The Jewish Uniformed Service Association of Maryland is doing something sweet for the High Holidays: delivering honey cakes to veterans for Rosh Hashanah. It’s part of their Veteran Circle of Friends initiative, which allows community members to volunteer in ways that help Jewish veterans and uniformed service workers.
JUSA-Chabad has created other holiday-themed initiatives in the past, such as packing and delivering shalach manot on Purim and bouquets of flowers on Shavuot. They first launched the Rosh Hashanah honey cake initiative in 2023, during their first High Holiday season — and it proved so popular that they decided to bring it back for this year, as around 75 to 100 people participated in its first run.
“After how successful it was last year, we expanded [the program] and are reaching out to veterans who we may not have reached before,” said Rabbi Chesky Tenenbaum, JUSA-Chabad’s founder and executive director. “We’re really trying to broaden the scope of who we reach out to, and to bring a sweet new year to the veterans.”
The honey cake tradition actually did not originate with last year’s Circle of Friends initiative. Tenenbaum used to deliver cakes to Jewish first responders and veterans himself.
“The response from veterans was always one of gratitude,” he added. “I thought that the Circle of Friends could really take it to the next level.”
Additionally, JUSA-Chabad is hosting Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services for members out of the Chabad house’s new sanctuary.
Tenenbaum adds that if people want to get involved in the honey cake initiative, they can visit the JUSA-Chabad website or call him directly. In addition to delivering cakes themselves, participants can also nominate veterans and first responders they know to receive cakes, or they can sponsor the cake-making process directly through donations.
