Spring 2008 School Initiatives

Ben Lipson Hillel Community High School
Goal: To create a stronger sense of unity in the school and to allow for a stronger expression of culture.

Method: Hillel students will create a stage on a patch of ground in the middle of the parking lot called the “Ruach Rock.” On the stage, Hillel students will hold concerts, classes, and chessed events.

Beren Academy of Houston
Goal: To connect students with special needs to Judaism and other Jewish students.

Method: Beren students will run different events to interact and engage special needs students around topics related to Judaism.

Fuchs Mizrachi School
Goal: To educate Mizrachi students on topics related to Israel; specifically how to defend Israel when confronted with criticisms.

Method: Mizrachi students will have monthly media presentations on different Israeli topics followed by discussion in smaller groups.

Hebrew Academy of Nassau County
Goal: To develop chessed projects for families in Sderot

Method: HANC students will utilize their school spirit to create a chessed themed color war that will be a vehicle for developing and distributing necessities to needy children in Sderot.

Ida Crown Jewish Academy
Goal: To increase awareness about Israel in ICJA.

Method: ICJA students will create an Israel Club that will coordinate a number of chessed activities that connect students to Israel. The activities will be highlighted at a Yom Ha’atzmaut fair at the school.

Kushner Yeshiva High School
Goal: To help the world and their school while creating a sense of activism in their school

Method: “Kushner Kares” will partner both students traveling to Israel and those staying in the US with an orphanage to raise money for and do chessed with.

Northwest Yeshiva High School
Goal: To increase school unity and chessed within the school.

Method: NWYHS students will create different chessed projects for students to get involved with.

Yavneh Academy of Dallas
Goal: To help and encourage more students to be involved in extra curricular programming.

Method: Dallas students will create a student discretionary fund to assist students financially in order to participate in extra curricular programming through year long fundraising efforts

Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA)
Goal: To educate MTA students about better health practices.

Method: MTA students will create a new health program for the school, educating students about better food and lifestyle choices, and making workout equipment on campus more accessible.

Westchester Goes Green

The impact of Eimatai was colossal on the students of Westchester Hebrew High School. The students that attended the program from WHHS put to use all the skills they learned from the program. The students Nili Yaari, Robbie Schrag, Dani Haramati Daniel Revkin, Hannah Lubart, and Lexi Milstien managed to put together a school-wide recycling program. With the help of their Eimatai advisor Caren Abitbol, they utilized all their leadership traits developed on the program, to inspire other students in their school to be more aware of the environment. The teens got their high school to dedicate one week to environmental awareness and ran programs that included a speaker from the NY Times, an environmental debate, and a recycling program.

A truly heated debate over environmental issues hastily engulfed the school during environmental awareness week. The school got an expert speaker working for the NY Times to come and discuss his views on the topic. “Once the debate got going it seemed like a perpetual stream of views were being discussed” said Nili Yarari, “I didn’t realize how many people were truly interested in this issue”. The debate portrayed countless opinions on the topic and gave several solutions for the issues being discussed. Teachers and students worked together to try and propose possible ways in which the students could help solve some of the issues. One major solution proposed was a school recycling program.

The WHHS recycling program is indubitably unique. It is an unprecedented effort at WHHS to try and help reduce wastes in the environment. The school set up boxes around the building each with a grade number on it. The goal of it was to see which grade could recycle the most and the winner would receive a luxurious pizza party. The program rapidly took off and the competition was on. The program not only did an outstanding effort in reducing garbage but also helped to unite each grade slightly more. The grades had to work together to make sure everyone was recycling, because otherwise they would stand no chance in winning. “It was so cool” said Dani Haramati, “my whole grade joined together with one set goal. I know it sounds cheesy but I really felt like we were a family”. In the end, while the juniors won, the atmosphere in the school hinted at a school-wide victory.

Eimatai truly had a profound effect on the students of WHHS. Even those whom did not attend the program were still able to feel a part of it because of the environmental awareness week. The program set a recycling precedent in WHHS that will surely not fade any time soon. All in all the goals set on that fateful weekend in Baltimore of achieving a cleaner school in WHHS have without question been achieved. It just goes to show you that a little leadership goes along way.

