Message from the Chairman

Nearly 17 months ago, Areyvut embarked on an ambitious mission - to revolutionize Jewish service learning in our day schools and congregational schools. Today with the publication of this inaugural e-newsletter, we have achieved yet another milestone in our young journey.

It is with great pride that we invite you to read through the newsletter. Learn about the cutting edge programs that Daniel Rothner, Areyvut 's Founder and Director, and his staff are implementing in schools across the United States. Read the many thought-provoking articles written by some of the most innovative minds in Jewish education. Most importantly, share your thoughts with friends, colleagues and family members.

Areyvut 's last 17 months has been all about milestones and growth. Through designing exciting, specialized educational programs and creating unique volunteer opportunities Areyvut has shown students in the following schools that they can make a difference: Your support over the last few months has been invaluable. Together we have reached hundreds of students and educators. Together we can continue to revolutionize Jewish education and inspire a generation of leaders.

For more information visit our website at www.Areyvut.org .

Ezra Tuchman serves as Chairman of Areyvut's Board of Trustees and is a Vice President at Eurohypo, a boutique Real Estate Investment Bank.


Fall Update: Areyvut In Action

Temple Anshe Sholom
Temple Anshe Sholom of Olympia Fields, IL has teamed up with Areyvut in an effort to deliver Jewish Ethics of Speech to our 6th grade students. This six week program specially tailored by Areyvut to meet the needs of our students, aims to increase our student's knowledge about the power of words. They are learning that how they say what they say can help others, hurt others, and reflects what kind of people they are.

The program is being well received by both the teachers and students. The students are learning about how to speak and listen to others and are able to retell stories or quote specific facts about the Areyvut lesson that day. After having the opportunity to visit a local nursing home, students came back excited and shared stories about the person they had met and about that person's life. Jewish Ethics of Speech is a valuable gateway to enable students to become aware of their use of language. We have already seen how this program has impacted the students and look forward to running similar programs with Areyvut in the near future.

Arielle Turover is the Principal of the Temple Anshe Sholom Religious School.

Learning to Give
Learning to Give is pleased to partner with Areyvut as we share the vision of teaching students about sharing, caring and advocacy for the common good. One of the projects on which we are collaborating is the development of a K-12 set of teaching units/lessons on four themes: Tzedakah, Tikkun Olam , Stewardship (the Environment) and Tolerance. The writing of these units coordinates with the opening of a new children's museum, "Shalom Street," in Detroit, Michigan under the auspices of the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit. The lessons will serve to enhance the museum experience for the students. These lessons will also be of use independent of the museum visit, and will be available on-line this spring.

Areyvut and Learning to Give look forward to working together in the future. We are planning to lead in-services for general and Judaic studies teachers on how to teach students about giving and sharing their time, talents, and treasures (philanthropy) from an interdisciplinary approach. We will create teacher support materials and integrate Jewish religious and historical traditions into existing Learning to Give lessons. As our partnership strengthens, it is our hope that teachers and students will benefit from both organizations.

Barbara Dillbeck is the Curriculum Director of Learning to Give ( www.learningtogive.org ) in Muskegon, MI.

The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan
In October, Areyvut co-sponsored a program "Putting the Mitzvah Back in Bar/Bat Mitzvah " with The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan for pre- bar/bat mitzvah students and their parents to address ways to enhance their experience and celebration through social action. The program enabled parents and students to hear from a group of experts about meaningful ways to incorporate important mitzvot as a significant step in becoming a Jewish adult, mensch and leader.

Ida Crown Jewish Academy
In October, Areyvut spoke with Rabbi Louis Fliegelman's sophomore class at the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago, IL about chesed and its importance. The purpose of the presentation was to empower the students to think "out of the box" in performing chesed and to think of ways they could make a difference. As a result of the presentation the students developed a school wide program to educate the school community about issues relating to Israel, raised consciousness and money for victims of terror and established a relationship with the Ark, a local social service agency. Students volunteered in the Ark's food pantry and will continue their involvement with the Ark by participating in several projects corresponding to the chagim .

Teacher Training
In November, Areyvut gave a session to day school teachers on "Building Connections and Enhancing Commitment to Israel Through Chesed Projects" for The Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York at their annual Israel Berman In-service Day at HAFTR in Lawrence, NY.

SAR
In December, SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY held a "Roots Fair" dedicated to exploring their Jewish roots. A centerpiece of the program was addressing chesed by having students visit various stations and participate in hands on tangible acts of chesed as this was central to the lives of our matriarchs and patriarchs. Areyvut worked with SAR to develop the themes and hands on chesed ideas for the program as well as facilitated partnerships with local communal agencies.

