So much politics!

Hi Parents,
    7th grade has been up to their elbows in politics! Last week Congressman Barney Frank spoke at Temple Ohabei Shalom the same day he announced he would not be running for re-election. We learned a lot about politics on that day, but more importantly we learned the power of words and the damage of misinformation. This past Monday, we became politicians ourselves and had to work in groups and decide how to allocate funds. There were a lot of disagreements about how we should divide the money and who needed it most. Feel free to continue the conversation at home or ask your children how they chose to divide up the $500,000 they were given. (see below for exact handout)  As our social action class continues, I want to remind you of a great community service opportunity. Temple Ohabei Shalom and ARS are having a toy drive. Toys will be donated to the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center. Bring in unwrapped toys this Monday! We'll be bringing toys over to the Clinic the next day. This is  a great opportunity for you and your children to give toys to those less fortunate during the holiday season.
Every day we start class by going around the room and talking about:
1. a good deed we did
2. a good deed we witnessed someone else do
3. or a moment when a good deed was in need.
Every week your children amaze me by the incredible giving actions they do, by the sensitivity they have, and the courage they have to make the world around them better.
Have a great week!
Gila

You are a Politician Lesson:

You are a political committee designed to work how to allocate funds:

You have $500,000 that can be spent in anyway.

Here are the following requests from your community and voters.

The home for elderly:

Each year you give them $56,000 to help with building maintenance and the cost of one resident to live there at lower cost. This year the home for the elderly’s roof got damaged in Hurricane Irene and their activity room is not usable. They are requesting $75,000 to repair their roof.

After school care:

Each you this committee puts aside money to give to each public school in the area to pay for free afterschool childcare for children in the public school. It costs $125,000 to run these programs: to pay for building maintenance, staff, and the extra supplies. Because of the economy and the need for more parents to work a second job, an increase in children at each location has risen by 53%. The after school programs are extremely short staffed and in need of extra supplies. This year they are requesting $253,000.

Street and building repairs:

Each year unexpected damage and upkeep lead to about $53,250 in expenses to maintain roads, schools, churches, government buildings, parks, and historic sites around Boston. These projects also help keep city employees with work and paid. This year there is a need for $70,000 worth of work to do. With the extra hours of work you will also have to pay employees extra. If you decide to use less than $53,250 you will be cutting jobs.

City festivities:

Each year the city puts on parade, carnivals, and holiday celebrations that are great for the community but cost about $250,000. Cities and towns love the extra tourism and therefore money they make during these celebrations. They are asking to continue having the $25,000 spent for these celebrations.

Art programs:

Boston is a city of culture and we have many artists, scholars, thinkers, and musicians in our midst. The arts in school are always the first to be cut when there is a budget crisis. Last year the committee choice not to pay the annual $23,000 for the arts programs. Teachers were out of jobs and kids were without art, music, and theatre programs in their schools and communities. The Coalition of Art Teachers has asked you rethink your decision and go back to paying the annual $23,000 so teachers can once again have jobs and kids can be artistically creative.

Soup Kitchens and Shelters for the Homeless

This committee saw the need for homeless shelters and soup kitchens before many other cities were taking on that responsibility. Your committee prides itself on how they take care of the homeless. While other cities “bus” their homeless to warmer states for the winter, Boston wants to create infrastructure to take care and protect the homeless population. In the beginning the committee paid for all of the soup kitchen and shelter expenses in the city. As demands grew, the city had to make staff of the kitchen and shelters more responsible for their own fundraising. Over the years the kitchens and shelters have been independent and able to raise their own money. Unfortunately, demand for shelters and soup kitchens is rising, with less people able to donate to help maintain them. The kitchen and shelter staff is asking for $175,000 paid in four parts to help pay for food and electricity and heat for buildings.

Assisted living for people with mental disabilities:

Each year the government helps support assisted living for people who have mental disabilities and job training programs. Last year they gave $300,000. This year these programs are requesting the same amount of money to be able to keep everyone in a home and working at minimum wage paying jobs.

Immigration services:

Boston is a port for people who come from other countries. Boston, through the generosity of this committee, provides lawyer services, English classes, and food stamps for people who first come to the United States. $120,000 used to be enough to provide these services. Because of inflation and the increase of people immigrating the program now needs $260,000 and it might even be $300,000 by the end of the year.

College scholarships and internship programs:

We understand the importance of competitiveness and having people who go to college here stay and work. This committee has often given money for local business to give benefits to their interns to entice college students to stay in Boston and to help local business stay competitive. President Obama’s Americorps programs help but local businesses are still asking for an additional $10,000.

