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Ethiopian-Israeli women get help job hunting
Life was difficult for Mulo, a 30-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli mother of two, after she achieved her dream of coming to Israel. She lacked the Hebrew skills and the self-confidence she needed to find work or even to make friends.
Mulo’s life took a turn for the better when a neighbor encouraged her to join the Eshet Chayil (Women of Valor) club, which prepares immigrant women for the Israeli workplace. It is one of the programs offered by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas partner of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.
Mulo began to attend weekly meetings and make friends with other members of her community who shared similar fears and experiences of isolation. She took Hebrew classes and job preparation workshops that taught her about interview techniques, family adjustment, and employers’ expectations.
After six weeks, Mulo felt ready to look for a job. Working with a mentor and the support of her group, she found work as a cleaner in a factory. There she met other employees and felt able to chat with them, gaining new confidence in herself.
As she continued to attend Eshet Chayil, her communication skills improved. When she found herself around computers, exposed to technology for the first time, she felt confident enough to ask her employer if she could learn this skill. With financial assistance, she took a computer course and was even able to buy one for her home.
Today, well on her way to a better future, Mulo mentors other women in her community. She is just one of nearly 1,500 Ethiopian-Israeli women who have benefited from the Eshet Chayil program, which JDC operates in 14 cities across Israel, in partnership with the Ministries of Absorption and Welfare and the Israel Women’s Network. The United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ provides funding to JDC for this and other programs in Israel and overseas.
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Caryn and Bruce had marital difficulties for years. Things got worse after Bruce was terminated from a mid-level executive position and was unable to find new employment.
Financial pressures mounted. Creditors started to call repeatedly. They fell two months behind on mortgage payments. At that point, Caryn’s parents offered to help, but Bruce resented the implication that he could not “provide” for his family.
Bruce started to go out nights, leaving Caryn alone with their two children, five-year-old Michael and six-month-old Sara.
The “straw that broke the camel’s back” came at the pediatrician’s office, when Caryn learned that the family’s health insurance coverage had lapsed. She asked her parents to renew the coverage and told Bruce to leave. Bruce reacted violently. The police were called and escorted him from the home.
Michael’s hysterical crying turned into a stony silence for days following. He refused to participate in school and would not speak with Caryn. He just stared with a blank and vacant look.
On the advice of her pediatrician, Caryn called Jewish Family Service (JFS) of MetroWest. Within a week, both Caryn and Michael had appointments with a JFS social worker. Caryn now participates in weekly counseling sessions, which help her explore options, manage her anger and anxiety, and make plans for moving forward.
Michael’s sessions involve both play and talk therapy. They provide an outlet for his anxieties. Through JFS, a psychiatrist evaluated Michael, and supportive techniques were provided to his teachers.
Caryn and Bruce have talked about seeing divorce mediation services, in an attempt to avoid a court battle. While Caryn and Bruce struggle with long-term decisions, Michael is focused on his graduation from kindergarten, hoping his father will attend.
A comprehensive social service agency, JFS offers a full range of counseling and support services, on a non-discriminatory basis. Confidential counseling services include support for families having marital difficulty, problems with child behavior and individual concerns. Through the Rachel Coalition, JFS provides 24-hour support for those affected by domestic violence. JFS is licensed to provide adoption services and also offers varied services for older adults. For more information, go to www.jfs-metronj.org or call (973) 765-9050.
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UJA has always been a family affair for Short Hills resident Lisa Lisser, but it was only after marriage and the birth of her first child that she really got her feet wet.
Lisa grew up in the MetroWest community, where her parents, David and Joan Zimmer, have long been UJA supporters.
She met her husband, Joshua, while they were both students at State University of New York at Binghamton, N.Y., and went on to Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review. For about six years, she practiced law in the pressure-driven world of a commercial litigator in Manhattan.
“Then I decided to focus on creating a home and community for my family,” she said. “I was very fortunate to be able to make that choice.”
Initially, she became involved with the Young Women’s Division of UJA-Federation of New York. About five years ago, she and her family moved to the MetroWest community. “A UJA professional from New York called MetroWest to let them know I was moving out here. The next thing I knew, I received a phone call from Mimi Heyman, who was then the president of Women’s Department, asking me to chair an outreach event. I accepted, and I really found a home there.”
Lisa is active in both Women’s Department and the Young Leadership Division, serving as liaison between the two. “We reach a lot of the same demographic group, and between both areas we have a full menu of programs and activities.”
Lisa has worked on both the programming and campaign sides of Women's Department. She has chaired outreach and education events as well as various campaign levels of giving. Currently, she is serving her second year as the vice chair of campaign for Young Women B'Yachad which covers young women's giving levels from $180 through the Pomegranate level of $1,800.
"Raising money is only part of what we do,” she said. “But without the commitment to raise the capital, we would be without the resources to provide the services that make MetroWest an outstanding community. That's why I have committed to reaching out to all women to teach about the blessings of philanthropy."
This year, Lisa looks forward to an exciting new initiative, Philanthropy 101. “This program will reach out to all women in our community with programs, mini-missions, and events designed to educate and inspire women to participate in the work we do here, in Israel and around the world.”
Last January, Lisa was privileged to co-chair a Women’s Department Mission to Israel, which gave her the exciting opportunity to meet with some of the people who are being helped through her hard work with UJA. Later this month, she’s returning to Israel on a Leadership Training Mission.
