Jewish community that wished these families a better life … a modern day “Megillah Hester.”
It takes a Community

The joint effort by Portland area synagogues and the Community Warehouse is no accident. Its origins lie deep in the Jewish community, tracing its roots to the 1990s’ Operation Exodus that found the American Jewish Community committed to assistance for those former Soviet Union Jews who wished to leave and emigrate to Israel or the United States. Jewish communities throughout the United States pledged to absorb the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews with housing, financial support and jobs.

Thousands of American Jews volunteered as mentors to newly arrived families and support programs were ushered in under the auspices of organizations such as Jewish federations and Jewish family and child service agencies.

In Portland, Jewish Family and Child Service drew volunteers into the Russian Resettlement. All of the members of Roz Babener’s family jumped in as volunteers and mentors. Beyond financial, housing and job assistance, the agency started the Portland Community Warehouse, a project to collect home furnishings for redistribution to newly arrived Jewish families.

Babener, the early volunteer coordinator of the Portland Community Warehouse, said, “The incoming families had nothing, and when they saw their apartments filled with tables and chairs and dishes and beds, their expression of appreciation brought tears to your eyes.”

New arrivals were baffled by the outpouring of generosity from the Portland Jewish Community as they had known no such generosity in the former Soviet Union. It was as if a hidden force propelled these volunteers to reach out to the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who did not make it out the first time during the Russian Pogroms a hundred years earlier.

JFCS also extended its efforts to help many other needy groups in the Portland community.
Creating Portland’s “Furniture Bank”

Although the exodus to Portland eventually ended, donations of furnishings kept pouring in. A small group of volunteers led by Rosalind Babener tapped resources in the community at large to establish, in 2001, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Community Warehouse, to meet the needs of a broader constituency, including the clients of agencies serving the homeless, migrant workers, battered women, refugees, the elderly, individuals recovering from substance abuse and individuals with mental or physical disabilities

By 2009, the Community Warehouse had grown to be one of the largest furniture banks in the country, powered by a wide array of community volunteers.
Origins and Forward Looking

The Community Warehouse invited synagogues to partner for Purim. At Purim celebrations throughout the area, congregants brought pots and pans for Purim, all of which were donated to the Community Warehouse.

The experiment was a success and Pots and Pans for Purim has evolved into an extension of the Purim celebration in Portland.

Says Babener, “Hidden faces are all over this story…our volunteers, our donors, our contributors, our community supporters, our foundation supporters, our local government supporters…and the Jewish community, which gave us our start, including the support of our Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Jewish Family and Child Service and the social action committees of our many synagogues that have produced volunteers and sponsorship of the Pots and Pans for Purim project…and, of course, another Hidden Face that has inspired and guided the history of the Jewish People and its dedication to Tikkun Olam...the making of a better world and life for everyone.”

Babener admits to a broader goal for Pots and Pans for Purim.

The Community Warehouse seeks help in reaching out to Jewish communities in the United States interested in implementing a Pots and Pans for Purim. Information on the Pots and Pans for Purim in Your Community online “how to” Kit can be found at communitywarehouse.org. Or, contact Roz at 503-329-5588 or roz755@aol.com.