October 06, 2008

Puzzling Bar Mitzvah Project

Rabbi Neal Gold is an old friend who we have known since his earliest days in Rabbinical School. Now the Rabbi of Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, Massachusetts, we can always count on Rabbi Gold to send us leads on some pretty spectacular tzedakah or mitzvah ideas. We were not disappointed yesterday when an email arrived sharing the story of Max Wallack, one of Rabbi Gold’s students who recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. After reading a bit more about Max in Rabbi Gold’s email I knew that I wanted to speak with him and so I sent Max an email asking him when we might have a few minutes to chat. In a very short time he responded and suggested this afternoon "after he returned home from school". (How many times have I had to wait until late in the day after school hours to talk to some amazing mitzvah kid? Many!)

I was not disappointed as Max was a thoroughly charming young man who conveyed his excitement about this project and his wish to help other kids do the same thing in their own community. Here is what Max shared with me:

About a year and a half ago, my great grandmother who lived with my family, died of dementia. I had spent a lot of time those last few weeks visiting her in dementia units after she could no longer be at home. I saw how bored and agitated the patients were. I read a lot about the illness and discovered many research articles that showed that doing jigsaw puzzles could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, or even slow down their progression in affected patients. I decided, initially for my Bar Mitzvah project, to collect puzzles and donate them for the use of these patients. I wrote many emails to companies all over the world. More than a dozen companies sent puzzles. One company producing art puzzles even sent them at their own expense ($197) from Italy!! Initially, I was hoping to accumulate a hundred puzzles.

As the week went by, I became more and more involved in my project. I decided to make a website, and to place collection buckets around the area I live in. I now collect from about 15 locations over a 20 mile radius from my home. I’ve just reached 500 puzzles collected. I’ve also been talking to some students at a local college. Some of them have been told they can get credit for community service for helping me. We are trying to set up a lollipop sale, where I could make Halloween and Thanksgiving lollipops, and they would sell them on campus. All the money would go to purchase more puzzles. I also hope to eventually be able to form my own non profit agency to continue this work.

I have absolutely no doubt that Max’s wish to start a non-profit will come to fruition. He has not only succeeded in coming up with a fabulous Mitzvah Project, he is also a recognized inventor who, despite being just 12 years old, has already invented the Carpal Cushion (a special cushion to be wrapped around the wrist to help people who do tasks with repetitive motion), the Great Granny Booster Step, a special step to help elderly and handicapped people climb into minivans and SUV’s, and the Walk and Wait Cane– a cane with a sturdy fold out seat attached, suitable for elderly people as well. Max told me that he thinks that he has a responsibility to help other people by using his particular skills…we would have to agree!

For more information on Max’s project, visit http://www.puzzlestoremember.org/ or write directly to Max to learn how you can do this in your community. Max can be reached at inventorkid@gmail.com.

Pretty awesome…

October 02, 2008

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

For most Israelis, life goes on fairly routinely since the end of the terror attacks that rained down upon the country for so long beginning in the year 2000. For the people of Sderot in the South, life is anything but routine or normal. Subjected to ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza, Sderot is a city in trauma. Originally settled by immigrants from North Africa, today the municipality of about 20,000 is home also to many from the FSU. Ongoing rocket attacks have left a population that almost universally suffers from PTSD. Anyone who has the economic means to leave has done so, while the remaining population has had to "make adjustments" in their daily lives.

We recently learned about a beautiful effort started by a number of Israelis who wanted to just do something to help the city’s residents. We were intrigued and upon further investigation were introduced to Yossi Cohen*, a private citizen who, along with family and friends wanted to help people in Sderot on a person-to-person level. As Yossi recently wrote to me:

Their (the group’s) principles are: direct contact with families and individuals who fall through the cracks of the social services; no publicity, no expenses or overhead costs, and pinpointing the needs with the help of local social workers and activists…."

This sounded very interesting and after several further exchanges with Yossi we learned about a young Ethiopian woman, C.W. who, as the divorced single parent of a young daughter, lived in Sderot with her mother. When Yossi and his friends met C.W. they were impressed by her earnestness and her strong desire to get an education (something her former husband would not allow) so that she could support her child and her mother in a meaningful way. Through the generosity of one individual, C.W.’s education and modest living expenses were underwritten and the group received regular updates on her progress in school. By strange happenstance, Yossi recently learned that C.W.’s apartment was in foreclosure due to circumstances related to actions taken by her former husband and over which she had absolutely no control. How could he and his group resolve this new problem which surely threatened the outcome of C.W.’s attempts to complete her education and become self-supporting? Through a series of phone calls and meetings with banks and attorneys, Yossi managed to get the bank to reduce the amount owed and with the help of others including the Good People Fund, the loan was retired and C.W. and her family are no longer faced with the threat of losing their home and a possibly brighter future.

What could be better? To think that this all happened because of the actions of a small group of concerned and involved people who believed that it was their responsibility to help. We like the way this small group works-they surely "get it".

