Hi there. Happy Monday!

Kat here - I was included on an email between Emma and Linda Cohen and was immediately intrigued. Why? Well...read on!

Meet Linda:

 I started a blog last winter after my father died in his honor/memory called 1000mitzvahs.org. A mitzvah is a Jewish word for an act of kindness but over the past year and a half I have been working to do 1000 acts of kindness and celebrating them on the blog. My intention is to create a book from this blog. I found your website while I was looking at what else was categorized under the idea of Acts of Kindness. I thought I would share my blog with you. I know this year has been an incredible journey for me and that this blog has inspired many others to do some of their own kindnesses.

So what's a Mitzvah?

Mitzvah (Hebrew: מצווה, IPA: [ˈmɪtsvə], “commandment”; plural, mitzvot; from צוה, tzavah, “command”) is a word used in Judaism to refer to (a) the commandments, of which there are 613, given in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) or (b) any Jewish law at all. The term can also refer to the fulfilment of a mitzvah as defined above.
The term mitzvah has also come to express any act of human kindness, such as the burial of the body of an unknown person. According to the teachings of Judaism, all moral laws are, or are derived from, divine commandments.

This is amazing! I just checked Linda's blog today and already she was reached 643 mitzvahs. That's amazing! Linda, kudos to you and I am incredibly inspired by your pledge to commit 1000 acts of kindness. I'm not the only one inspired --

The journey in this project has been incredible. I have thought so much more about gratitude and acts of kindnesses, I have shared this idea and my project with my kids, my husband, my parents, teachers, friends and even strangers. The mitzvahs themselves have all been little, small doings, however collectively their has been a power in this project and I feel as though it has taught me so much. I will continue this project until I reach 1000 which I predict will likely be another 7-10 months (if the past several months are the prediction for that). I have loved every part of this experience and I know for certain that my dad and I are in this journey together somehow. I think about him alot and get to talk about him as well and for that I am quite grateful.

When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, I learned that my sister-in-law had been sending her flowers every year on her birthday. An act of kindness both ways, she was sending flowers but had no idea that my grandmother was in fact allergic to most flowers. She of course, never told my sister-in-law.

I was reminded of this fact today when I was walking to my car and overheard a small snippet of a conversation between friends. One woman asked the other if they should buy flowers for their other friend. The other woman responded that she was thinking the same thing and that it would be a nice gesture.

I have no idea why they both thought of buying flowers, but I was comforted by their act of kindness and that they both came upon the same kind act on their own!

Can I talk about an act of kindness that didn't happen?

I was walking from my office to the train station and I was carrying two heavy paper bags of brochures. See, I'm volunteering to represent my alma mater at a college fair for high school students and I wanted to carry some of the brochures home.

As I was walking along, one of the bags broke and brochures went spilling out. I was all, "oh man!!"

There on the sidewalk was a man, not 3 feet away from me, back against the wall just watching me. He didn't make the effort to help me gather up my brochures. He just stood there and watched. So self-consciously, I gathered them up and then the other bag's handle broke. So I was forced to hold both bags in my arms the rest of the way to the train station. Did I mention how heavy these bags were?

It's too bad for him because clearly there was an open window of an act of kindness. But he didn't take it!

Had it been me, I definitely would have helped. It's those small gestures that go a loooong way.

This just came across my desk:

 If you can take a momen to send love and strength to these babies and their families, please do.

And, the very next time you have an opportunity to tell your loved ones that you are so lucky and grateful to have them with you, please do.