The stations included letter writing to Israeli soldiers to show support, the recitation of Tehillim (Psalms) for those in need of healing, writing birthday cards for senior citizens and making sandwiches to be distributed to the homeless. At every station the students were encouraged to think why each activity was indeed an act of chesed and to try to think of a Jewish source that supported their answer.


Areyvut in the Community

Bayside Cemetery
Bayside Cemetery of Ozone Park, Queens is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in New York City. The cemetery, founded in the mid-nineteenth century, includes the graves of Jewish veterans of the Civil War and subsequent conflicts. Many Jews of note are also probably buried there and the cemetery is surely both a wellspring of genealogical intrigue and a source of inspiration for all of us interested in issues of Jewish continuity. Unfortunately, the historical attributes of this cemetery, as well as the potential for possibly hundreds of living Jews to acquire plots in the metropolitan area, where Jewish cemeteries are rapidly approaching full capacity, remains unrealized because of the damage inflicted upon the cemetery by over 150 years of nature running its course as well as occasional cases of vandalism and desecration. Over the years Congregation Shaare Zedek of the Upper West Side has contributed substantial resources to support this cemetery, but it became clear th! at more than attention from Shaare Zedek was needed to keep up with the impact of mother nature on the condition of this cemetery.

Starting in the spring of this year Shaare Zedek publicized its "Cemetery Clean-up Days" to the Jewish community at-large. Through the immeasurable help of Areyvut , numerous synagogues and other organizations, the efforts were publicized to great success. Over the course of the spring and summer, ten clean-up days were organized, bringing in individuals and groups from Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island. Some of the days brought in as many as 80 people working together to chop, rake, clip, haul, weed-whack and whatever else was needed in order to try to fight back against the years of overgrowth. Great strides were made with amazing results, bringing parts of the cemetery back to a state that is respectful to those buried there and their families that visit.

Anyone interested in helping these efforts (clean-ups will resume in the spring) is encouraged to e-mail baysidecem@yahoo.com .

Ann Goldhirsch is a member of Congregation Shaare Zedek and is organizing the effort to clean-up Bayside Cemetery.


New Feature

We have just introduced a new feature of a monthly theme to the Areyvut site. The monthly theme will contain a related article, which is being cosponsored by Learning to Give as well as weekly sources, links and ideas for projects relating to the theme.
2004 Areyvut Monthly Themes Calendar
January Ethics
February Hunger
March Poverty
April Israel
May Saving Life
June Elderly
July Children's Health
August Tzedakah/Philanthropy
September Tikkun Olam/Volunteerism
October Shalom Bayit
November Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh B'Zeh
December Teens Give Back


Annual Lecture

The second Annual Lecture will be held in Manhattan on Monday, May 3, 2004 at 7:30 PM and will feature acclaimed author and scholar Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. Rabbi Telushkin, a member of Areyvut's Advisory Committee, is the author of several books on ethics including Words That Hurt, Words That Heal , The Book of Jewish Values and most recently The Ten Commandments of Character .

We are extremely pleased that he has agreed to present at this years lecture and request that you save the date. Additional details about Rabbi Telushkin's presentation will be forthcoming.


Support

Omnicare Charitable Foundation
In September, the Omnicare Charitable Foundation awarded Areyvut a grant for the 2003-2004 academic year to be used for programming in the Midwest.

CountOnMe
Areyvut is participating in CountOnMe, a fundraising program that allows us to earn money when our supporters shop online. Participating in this program is free. For additional information about the program and to sign up please visit http://www.areyvut.org/Support/supportintro.asp .

Matching Funds
Now through January 31st all contributions to Areyvut will be matched dollar for dollar for a total of up to $25,000.

Your support will enable us to maintain our programs and provide us with the ability to service additional schools, synagogues and communities. We hope that you include Areyvut in your beginning of the year philanthropic giving.

Visit http://www.areyvut.org/Support/match2006.asp for more information.

Spread the Word
You are finishing our first quarterly e-newsletter and we encourage you to invite your colleagues, friends and family to sign up to receive future e-newsletters. All they need to do is visit www.Areyvut.org/email.asp and provide their information.

The Bottom Line
From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
Arthur Ashe, Athlete


Wishing you a happy, healthy year and together may we make a difference.

Areyvut
130 West 42nd Street, Suite 2700
New York, NY 10036
212-221-5910
www.Areyvut.org