Of Cookies and Camaraderie
Baruch Hashem, Silver Spring has seen an outburst of community sentiment, especially since the horrifying events of October 7th. Over the past several months, the community has united in several significant ways:
Most famously, Silver Spring found itself “on the map” when it spearheaded an initiative with Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Hamilton, Ontario, to bake and package over 1,000 cookies, which found their way into the hands of dozens of volunteer members of the so-called “Cookie Corp”. These packages, which included a thank-you message, were hand-delivered to security and medical personnel at the national DC rally in November. One epic picture of the initiative, included here, made national Jewish news.
Silver Spring remained active: the larger community– classrooms, shuls, homeschoolers, the dance school, DMV Chabads, and many more– united over the course of several months to send over 1,100 handwritten letters to soldiers on the front lines of the war. Pictures of these often found their way back into local hands; some such included here.
Additional communal initiatives abounded in the past months, including women’s tehillim gatherings with local educators; shuls raising over $40,000 in funds and sending a local delegation to Israel; guest speakers; heartfelt kumzitzes; toy collection drives for displaced children; and more.
Baruch Hashem, the community is growing in both population and avodas Hashem, and always looking for more opportunities to support one another and our family, friends, and fellow Jews in Eretz Yisrael.