Lisa has participated in the Israel Advocacy Hasbara, a program sponsored by the MetroWest Community Relations Committee. She is currently a member of UJC of MetroWest’s Board of Trustees and Campaign Cabinet. One of the highlights of Lisa’s UJC experience has been the honor to serve on UJC’s National Young Leadership Cabinet.
In recognition of her outstanding service to the Jewish community, Lisa, together with Gayle Wieseneck, received the 2005 Julius and Bessie Cohn Young Leadership Award. Besides her involvement with UJA, Lisa is vice president of education for the Millburn/Short Hills Tziona chapter of Hadassah and serves on Temple B’nai Abraham’s board of trustees. Additionally, Lisa serves on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Diabetes Research.
Passionately committed to the Jewish community and her volunteer activities, she is also busy raising her three children – Noah, 9, Cara, 7, and Jessica, 4.
“As a mother and parent of the next generation of Jews, I feel responsible for helping to take care of the Jewish people,” Lisa commented. “I believe that that starts at home, but ultimately goes further to the broader Jewish community. My role is about sending that message to my community of women so that we all can become keepers of that responsibility and share in the mitzvah of making it happen.”
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Throughout the summer, volunteer leaders and staff have been busy preparing for the 2006 United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ, which will be officially launched this month.
“We’re facing some major challenges this year,” said UJA campaign chair Lori Klinghoffer. “Even though our 2005 campaign raised a record-breaking $24 million, we had to make painful cuts in allocations to our local partner agencies. No longer can we take large sums out of our ‘rainy day’ stabilization fund to pay for current expenses, so we have to raise more dollars to maintain present services.
“But we must go beyond business as usual in order to meet the pressing needs of our people, locally, in Israel and around the world,” Klinghoffer continued. “Our elderly population is growing and requires more services. Our young people need new, creative programs to connect them more strongly to their Jewish heritage.
“Thousands of Falash Mura are leaving Ethiopia for Israel,” she noted. “They and earlier arrivals need assistance to enter mainstream Israeli society. These are only a few examples of the many people who need our help! We ask everyone to join in meeting these urgent needs through the UJA campaign.”
“Women in our MetroWest Jewish community have always given the UJA campaign generous support, and we’re counting on them to rise to the challenge and make an extra effort this year,” said UJA Women’s Campaign chair Paula Saginaw.
“We’ve had opportunities to meet a few of the people we help on our missions to Israel and the former Soviet Union and on mini-missions in our local community,” Saginaw observed. “We’ve seen how much UJA-funded services mean to them…whether they’re youngsters in Cherkassy celebrating bar and bat mitzvah, Ethiopian Jews in Israel learning the ways of an unfamiliar culture, or some of our frailest elderly at Daughters of Israel.”
“Women have a wonderful tradition of caring,” Saginaw said. “We invite all MetroWest women to reach out to our extended Jewish family through the UJA MetroWest campaign.”
Live Generously. Nothing is more Powerful!
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“Born at the Beth” exhibit opens Sept. 15
Among the notable people born at the Beth were Philip Roth, Allen Ginsberg, and Jerry Lewis, observed JHS outreach director Linda Forgosh, who organized the exhibit.
Hundreds of people all over the country responded to a story in the New Jersey Jewish News requesting photos of people born at the Beth. The exhibit will also include all kinds of memorabilia and photos from the JHS collection. It will explain why a Jewish hospital was needed in 1901, when the Beth was founded, and will feature “Founders and Funders” of the institution that became a keystone of the community.
“If you were born at the Beth and graduated from Weequahic High School, you became part of MetroWest’s equivalent of the DAR,” said Forgosh.
Michael Stavitsky, one of the leaders in raising funds for Beth Israel in the 1920s and 1930s, described the hospital as “this community’s greatest collective accomplishment.”
Beth Israel was sold to Saint Barnabas Health Care System in 1996. The funds from the sale are being used by The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey to make its grants.
Tours of the exhibit for 1 or a 100 are available by appointment. Call Linda Forgosh at (973) 929-2994 or [email protected]. People are welcome to visit the JHS archives as well as the exhibit. Forgosh stressed the importance of being a member of the Jewish Historical Society and that the JHS is engaged in an ongoing collection of historical materials related to the MetroWest Jewish community. “If it’s in your basement, it’s better off in our archives.”
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Live Generously with UJC — It’s a Powerful Experience
In today’s world, brand recognition is important for non-profit organizations, as well as for corporations.
United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey has joined federations throughout North America in adopting Live Generously as an identifiable, national brand.
UJC MetroWest’s Marketing and Communications Department is featuring the new brand in all its materials, including the 2006 Case for Giving, the new Annual Report, a ten-month advertising campaign, and many other items now in the works.
Live Generously was born out of the recognition for the need to link Jewish communities to one another as part of a robust, national philanthropic network. It allows federations to stand both as independent pillars in their local communities and as participants in a greater, $2 billion annual enterprise, leveraging the collective clout of the entire system. A strong brand can and will make the difference.
Only 18 months ago, the idea of joining federations in a unified brand identity was just that – an idea. Today, more than three-quarters of the federation system has begun to Live Generously. UJC is committed to implementing Live Generously for many years to come – one of the tools for creating a stronger, more vibrant Jewish community.
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