Wasilla City Council recognizes Education and Sharing Day

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council recognized Sunday, April 2 as Education and Sharing Day during the regularly scheduled meeting Monday, March 13.

Education and Sharing Day is observed on the 11th day of the month of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, which is four days before Passover. This means the holiday typically falls between March 21 and April 21. The 2022 holiday occurred on April 12 and the Wasilla City Council issued a proclamation much like it did this year, inviting Mat-Su Jewish Center Director Rabbi Mendy Greenberg to help commemorate.

“Giving charity every day is like a daily exercise. The more we move our kindness muscles, the more we reveal the inherent, selfless goodness that we all have inside of us,” Greenberg said during the March 13 Wasilla City Council meeting.

This year's holiday has extra meaning since it falls on the year of "Hakhel," a biblical event of unity, education, and spiritual growth emphasizing how every person is crucial to perfecting the world. Greenberg gave small charity boxes to council members after his presentation.

“As every one of us adds and increases in good and kindness the world will become a perfect and good place, a home for the divine through the coming of the Messiah speedily in our times,” Greenberg said.

Education and Sharing Day was established by the United States Congress to emphasize charitable acts through shared education in honor of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, commonly referred to as The Rebbe, who’s considered one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

“The basis for the continuity of any society is education; and in the great city of Wasilla the education of our youth is a priority… in order to achieve its highest goals, education must not only impart knowledge but also teach the students how to live, forming and strengthening their moral character to make a better life for themselves as individuals and for society as a whole; imparting moral and ethical values that have been the bedrock of society since the dawn of civilization, including the values known as the Seven Noahide Laws,” Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford said as she read from the proclamation. “A global spiritual leader and leading advocate for the advancement of education, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M Schneerson, stressed that a moral and ethical education empowers every individual to develop their full potential in making the world a better place.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com