What is your solution:

Trip to Brookline Food Pantry

 Dear Parents,
     Yesterday your incredible Seventh graders helped deliver food to the Brookline Food Pantry. Thank you to Jim who was so helpful in explaining how the Food Pantry works and its' importance in our community. Did you know the food pantry used to have an expense of about $25,000 and now they expect to have an expense of $90,000 this year? The need for food has increased in our neighborhood significantly. One of the common misconceptions we had walking in was expecting everyone who used the service of the food pantry to be homeless.  Actually, most of the food at the food Pantry requires the use of a kitchen. Most people coming are working and have homes, but are still in need of assistance to have enough food. In a world where we can go shopping and fill as many bags as we want and when if hungry we can just eat more, people at the Food Pantry are allowed to come every two weeks and fill up one or two shopping bags (depending on if they are single or a family). Not everyone comes every two weeks, but the amount of visits most people make a year has increased over the years. Our students asked great questions and were impressed with the cleanliness and organization of the pantry. When we came back to Temple Ohabei Shalom we had a great discussion about the levels of Mitzvot. There are many roles people can play in fulfilling a Mitzvah from donating money, time, resources, etc. Anyone can do a Mitzvah (commandment, good deed) but what can we do to elevate a simple act to make it better. At the Brookline Food Pantry they ensure everything looks clean, that the waiting room looks beautiful, and people's anonymity is kept. We then asked if Mitzvah means commandment how do we feel that we are commanded to do these things? Would it be better if we came up with these acts on our own? How do we feel knowing it was commanded? Do you think people would take care of each other on their own without the commandments? I think you'll be amazed by some of the answers...
Enjoy pictures of our whole food collecting process from High Holy Day Collecting, to Mitzvah Day sorting, to Food Pantry delivery...

 The amount of food shown here TIMES 2 will last HALF A WEEK at the Brookline Food Pantry.

Pictures from our Trip

Trip to Rogerson House

Hi Parents,
  This past Monday the 7th grade B'nai Telem class went to Rogerson House, an assisted living home for people with Alzheimers disease. Thank you Josh Paris and Missy Sternlicht for volunteering to drive us all there! For those who were not able to join us, I hope you ask your children about the experience. We started the night with a talk from Danielle, a dance and movement therapist. She talked about how she uses her passion for dance to help people who have lost the ability to communicate. We then went to the dining room where we had different activities set up at different tables and people were able to join in the activities. Ben, Jake and Max played Yahtzee with Gertrude and Sylvia and together laughed the whole time. Their patience impressed me as they explained each turn how to throw the dice. Zoe and Enna made beautiful flower bouquets with Barbara, Jean, and Rosemary. Evan and Mr. Paris almost completed a whole Norman Rockwell puzzle with Mary and Sammy. Isaac also worked on a puzzle, but I think it was his smile that made Tilla, Lois, and later Rosemary fall in love with him! The whole night was just one big party and some students have already requested to go back to see our Rogerson House friends, so if your children weren't able to come there might be an opportunity later.
  It was such a pleasure seeing your children interact so well with this very unique population. They had fun, asked great questions, showed respect and maturity the whole time, and gave Barbara, Gertrude, Sylvia, Mary, Rosemary, Jean, Sammy, Lois,  Tilla, and everyone else so much to smile about! I am so proud!
  I hope to see you all on Sunday for our Mitzvah Day clean up project. We will be meeting at Temple Ohabei Shalom at 9:00 am and then driving together to a Brookline park nearby to remove indigenous species and clean up garbage. Another fun day making the world a little bit better!

Letter to Parents

Charity begins at home, but should not end there

Dear Parents of Grade 7 B’nai Telem:

            Get ready for a fun and mind opening year at The Ansin Religious School. This year your wonderful, curious, and adventurous sons and daughters will be carving their place in the world through Tikkun Olam (repair of the World). In Judaism, there is a belief that God created the world, but left holes in order for us to fix and mend. As part of B’nai Telem, a curriculum written by The Jewish Community Relations Council, your children will learn about these holes and what we can do as individuals and a greater community to fix them. Our class will learn through Jewish text, modern culture, and monthly field trips. As parents, you set an example, and we would love for you to help with transportation for field trips, by reading our blog (http://bnaitelem.blogspot.com/), and by continuing our class discussions with your children on the walk or car ride home after class. As part of our first class I have asked our students to think about what they are passionate about, and what is a hole in the world they would like to see fixed. I would then like them to add these two things together and come up with a way to use their hobbies and passions to solve that specific problem. We discussed a few examples of current people doing just that; using their passions to help the world around them. Check in with our blog next week to see what our class has come up with. I thank you for bringing your children to ARS so we may learn together. Please feel free to get in touch with me anytime. I am already amazed by your kids and would love the chance to meet you as well.

Gila Yudewitz

617-277-6610

gyudewitz@ohabei.org