Big Sunday is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Founded in 1999, it is responsible for an annual community service event in Los Angeles, also called "Big Sunday", which has grown from its beginnings as a "

Mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

Day" at a local

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

to become the largest such community service event in the United States.

History

The idea behind Big Sunday began as "Mitzvah Day", a project motivated by the Jewish concept of "''

tikkun olam ''Tikkun olam'' ( he, תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם, , repair of the world) is a concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world. In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to leg ...

''" (repairing the world), at

Temple Israel of Hollywood Temple Israel of Hollywood is a Reform Jewish synagogue in Hollywood, California founded in 1926. Services were originally held in the Hayakawa Mansion before the first Temple Israel building was established on Ivar Street under the leadership ...

, supervised by temple member (and Big Sunday founder and executive director) David Levinson.Jane Ulman
"Big Sunday: One temple’s ‘Mitzvah Day’ goes city-wide and inclusive"
''

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. ''The Journal'' wa ...

'', April 19, 2007. That event in 1999 had 200 volunteers, and has grown each year. It was renamed "Big Sunday" in 2003 to reflect the organization's secular and non-partisan openness. In 2006, the event partnered with Los Angeles Mayor

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary ...

to become an official city event, and reached 32,000 volunteers. Executive Director and Founder David Levinson was named California Nonprofit Leader of the Year at the inaugural Governor and First Lady's Medals for Service ceremony on June 22, 2009. In 2009, Big Sunday had over 50,000 volunteers participating in 500 projects around Southern California, including a neighborhood renovation project in

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

.Esmeralda Bermudez
"'Big Sunday' volunteers work their magic in Watts"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', May 3, 2009.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.bigsunday.org/ Non-profit organizations based in Los Angeles