By Joshua Rosenstein, Assistant Editor, JTNews
All over the world, people have been sending support, money and much-needed resources to the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. Here in our local Jewish community, some young members are stepping forward to contribute to the cause.
Judaism teaches concepts like tzedakah, brotherly love, and caring for others, which may explain that so many local Jewish kids are putting together projects to raise funds for tsunami victims. All across town, Jewish schools have been emptying tzedakah boxes and designating funds for tsunami relief. The 5th-graders at Menachem Mendel Cheder baked three different kinds of cookies for a bake sale and contributed $145 to Chabad Thailand, an organization working toward relief efforts that has included food, shelter, 24-hour crisis updates, field reports, counseling, toys and more.
Seattle Jewish Community School kids designated all tzedakah collected during the months of January and February to an organization called Ziv, which will use the funds for tsunami relief through the Sri Lankan embassy in Israel.
“The kids are really enthusiastic,” said assistant head of school Cris Shatz, “We have collected more funds than for any other project.”
The kids at the Eastside Torah Center’s Community Talmud Torah Hebrew School are collecting toys and games for Chabad Thailand’s toy drive. Along with the toy drive, each student wrote a letter to the children affected by the tragedy. “I know almost for a fact that I couldn’t go through this pain and you should really be proud of yourself (seriously, after going through that you’re like a tank!)” said one letter from Emoniel.
“Dear Tsunami victims, I’m very sorry that all of you are homeless. I’m also sorry for your family members that got injured. Is there anything I can do to help? If you need anything, you can call me,” read another from a boy named Alan.
The kids have been collecting toys, games and books for the past few weeks. All the toys will be shipped to New York, where Chabad Thailand collects and ships them to Thailand to distribute them to the needy.
“We want to donate toys to the kids in the tsunami who got hurt, so they feel better,” said Aileen, 10.
“Each month we have a special mitzvah unit,” explains Rochi Farkash, director of the school. “This month it was ahavat Yisroel [brotherly love]. The kids wanted to show caring for others, so I called Rabbi Wilhelm of Chabad Thailand and asked what we could do to help. He suggested the toy drive. It might seem trivial when there are so many other needs, but on the other hand, the kids there really need positive distraction.”
Maria, 11, summed up the project: “We give letters to say we are sorry and toys to maybe make a tiny smile on their face—a little bit of positive attitude,” she said.
In Seward Park, a group of students put together their own project. Michelle Almoslino recalls watching coverage of the tsunami with her 10-year-old daughter, Marissa. A few days later, Marissa came home with a plan to raise funds for tsunami victims. She and several of her classmates from the Seattle Hebrew Academy had decided that they needed to do something.
Almoslino gave the enthusiastic fundraisers some names of organizations that were involved in tsunami relief efforts and the group of nine kids ranging in age from 9-12 met the next Sunday at the Almoslino residence.
“Their original plan was to bake cookies and sell them for $8 a dozen,” said Almoslino, “I convinced them that this wasn’t such a great idea.”
Then the kids decided they would go door to door in search of donations. So Almoslino wrote a letter they could use in collecting funds and watched then divvy up neighborhoods and foment a plan of action. It was pouring that day, but the kids wanted to start their plan immediately.
“I tried to keep them inside,” Almoslino said, “but by the end of the afternoon they were out knocking on doors and getting drenched. The first house they hit gave them a check for $50, which was encouraging. The kids went on to raise over $1,500 for an organization called Northwest Medical Teams International, which has volunteers working in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. On Tuesday, the kids went to Northwest Medical Teams and handed the check to the director in person.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” says Almoslino of the project. “They are so caring, they are mature enough to have thought about this and done it on their own. None of them say they are tired and want to quit, every Sunday they are out there knocking on doors.”
“They clearly learn values of caring from their Jewish education,” said Almoslino, “But I don’t know where they get the understanding that they can make a difference.
The leadership of the Seattle Hebrew Academy was not initially aware of the student’s efforts.
“We teach our students that every human being is precious in the eyes of God,” explained Head of School Rabbi Shmuel Kay. “I am proud of what our students did. Judaism teaches that we should help people in need—it is not just ‘charity,’ it is part of creating a just world. We like our students to take initiative, to show leadership, and clearly these students are prime examples of what our school teaches—solid Jewish values, compassion and leadership.”
Students at The Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle have wowed faculty members with their commitment to tikkun olam—fixing the world. Four middle schoolers, Adam Gilman, Marisha Medrano, Rachael Levens and Charles Cooper, met in the office of Assistant Head of School Rabbi Stuart Light for weeks, trying to organize a middle school response to the disaster. Eventually they settled on a parents’ night out fundraiser, complete with spaghetti dinner, talent show and movie. They raised over $1,500 and are currently deciding where to send it.
Noah Friedman, a 3rd-grader in Beth Fine’s class along with his younger brother, Ben, created their own walk-a-thon and raised $1,000 for Project Mazon. Fourth-grader Jacob Eisner was inspired by his class’s community service theme of disease and disability, so the intrepid 4th-grader went door to door around his neighborhood and raised over $600 single-handedly for Northwest Medical Teams. His class was impressed by his efforts and decided to donate additional funds from their tzedakah projects.
“The idea that ‘I can change the world’ is one we try and cultivate here,” said Rabbi Light, “but this is unprecedented. The immediate response to disaster is numbness, and the idea that these kids were able to stick with it, speaks to the fact that these are not kids, they are young adults.”