Queens, NY – Doctor Transforms Hobby Into Fundraiser For Jewish Organizations

Queens, NY – A Queens pediatrician has found a unique way to turn her passion for pottery into much needed funds for a local soup kitchen.

After moving her practice into new office space in Fresh Meadows, Dr. Alma Klein found herself in need of eighteen new mezuzas and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to display some of her hand crafted ceramic mezuzah cases. She was shocked to discover that her patients liked the one-of-a-kind cases so much that they wanted to buy them. Not wanting to turn her hobby into a business, Dr. Klein came up with idea to sell the ceramic mezuzah cases and donate the profits to charity. She bought a display case, filled it with more of her hand made creations, in the hopes that she might be able to sell a few of her mezuzas.

To date, the 54 year old Holliswood resident has sold seventy mezuza cases at a cost of $36 each.

After donating her earnings from the first fifty mezuza cases to Hatzala of Queens, Dr. Klein elected to send future proceeds to Masbia, the Brooklyn based soup kitchen with locations in Borough Park, Williamsburg, Flatbush and Rego Park.

“I wanted to find a charity that everyone, even my non-Jewish patients could relate to,” said Dr. Klein in an exclusive interview with VIN News. “My patients feel good buying the mezuza cases because they know they are giving money to charity and even some of my non-Jewish patients have bought them to use as gifts. Masbia has made me feel so great about this project and told me that the numerous small donations that they receive really help them get by.”

Alex Rappaport, executive director of Masbia, praised Dr. Klein for her support.

“The idea that people take their own initiative, do things on their own and help us fight hunger says something wonderful about the neighbors that we have on all four sides.”

Dr. Klein does not sell the mezuzas outside of her office and they are only available to her regular patients. She estimates that each mezuza case takes anywhere from fifteen to forty five minutes to create and that so far, she has created upwards of over one hundred mezuzas.