There’s a new Jewish group in town, called Mitzvah on the Rocks, whose goal is mixing Jewish social responsibility with cocktail hour.
Ryan Cohen, 23, and Jake Hamlin, 24, created Mitzvah on the Rocks after years of Jewish activism. The group’s kickoff benefit is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 at Roe Restaurant and Lounge, 651 Howard St. in San Francisco.
Cohen and Hamlin met two decades ago at the Peninsula JCC preschool, and went on to become classmates at the North Peninsula Sinai Congregation Day School (now the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School) and buddies in BBYO youth fraternity AZA.
More recently, Cohen has volunteered for Bay Area Tribe and the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, while Hamlin served on the planning committee for the PJCC’s Festival of Jewish Humor.
At the inaugural event of Mitzvah on the Rocks, cocktails will be available, while items such as video games, Sephora makeup gift baskets and comedy show tickets will be raffled off.
But the group is more than just a happy hour shmoozefest. Along with the $10 event cover charge, 10 percent of the bar receipts from the evening will be donated to aid children in Israel affected by Hamas rocket fire. For the first event, Mitzvah on the Rocks is working with the Jewish Agency for Israel to send 40 children from Sderot on a day of respite to Tel Aviv. The children will attend a theater performance, have lunch and enjoy other cultural events in the city.
“It was actually the children of Israel who provided the motivation to create the organization,” says Cohen, who, with Hamlin, decided to form Mitzvah on the Rocks during the recent incursion in Gaza. “It was important to us to raise awareness of the Jewish victims of terror during this conflict.”
Cohen hopes the upcoming event will be an opportunity for Bay Area Jews, ages 21 to 35, not only to mingle and network but also to learn more about organizations like the Jewish Agency. He added that Mitzvah on the Rocks will throw more benefits in the coming months as well.
“Right now our focus is on making this first event as successful as possible,” he explains. “In the future our plan is to hold a monthly social event that will benefit a new cause or organization each time.”
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