*not his real name

September 22, 2008

Hurricanes and the Jews in Cuba

June Safran is a perfect example of a good person. Based in Berkeley, California, June, as head of the Cuba-America Jewish Mission (http://www.cajm.org/), has dedicated a good part of her life to improving the lives of the remaining Jews living in Cuba (as well as those who have made aliyah from Cuba). For years she has traveled on her own or with groups, introducing them to this small and yet vital community. She and the many volunteers who work with her have encouraged and fostered a return to Judaism, both culturally and religiously.

This afternoon’s emails included one from June which shared information about the very serious effects of both Hurricanes Gustave and Ike which were the greatest natural disasters in the history of the island. No aspect of life in Cuba has been untouched–hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, infrastructure ripped asunder, and the country’s agriculture (critical to both those living on the island and for export) nearly completely destroyed. June shared that there will be critical food shortages for many months to come.

Could we help? With June’s extensive network, one of her volunteers would be traveling to Cuba in a few weeks and could facilitate some type of food relief. This was something we felt we had to do-Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh L’Zeh-every Jew is responsible for every other. A check is going out today.

September 19, 2008

Challenging Kids for Tzedakah

The Seattle Jewish Community School has a rich tradition of teaching tzedakah at all age levels. Our good friend Amee Sherer, a teacher in the school, called us just as school was about to begin and asked if we had connections on the Gulf Coast where hurricanes (or tropical storms) were rolling in on an almost daily basis. The school would like to partner with the Good People Fund in helping those impacted by the storms’ destruction-possibly with a school where a personal connection could be made between the Seattle and Mississippi students. Tzedakah collected during the first month of school would be donated to us to be disbursed as we uncover needs.

We knew that it would not be difficult to find a worthy recipient of the tzedakah…so many schools (and families) were still reeling from Hurricane Katrina of three years ago, let alone from the recent storms.

Wanting to give the kids a little "kick start" to their first collection of the year, we told Amee that we would match whatever the kids raised, up to $250. This was a challenge that no one wanted to turn down! We can’t wait to see what the school collects…we’ll let you know and also share how the funds are to be used.

Kid Power!

September 18, 2008

Sometimes It Really Does Take a Village Part II

On September 8, 2008 (Sometimes It Really Does Take a Village) we shared with you the story of two women in Israel who have taken it upon themselves to enlist their neighbors’ help in providing food and other needs for families in the vicinity who do not have the means to do so themselves.

This morning, at about 6:45am our time, I received an email from one of the women, who shared that they had picked up the holiday food coupons that we had purchased on their behalf (they were thrilled!); but that they were short a few hundred dollars in their wish to provide new shoes for the children in these families. Could we help?

By 7:30am we had exchanged several emails relating to the shoe purchases and by 8:40 we were on the phone with the shoe store in Jerusalem making the financial arrangements to get the shoe purchases completed.

In less than two hours from a distance of about 6000 miles it was all arranged and several children will have new shoes with which to start the New Year!

It doesn’t get much better!

September 16, 2008

Package From Your Home

Barbara Silverman was a wife and mother and grandmother (albeit one with a rich legacy of activism that goes back decades) when terror attacks broke out in Israel in 2000. Frustrated by her strong desire to just do something, she gathered friends and families and started preparing packages that were sent off to soldiers serving on the front-lines. When an email was sent off to some friends and family funds started to arrive and A Package From Home was started. Today, the organziation has sent out more than 140,000 packages and hundreds of Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids have made the program part of their own mitzvah project.

This past summer, A Package From Home was asked about the possibility of providing a weekend away for several soldiers who were seriously wounded during the last war in Lebanon (2006) and were still hospitalized, undergoing difficult and painful treatment. Once a donor was found, Barbara proceeded to make plans and ultimately six soldiers were given permission to leave the hospital. In Barbara’s own words:

… on Thursday evening we arranged a wonderful banquet at one of Jerusalem’s finest meat restaurants. The first of the soldiers to arrive was Amit wearing a brace on his head and upper body. He was accompanied by his father and a young woman aide. As he got to the table I observed his girlfriend putting her hand underneath one of his arms to steady him as he slowly tried to seat himself. He looked up at her with an adoring smile, gently turned her hand over and very tenderly kissed her fingertips. The other soldiers arrived shortly thereafter and a festive meal was had by all. After dessert, each soldier was presented with a special gift of sweets by A Package from Home…and they were taken to the Ramat Rachel Hotel where they were cordially welcomed. The hotel… warmly greeted their guests and graciously supplied a special basket of fresh fruit in each room.

Friday morning after a sumptuous Israeli breakfast, they set out to visit a goat cheese farm at Sataf. Back at the hotel, those who were able took advantage of the swimming pool before they got ready for Shabbat. That evening, they were served a sumptuous meal. Saturday they rested and enjoyed a full board of culinary delights.

Each of the soldiers remarked what a pleasure it was to have a change from the hospital environment and food and expressed their deep gratitude…

Take a look at http://www.apackagefromhome.org/ to learn more about Barbara’s work and perhaps contribute to her efforts. She is doing very special work.