Flowers to brighten heroes’ Shabbos Project

This year’s Shabbos Project will be a little more bountiful thanks to social entrepreneur Zvika Arran, who has created a Flowers for Shabbat project together with Shabbos Project founder Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein.

Flowers for Shabbat allows people to send flowers and messages on Shabbat on 6 November to people who have been drawn from an extensive list of heroes in South Africa and Israel. The list includes health workers in the frontline of COVID-19, teachers, elderly carers, food providers, Holocaust survivors, emergency response workers, laboratory workers, creators and artists, singles on welfare, and cancer patients, among others.

Visitors to the site (address below) can pick one of 50 different clusters, and automatically a name is generated that they can send a message to. Thousands of recipients are scheduled to receive a bouquet of flowers, and recipients can receive many messages from various senders.

Importantly the donation is free, and is funded by donors to the Shabbos Project. People can also make a small donation on the website along with their messages, which greatly helps to cover costs.

“We wanted to make the Shabbos Project more meaningful in Israel,” Arran says of his idea. “Shabbat in Israel is more common [than in the diaspora], so we wanted to offer something unique. The project is about the Shabbat value of giving to others you don’t know.”

In a virtual world of lockdown, Arran wanted to give something tangible, something people could smell and feel, and that would arrive at their doors.

The project, which was initiated in mid-August, involved gathering thousands of names and addresses of people in South Africa and Israel, and networking with a multitude of organisations. Just eight weeks later, it’s live.

It’s been a hit in Israel, with almost 33 000 messages written so far. Even Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is sending a bouquet. Messages have also come from all over the world. “Unexpectedly, thousands of donations are coming from the website as well,” Arran says.

Messages sent to South African teachers in Jewish schools from around the world include: “From one teacher to another, I hope that you are staying safe, well, and in good spirits! It’s an incredibly difficult job at the moment, but know that you are appreciated and admired by your students and the community!” reads one from the United Kingdom.

“Thank you for your service! We are all going through a tough time, and people like you are going above and beyond to help others, especially in such an important issue like education,” reads another from Brazil.To send messages and donate flowers, go to: https://flowers.theshabbosproject.org/en