Shabbat Across Detroit

We’re all coming together
For Shabbat at our School ’cause we’re cool
And we know that spending time together
Will bring unity to our community

Our school, the Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, is very unique and incredibly different from most of the other schools that participated in the Eimatai conference in Baltimore in November. For starters, we are a non-denominational school, meaning, we have all kinds of Jews ranging anywhere from very observant, to not so observant. Moreover, our community is very spread out; many kids who attend our school drive 45 minutes to get to school everyday. Additionally, in order to convey this point to the rest of the convention we sang the song that is encompassing this article. It is based on the song We’re All in This Together from High School Musical!

With all that being said, our group decided that our initiative should be a community Shabbat dinner, complete with Kabbalat Shabbat and an Oneg. When we decided that this was what we were going to do, we knew we were going to have to overcome many obstacles. How were we going to find a suitable location for our dinner that is centrally located in our spread out community? How were we going to daven together when we have families who will only pray in a traditional minyan with a mechitza and families who only believe in egalitarianism? Well, this is the solution we came up with.

First, on Friday, March 7th we are going to hold our dinner at a middle school that is located within walking distance of a neighborhood with a plethora of shomer Shabbat families who would be willing to house families who need it. We chose this date because on that Friday night synagogues and schools across the country will participate in a program called “Shabbat Across America.”  Additionally, we are going to have two separate minyanim, one with a mechitzah and one without. Then, we will all come together to enjoy a lovely Shabbat dinner as a school community. We really hope that we can unify our community and that we can all celebrate Shabbat together.

Jews from everywhere, denominations?

We don’t care!

’Cause that’s the way we do it in DETROIT!

Chanukah Toy Drive

After attending the Fall 2007 Eimatai conference, students from the Queens Gymnasia decided to initiate a program to rally their fellow students around a common cause. This conference marked what will hopefully be the first of many participations for Gymnasia students at Eimatai events.

The students teamed up with Chai Lifeline for a school-wide toy drive in the weeks preceding Chanukah. With a collection bin set up in the school’s lobby, students brought in loads of toys to be distributed to needy kids on Chanukah.

Ethan Bienenfeld, the group’s Eimatai advisor, met with the four students Tammy Ilyadzhanova, Anetta Koltun, Eddie Aulov, and Roma Ibragimov on the final day of the collection for a mini-ceremony celebrating their success.

Future projects planned by the Gymnasia group include efforts to raise money for student programming that will include a barbeque for the boys, and an ice skating trip for the girls.

Another Kind of Green - HANC

The Hebrew Academy of Nassau County is preparing for a revolution. And not just any revolution. HANC Eimatai Emissaries are leading the school on a mission to change the way students interact with their local environment and the larger global environment. The Eimatai Emissaries recognize that HANC students value giving back to those who give to them. HANC students understand that the world shares a responsibility to the future. So, the Eimatai Emissaries have instituted a new environmental initiative dubbed, “Another Kind of Green.” After all, “Im lo achshav, eimatai?”- if not now, when?

We live in a non-renewable world. Every day, valuable resources that are taken from the Earth are wasted. If nothing is done to preserve the precious materials we are so generously blessed with, we will be left with nothing. Only 27 percent of newspapers in the United States are recycled, and 500,000 trees must be cut down to produce each week’s Sunday newspaper. It is easy to think that we, as students, are powerless and cannot attack this problem. The HANC Eimatai representatives have decided to break free of this way of thinking and actively fight to save the environment. We may not be able to drastically alter our lifestyles to go entirely “green”. Yet, we can take the first steps in the right direction to save our planet and our futures. Therefore, HANC is launching its first environmental initiative: “Another Kind of Green”. We hope to diminish the amount of renewable products wasted through a school-wide recycling program in coalition with local sanitation departments. Remember, seventeen trees are saved for every ton of paper recycled! By starting small, we hope to spread our initiative to other schools.

