The Jewish Nancy Drew
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The Jewish Nancy Drew

Hello all! A few months ago, I wrote an article about the Shabbounty Girls. These were the bat mitzvah girls who, for their chesed project, started selling pre-ripped paper towels for people to use on the sabbath (since some people believe that you should not rip paper towels — please consult your local rabbi with any questions. I just do what my Oreos tell me to do.)

In any event, all proceeds go to Zaka Israel, which is an incredible organization and, unfortunately, has been working around the clock since the atrocities of October 7. Shabbounty makes a great hostess gift or any kind of gift. You can follow them on Instagram @shabbounty, where there is an order form (and a great promotional video!) and if you are old like me, you can get in touch with them at shabbountygirls@gmail.com. Again, all of the proceeds go straight to Zaka Israel. These girls are really doing an amazing thing. By ordering, you are doing an incredible, easy and incredibly easy mitzvah. Which leads me into this week’s column and about the mitzvah my friend and I did….(I guess I should be doing more mitzvahs if I am writing about just one that I did…. OK, I will work on that.)

About four nights a week (we aim for five, but, sometimes, life gets in the way) my friend and I walk a pretty respectable four-mile loop. I am wearing my reflector, and she tries to walk far enough away from me so I don’t embarrass her (just kidding, I think). Anyway, last week we were walking and I am oohing and aahing over the beautiful holiday lights that we are passing. I am pretty sure that I have written before about how much I love this time of year and how much I really love the lights and decorations. Pretty things can take your mind off of not-so-pretty things — this year more than ever, unfortunately. In any event, we are walking along and, all of a sudden, I spot a large wallet on the side of the road.

In this day and age, an unattended package of any kind can cause some worry. I picked it up slowly, my friend was holding her arms out in case, I’m assuming, the package detonated and I would throw it to her. She is a really good friend. Then I realized it was a Coach wallet. Exciting!!! We/I opened it because she told me to look for identification, and I did. This wallet belonged to some supercool woman who worked for the Sheriff’s Department. There was a badge inside and everything! (Though, thankfully for her and me, there was no gun. That would have been very bad, but would have made a much more exciting column…)

So what do you do when you find a wallet that belongs to someone in law enforcement? You take all of their money and then put it back where you found it! Noooooo — you don’t do that, boys and girls. You call the Sheriff’s Department because, according to the website, they are open 24 hours, unless you keep choosing the wrong prompts, and no one answers. Yes, that happened a few times. You can do a lot in four miles, and it made the walk go so much faster! Win-win!

We finally get in touch with someone, who gets in touch with someone, who gets in touch with the woman whose wallet we have. She is already on her way home to wherever she lives and didn’t even realize that she left her wallet on the street. I was sent back to possibly her parents’ house to return the wallet (it was almost 10:30 at night) and all was going to be right in her world.

I dropped my friend off and we were all excited about the mystery we solved and the good deed we did. I put the address where I was to deliver the wallet into Waze, and off I went. Of course it turned out to be one of the houses with the pretty lights in front of it, and this adorable older couple was waiting for me outside. All’s well that ends well.

Please don’t forget to do your good deed and order Shabbounty!

Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is looking forward to having Strudel and her sister for the Sabbath…that makes her very happy. But she misses her Danish very much and hopes that everyone stays safe and well…

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