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From the president, Kenneth R. Heyman At the beginning of February each year, all of us at UJC find ourselves at a very interesting time of the year, a time of year very appropriate to the work you and UJC accomplish together. click here to read more from the president |
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Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled brings out secret abilities for personal enrichment
click here to read the full story |
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H. Steven Roth When H. Steven Roth of Short Hills began his philanthropic efforts with UJC MetroWest, he did it with a clear, targeted objective. His project was directed by his personal values. Just a few months ago, Roth established the H. Steven and Nancy Roth Education Fund in honor of Ben and Ellie Roth to offer scholarships for college to recent immigrants to Israel who have served in the army and who now wish to stay in Israel, further their education there, and ultimately live there. to learn more about Steven, click here |
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Jewish Agency for Israel brings support to immigrant soldiers At the moment, there are approximately 2,500 lone immigrant soldiers serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They are young men and women, many from the former Soviet Union, who have left family, friends, and home to move to Israel on their own and defend the Jewish homeland. “I came to Israel to serve in the army and to protect the land that is ours,” said Daniel Schattan, who immigrated to Israel on his own from Brazil less than three years ago. The 23-year-old is serving in a combat unit in the IDF. |
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Between two celebrations of Tikkun Olam
At the beginning of February each year, all of us at UJC find ourselves at a very interesting time of the year, a time of year very appropriate to the work you and UJC accomplish together.
At the start of this month, we are halfway between Martin Luther King’s Birthday (January 15) and Presidents Day (February 18). Both holidays are commemorations of the principles we hold most dear, the principles that are the heart of Jewish heritage and our vision of our role in the world. Both holidays are dedicated to the values we celebrate when we say: Tikkun Olam.
Both Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday and Presidents Day are dedicated to freedom and to the dignity and value of every individual life.
On Presidents Day, we remember two of our greatest presidents: George Washington, who led us to freedom from tyranny and began our journey towards becoming a nation in which all people are considered to be equal, and Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery and fought to preserve the ideal of a nation committed to freedom for all.
And it was Martin Luther King, Jr. who taught us that the time for freedom and for the dignity of every individual is now. And he taught us that the time must soon come in which all people “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
It is a universal vision, a vision at the heart of the American promise and at the core of Jewish values, for it is a vision in the hearts of all good people. It is the vision of Tikkun Olam: the vision of repairing the world, the vision of healing the world. It is the vision of liberty and justice for all.
We have all been taught this lesson, by the wisdom of the Jewish heritage, by the great leaders of America, but there is still more work to be done. There is more work needed to see that everyone can live in dignity and with equal justice.
There is work to be done when there are Jews in the MetroWest community suddenly unemployed and in need of job training and job placement, and our partner agency Jewish Vocational Service is there to help them. There is work to be done when middle-aged Jews are in need of housing and financial support, and Jewish Family Service is there to help. There is work to be done when Ethiopian immigrants to Israel are in need of counseling and financial support to help them make their way in a new culture, and our overseas partner the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee reaches out to give them the aid they require.
And there is so much more work that needs to be done, work that you make possible with your gifts and your volunteer efforts. It is work that is possible only because of you, only because you make it possible for UJC and our partner agencies to do what we know must be done.
And so we all celebrate together, celebrate the wisdom that is in every religion and every great tradition, the wisdom that is said nowhere so clearly as it is said in the Talmud: the wisdom of knowing the value of every single human life.
Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world. — Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:8 (37a)
Together,
Live Generously!
Kenneth R. Heyman
President
United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ
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Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled brings out secret abilities for personal enrichment
The WAE (Wellness, Arts, and Enrichment) Center, run by Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled (JSDD), is an alternative learning center with programs designed to assist people with disabilities to develop skills and self esteem, and to bring out their previous unrecognized talents in creative and artistic endeavors.
For many of the clients of JSDD, uncovering unrealized talents and capabilities for enrichment is exactly what the WAE Center does.
Mr. M is a JSDD client who is autistic and spends a great deal of his time self-stimming, which means clapping his hands and making sounds. He participates in several programs at the WAE Center: The Speaking Circle, meditation, and yoga.
“These are programs in which you need to sit down, be quiet, concentrate and focus,” observed Marilynn Schneider, program director of JSDD. “That was not something he could do. He would walk around the room while we were doing meditation or yoga. When it came to The Speaking Circle, he’d come in and check on us, to see we were there, and then he’d leave. Then, over the course of our hour together, he’d come back again to check on us.”
However, with time, patience, and acceptance, Mr. M began to participate in the circle more openly.
“At one point in time,” recalled Schneider, “Mr. M decided he could sit down for a second with us.”
Shortly after that, Mr. M began to sit in the circle for extended periods of time. “He sat down in the circle, put his hand on his leg, and closed his eyes. We could see that everything we were talking about he was taking in.”
Then, he started to look at each person, making contact and becoming fully present in the group.
