For the 10th year in a row, men of the Brotherhood at Temple Beth Hillel served Thanksgiving meals with all the trimmings to guests at the temple and, in partnership with Grandparents as Parents, to those who were unable to leave home. This year they prepared enough for 1,000 Thanksgiving meals.

Brotherhood member Scott Tessler, a professional chef, cooked up the idea of the public feast back in 2000 and has been spearheading the effort ever since.  The Brotherhood seems to be on the forefront of food service at the synagogue, dishing out a pancake breakfast on the first day of religious school and serving lunch during Mitzvah Day. As temple President David Reff says, "We're always barbecuing for different events." The Temple Brotherhood also planted the temple's community garden.

Her voice froggy from a cold, Rabbi Sarah Hronsky declared the day "a good, joyful day."  The feast is made possible by monetary donations from temple members and friends, she said.

I saw some familiar faces from the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry, this time breaking bread at the temple, which also serves as the storehouse for Pantry provisions. Volunteer Peter Brezovics and his wife dug into a succulent turkey meal.

The temple parking lot was bright with orange T-shirts worn by volunteer greeters and servers who arrived early enough to snag one while they lasted. Latecomers  Henry Platt and Michelle Hudson are not members of the temple but found out about the feast online after deciding only last night that, this holiday, they'd like to give back.

"Most of the time we just think about ourselves," Platt said. "I've just been learning that the more you give, the more you receive, the more you put into life, the more you get out of life."