On Wednesday, March 24, 2021, WCU Hillel kickstarted their virtual speaker series with the admirably selfless Micah Kaufman. Kaufman delivered an inspirational presentation on his emotional journey, titled “The Art of Good Deeds.” It was the kind of event and presentation that shakes you to your core and makes you want to reach out to others. Kaufman highlighted many things, but above all, showed that one of the most important things we can do in life is give back to others.
The story behind this event, though, began in May of 2019, when Elizabeth (Lizzie) Gittleson, first met Kaufman. They met at a kidney donation awareness event in Teaneck, New Jersey, and the event was hosted by an organization called Renewal. Kaufman had donated his kidney to an 85-year-old grandmother just two weeks before that event.
And as Gittleson and Kaufman’s paths crossed, the community also came together to support Gittleson’s father. Gittleson’s father at the time was in desperate need of a life-saving kidney transplant. Her father eventually did receive the transplant and, with it, a new lease on life on Dec. 5 of 2019.
Unfortunately, just two weeks later, Kaufman was struck by a car in New Jersey while on his way to visit a recovering kidney donor in New York City. Kaufman’s initial diagnosis didn’t look good, with no possible chance of a meaningful recovery ahead. He had sustained traumatic brain injuries and remained unresponsive in a coma for over a month. It was only through immense strength, perseverance, family and community support, and the will of God that Kaufman was able to make a monumental recovery.
Recently, Kaufman has begun to return to his true love of service to others, or “chessed,” and hopes to inspire others along the way. In Jewish tradition, chessed means giving oneself fully with love and compassion in the form of good deeds and charity. His goal is to inspire young people, especially college students, to do good deeds in their communities.
Upon attending Kaufman’s presentation this past Wednesday, I was greeted by an overwhelming sense of renewed responsibility to help others. After being overrun with emotion, I was overtaken with ideas to aid my community. The attendees were first shown a video outlining the events leading up to and after Kaufman’s accident. After the video, he talked about his journey and what he is doing now as a part of continuing his passion of service to others. All in all, I was inspired, moved and left in awe of the resilience we as individuals can display. His presentation was the first in a succession of presentation’s in Hillel’s series, presentations you can attend.
As the newly-elected President of WCU Hillel, Gittleson invites you to join the organization and its members on a journey of spiritual awakening through their speaker series. All members of the WCU community are welcome and invited to attend any and all of the presentations within the series.
In addition to their speaker series, WCU Hillel is co-sponsoring a set of other series and events with the Office of Wellness Promotion in their Game of Well-Being. Participation in tagged events on RamConnect will earn students credit towards a Game of Well-Being badge. For more information, check out the following links or contact the email listed below.
EG938538@wcupa.edu or WCU Hillel RamConnect:
https://ramconnect.wcupa.edu/student_community?club_id=19821 WCU Hillel Website- https://wcuhillel.org/
Wellness Promotion RamConnect:
https://ramconnect.wcupa.edu/student_community?club_id=20016 Wellness Promotion Website- https://www.wcupa.edu/_services/wellness/default.aspx
Elizabeth Gittleson is a second-year Microbiology major with minors in Psychology and Civic & Professional Leadership. EG938538@wcupa.edu
Evan Brooks is a third-year Business Management major with minors in Economics and Civic and Professional Leadership. EB916132@wcupa.edu
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