They call themselves the “BAGS Ladies,” but they certainly aren’t collecting trash, or even selling ladies’ handbags.
They are the women behind the new Beth Am gift shop — BAGS, for those who like acronyms — and they are putting the final touches on the Nov. 1 opening of their shop at the Los Altos Hills synagogue.
The shop will be called Beit Tzedakah, but it’s not a synagogue gift shop in the traditional sense of the term.
This gift shop will be able to go almost anywhere around the synagogue — from the patio to the foyer to the breezeway — because it will be mobile: two display cases on wheels (like those carts at the mall).
Beit Tzedakah is being unveiled in conjunction with Beth Am’s Nov. 1 Poltava Arts and Crafts Fair, which celebrates and supports its sister synagogue in Ukraine. The gift shop’s location on that day? The congregation’s social hall.
Sure, a gift shop on wheels is unique (as well as portable). Yet it’s the wares at Beit Tzedakah that are truly distinctive, as all of them have been made by senior citizens, émigrés and disabled individuals at Yad LaKashish (Lifeline for the Old), a nonprofit in Jerusalem that introduces new skills in various craft media as a mean of self-renewal.
After touring Yad LaKashish this past March, Beth Am Rabbi Janet Marder and several members of the congregation’s sisterhood decided to incorporate the facility into the creation of the Reform synagogue’s gift shop.
“It’s a wonderful way to educate our members about Yad LaKashish,” Marder said, “which is an extraordinary program, offering the dignity of meaningful work to impoverished seniors. It’s also a great opportunity to give tzedakah and support Israel. And it brings a variety of Judaica and beautiful ritual objects to our members in an easy and convenient way.”
At Beit Tzedakah, items range from $5 for a laminated bookmark to $65 for a brass tzedakah box. Buyer Sharon Barkoff spent about $1,300 on gifts, which went directly to Yak LaKashish. She has priced the items so Beth Am also can profit from the partnership.
Items include children’s pillows with pockets for pajamas; mezuzahs made of needlepoint encased in Lucite; tie-dyed and painted kippahs in multiple sizes and colors; hand-painted challah covers; and silk scarves.
“Once congregants know who’s made the gifts and the story behind them, I think it will give them that extra feeling of wanting to buy,” said Barkoff, of Los Altos Hills. “We’re helping those who would normally not have a support system. It’s a win-win in all directions.”
Some 300 artisans go to Yad LaKashish five days a week to participate in workshops, from bookbinding and ceramics to papermaking and metalwork.
The work environment is adapted to suit the capacities and limitations of each person, emphasizing the idea of acceptance regardless of an individual’s disabilities.
In return for their work, the Yad LaKashish participants receive a monthly stipend and benefits, including dental and eyeglass subsidies, gifts for the holidays and more.
“Yad LaKashish is an incredible place,” said Barkoff, who toured the facility with her husband, Rodger Barkoff, during the Beth Am excursion to Israel. “We get so much more than we give when we reach out. Beit Tzedakah will be our lifeline to Jerusalem.”