“He showed us that this was something he wanted to do and that he understood,” Schneider explained, “but he had never experienced it. Today, he comes regularly to the circle and will sit for a period of five or six minutes at a time to meditate. He also actually gets on the floor to do yoga with a group of his peers.
“He participates much more fully in life, in areas where he’s welcomed, respected, and has comfort with a group or individual. He is more talkative and has become a much happier individual.”
Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled operates group homes and a supervised apartment that together provide housing for men and women who need and receive caring attention 24 hours a day the year round. Staff members work to help residents gain independence. They encourage residents to do as much of their own personal care as possible, and to participate in community life and enrichment activities.
JSDD provides Shabbat experiences, information and referral, and community education opportunities to developmentally disabled adults who live with family or in other agency homes.
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Donor Spotlight: H. Steven Roth
When H. Steven Roth of Short Hills began his philanthropic efforts with UJC MetroWest, he did it with a clear, targeted objective. His project was directed by his personal values.
Just a few months ago, Roth established the H. Steven and Nancy Roth Education Fund in honor of Ben and Ellie Roth. The fund will offer scholarships for college to recent immigrants to Israel who have served in the army and who now wish to stay in Israel, further their education there, and ultimately live there.
“I’ve always had the need to support Israel specifically,” Roth explained. “My family all lives in Israel, I’ve been there probably 30 times or so, I had my bar mitzvah there, and two of my children had their bar and bat mitzvahs there. I have the real sense that, if my own family didn’t live here, I would be enticed to make aliyah and move to Israel.”
The fund is not only a project intended to support Israel. It is also a commemoration of Roth’s parents, a project to honor their lives and continue the values they taught him.
“This fund is set up in honor of my father and mother,” he observed. “They are both survivors. My father arrived in Israel from the underground in Vienna in the mid-1940s, and my mother from Shanghai after fleeing Vienna. My father had a minimal education, not even high school, and my mother just finished high school. After being on a kibbutz, my father served in the War of Independence for Israel. Since they had no opportunity to continue their education, in their honor I’d like to give others a chance to get a good education, make a better life for themselves and their families, and support the state of Israel.”
Roth had the opportunity to notify his parents of the way he wished to honor them in a very special manner. UJC prepared a framed certificate commemorating the dedication of the fund to Roth’s parents.
“It was my dad’s 84th birthday,” Roth remembered. “He had just suffered a mild stroke and heart attack. They live in Florida, and I brought the certificate down to them. They became very emotional and were thrilled that the fund was created in their honor.”
What prompted Roth to begin the fund was attending a UJC-sponsored business and professional mission to Israel. Until recently, he had offered a lot of his support to family members and to his local community. However, during the mission, even after all his trips to Israel to see family, he discovered something new.
“When I did the mission with UJC, that drew me in,” Roth recalled. “On the trip, it was visiting with and seeing the needs of the Ethiopians. I could picture my parents as children or as young adults being in that same situation. I could actually see my family in need of this same kind of help. My father came to this country and worked as a receiving clerk in a clothing store. He became very successful in business and, before long, had his own clothing stores, because he had the drive and desire to do better. I saw that same desire in the Ethiopian community.”
The Ethiopian immigrant community is the first target population for the fund. “We’re hoping to get four or five kids to start, and we’ll pay for their college education at a public university.” However, Roth is looking for the fund to continue into the future, to grow, and to help other communities whose members need scholarship support and are looking to achieve a better life in Israel.
As much as the fund is a result of Roth’s family experience, it is being done for his family. “We are doing this together – my wife, Nancy, and my three children, Brian, Allison, and Michael. Just as my parents taught me the importance of philanthropy, that it’s necessary for us as people to help others, I want to continue that ideal in my family.”
And it is support for Israel that is the highest ideal for Roth, and is the ultimate goal for the fund.
“I believe that Jewish identity has to come from some core,” he observed. “And Israel is the core of Judaism. I do believe that if Israel were gone, that would be equivalent to another Holocaust. Without Israel, Jewish identity would just be lost.”
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Jewish Agency for Israel brings support to lone immigrant Israeli Soldiers
At the moment, there are approximately 2,500 lone immigrant soldiers serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They are young men and women, many from the former Soviet Union, who have left family, friends, and home to move to Israel on their own and defend the Jewish homeland.
“I came to Israel to serve in the army and to protect the land that is ours,” said Daniel Schattan, who immigrated to Israel on his own from Brazil less than three years ago. The 23-year-old is serving in a combat unit in the IDF.
“I am doing what I wanted to do. Still, it’s hard to be alone in Israel. Sometimes you want a hug from your mom or just to be close to family.”
The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), one of UJC MetroWest’s partner agencies in Israel, has a broad range of programs and initiatives designed to help lone immigrant soldiers like Schattan cope with the difficulties of adjusting to a new country and also maintain a dignified standard of living.
Four JAFI programs provide the agency’s principal support for lone immigrant soldiers.
The Lone Soldiers Project offers financial help to immigrant soldiers. As new immigrants, the soldiers receive a small amount of money each month from the government, in addition to a nominal salary from the IDF. In many cases, the money isn’t enough. The Lone Soldiers Project provides assistance such as pre-paid calling cards that soldiers can use to phone their families overseas and vouchers that can be used to purchase electrical appliances.
