Mitzvot as We Travel to Israel

As we finalize our packing for Israel, we will fulfill some mitzvot during our travels. First, some of us have collected excess school supplies and will be donating them to the Ethiopian Absorption Center in Jerusalem. This is the lesson of our tradition that we are following:
If there is a poor person among you... you shall open your hand to him... (Deut. 15:7-8) All Jews are like brothers and sisters, as we see from the Rambam in Hilchot Matnat Aniyim (10:2). As we learn in the Talmud, giving tzedakah is equal to all other mitzvot. (Bava Basra 9a) We also learn that one should give with a smile... and also offer kind words. Ultimately, by giving tzedakah, one demonstrates that one understands that the purpose of life is to help others, as it says, "This world is built on kindness: (Psalms 89:1).
The second mitzvah we will perform is Prayer. Our tradition has always taught that as a nation every individual is indispensable and the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is especially true in the world of Jewish prayer. According to the Zohar, Judaism's esoteric text, the power of prayer increases exponentially, as the number of people who join together to pray increases. A Jerusalem sage, HaRav HaGaon Mustafi, teaches that according to a formula derived from the Zohar:
1 person who says Psalms alone has the power of 1;
2 people saying Psalms together have the power equivalent to 21 individuals
3 people saying Psalms together have the power of 321 individuals
4 people saying Psalms together have the power of 4321 individuals
5 people saying Psalms together have the power of 54,321 individuals
6 people saying Psalms together have the power of 654,321 individuals and so on... With each individual that joins the group the power of the group continues to multiply exponentially so according to this formula, if there are 10 people in a group they have the prayer power equivalent to 10,987,654,321 individuals saying Psalms on their own!
We will bring your prayers to place into the crevices at the Western Wall as well as offer tzedakah to those in need. May all of us soon have a world filled with peace and wholeness.