The recycling campaign represents one facet of HANC’s efforts to preserve the global environment. We recognize another environment in need of protection. A city close to our hearts and constantly on our minds: HANC’s sister city: Sderot.Sderot, an Israeli settlement, lies one kilometer from the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun. Since the beginning of the Second Intifada, Sderot has been under constant rocket fire from Qassam rockets launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. These rockets have caused death and injuries, as well as significant damage to homes and property. In May, 2007, a significant increase in shelling from Gaza prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of residents from their homes. We seek to aid those in need in Sderot by preserving and rebuilding their precious environment.

The devastating damage is occurring across an ocean, yet HANC students empathize with the residents of their sister city. The HANC Eimatai Emissaries seek to intensify the bond between HANC and Sderot by collecting money to support rebuilding and beautification efforts. To connect with rebuilding efforts overseas, display unity with Sderot and deeply root a sense of environmental appreciation in HANC, students will take part in planting a garden on school grounds. Through their initiative, HANC students hope to emerge into the future as leaders and pioneers with the goal of helping the environment and global community.

Fall 2007 School Initiatives

Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School
Goal: To expose the student body to developmentally disable youth, and provide a day of fun for the disabled youth.

Initiative: Using the already successful Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration run by the school, Beth Tfiloh students will join up with Yachad to create a buddy system to enjoy the carnival and celebrations of the day in pairs.

Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
Goal: To create a sense of unity in the school around a religious event.

Initiative: Frankel students will coordinate a Friday night experience in one of the local communities for students and families of all backgrounds to come together for a Shabbat experience.

Hebrew Academy of Montreal
Goal: To increase the amount of volunteering done by their fellow students.

Initiative: Hebrew Academy students will create a chessed day whe students in the school will each participate in a volunteer activity of their choosing. Students will be encouraged to continure their volunteering throughout the year.

Hebrew Academy of Nassau County
Goal: To increase environmental efforts amongst the student body.

Initiative: HANC students will work to create a month of environmentalism that will start will small recycling projects, and culminate in a larger effort to green the school grounds.

Hillel Yeshiva of Deal
Goal: Help provide food to poor families in their community.

Initiative: Hillel students will work with the local food pantry to increase food donations by creating a weekly shopping list to be distributed around the community. They will also work to find a larger facility for the food pantry.

Magen David Yeshiva
Goal: To continue the A.U.D.G.E. model of students educating students on major Jewish issues.

Initiative: Magen David students will continue to run educational assemblies in their school, and aim to spread the A.U.D.G.E. program to other Jewish day schools.

Margolin Hebrew Academy
Goal: To unite Jewish teens from surrounding communities with students from the school.

Initiative: Margolin students will create a shabbaton in a hotel for students of the school and other teens from Jewish communities across Tennessee.

Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy
Goal: To enhance Yom HaShoa programming for the student body.

Initiative: Berman students will create a living museum experience which will provide a hands on afternoon of realistic programming including

Queens Gymnasia
Goal: To create a stronger sense of unity, respect, and belonging amongst the student body.

Initiative: In order to create more fun activities for the student body, Gymnasia students will run fundraisers to raise money and create a sense of ownership over student programming.

RASG Hebrew Academy of Miami Beach
Goal: Improve school unity through a connection with Israel.

Initiative: Building off of the Israel 60th celebrations, RASG students will conduct a month of Israel trivia education and inspiration culminating in a school-wide shabbaton.

Westchester Hebrew High School
Goal: To increase the level of environmentalism in the Westchester area.

Initiative: Westchester students will begin by increasing recycling in the school, followed by recylcing in the larger community, and ultimately coordinating a beach clean-up by their school.

Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA)
Goal: To increase school unity through an existing MTA exclusive social networking website.

Initiative: MTA students will create a launch party to promote the website and encourage students to interact in their downtime with the school as their focus.

Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central)
Goal: To promote chessed and volunteerism for people who are local and around the world.

Initiative: Central students will conduct a chessed mission to South America to excite students about volunteering, and continue the work back in New York.

Yeshivat Rambam of Baltimore
Goal: Increase school spirit in light of a changing school culture.

Initiative: Rambam students will conduct a film contest for students to create commercials advertising their school in a funny or interesting way. The program will culminate with a school-wide film festival highlighting the videos.