The immigrant soldiers, often living alone for the first time in their lives, often feel the strain of missing their families. “Sometimes I can be on the base for 30 days at a time,” Schattan observed. “Then when I get home, exhausted, I have to go to the bank and the post office, clean and do laundry and buy food. I don't have parents here to help like so many of the other soldiers.”
JAFI’s At Home Together program creates the kind of supportive family network that is crucial to the successful adjustment to life in Israel. The program matches lone immigrant soldiers with veteran Israeli families, families that know how to provide guidance, encouragement, and love.
JAFI’s Keshet program is also working to ease the emotional isolation experience by so many lone immigrant soldiers. The Keshet program flies their parents to Israel for a visit. During March of last year, the program brought 177 parents to Israel from 23 countries for a one-week visit each. Some of the parents had not seen their children for five years.
“I miss my boys every day and I dream of them at night,” wrote one mother in a letter of thanks. “Despite this, I am sure they are in the right place, both for their personal growth and because they have a purpose greater than themselves – the security of the land of Israel.”
Due to their backgrounds, about one-quarter of the lone immigrant soldiers are not recognized as Jewish according to religious law, something that can make life in Israel even more difficult for a new immigrant. For these soldiers and others who want to know more about their Jewish identity and strengthen their connection to their heritage, JAFI created the Nativ Jewish Zionist Identity Program.
In the program, soldiers learn about the history of the Jewish people, the Bible, and Jewish philosophy and practice. For those interested in becoming Jewish according to Jewish religious law, the Nativ Program also constitutes a basic step in the conversion process.
Russian-born Irina Etkin is one of nearly 6,000 soldiers who have participated in the program since its inception six years ago. “Nativ enabled me to go through the whole process of conversion with dignity," she said. “Now there will never be any questions about my children’s Jewish identity.”
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Birthright Israel trip inspires one young adult to active involvement in Judaism
When Judith Daniels took her trip with Taglit-Birthright Israel late last year, it was not her first trip to the Jewish homeland. But it was the first one that changed her life.
“Through this trip, I really became closer to my sense of Judaism and what that means to me,” Daniels explained. “It’s not so much a sense of spirituality per se, but more what being Jewish means to me, as well as becoming closer to Israel. The experience really inspired me to become more active in the Jewish community.”
Daniels lives in Hoboken now and works as a real estate agent in Short Hills, where she grew up. She traveled as a member of a Birthright Israel group sponsored by UJC MetroWest.
Taglit-Birthright Israel offers young Jewish adults, between 18 and 26, their first peer-group trips to Israel. Daniels had been to Israel four times before, “when I was in middle school, high school, in college, and then last year.”
Each of those previous trips to Israel was taken with her family. Her trip with Birthright Israel gave her a new perspective on the country, and on her heritage.
“Instead of just going with my family and seeing the sights,” Daniels said, “I learned about them this time. I learned the real meaning of what I was seeing. We learned about the history of Israel, about how it started. I thought that was very powerful. I’ve always been passionate about the issues of Israel. I would go to my library at school and in college, talk to my professors and my parents. But I didn’t really understand all the issues until now.
“We learned that Israel was intended to be a secular country and about how important women were in the formation of Israel. We learned how half the members of the first kibbutz were women. They were pioneers and were socially equal. I thought the kibbutz was socially forward in terms of equal rights for women.”
What most impressed Daniels was the even-handed presentation the group received from their tour guide.
“Our tour guide communicated effectively and gave us the facts and both sides of the story in a fair manner. I really understood what’s happening and why certain things are the way they are. We learned about the issues, such as the Palestinian conflict, for one.
“I had heard a lot of information from different sources in the past. I had heard from one side that the Jews had just come in and kicked the Palestinians out. And then I heard from the other side that the Jews bought the land fairly.
“We asked our tour guide a lot of questions. We spoke with a Palestinian person, and with a person who had been a settler in the Gaza Strip. We got both sides of the story. And we were able to get some truth, not just to say one side is right or the other, but to get actual facts about what happened.”
Daniels intends to turn her inspiration into concrete action. She is becoming active in AIPAC and is looking to become involved with the community of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. “I was really inspired by them. And I just want to continue going to Israel. And I’d like to see if I can help people go on this trip. Maybe I can recruit for Birthright Israel. I thought it was amazing and that as many people as can experience it should.”
And Daniels was immediately ready with a suggestion to help.
“I think it should be open to people who are older. I’m 26 years old and I just made the cut off. I think I had the benefit of better understanding things at my age. Being a bit older, I understood the issues more than some of the other people in my group did. I’ve had the chance to digest things more. I had already looked into it all and thought about it. I came in with a more serious mindset.”
Taglit-Birthright Israel trips are funded by private philanthropists through the Birthright Israel Foundation, by the government of Israel, and by Jewish federations throughout North America.
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