New Jersey Jewish News
MetroWest Feature
Solomon Schechter students tour a community and its varied agencies
Supporting Israel, promoting education, helping the needy: When 40 day school students descended on the Jewish community campus in Whippany May 24, they received a crash course in the activities and causes that make for a vibrant Jewish community.
The students, sixth-graders from Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange, came to the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus to tour the site and its agencies. Divided into groups of 10, they heard presentations from representatives of beneficiary and affiliated agencies of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, ranging from the Legow Israel Program Center to the Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest.
“We are trying to teach them toward being leaders and organizers, taking ownership of the agencies and being empowered,” said Moshe Rudin, director of Judaic studies and SSDS lower school assistant principal, who organized the first-ever Gil Mitzvot Project day for the students. “We wanted them to see the Jewish community beyond the synagogue and the kosher butcher, beyond the parts of the Jewish community they interface with every day.”
The students plan to put what they learned during the visit into action, by pooling some of the b’nei mitzva gifts they receive and allocating them, federation-style, to one or more worthy charities. The goal, according to Rudin, is to guide them to “pattern their allocations after the Jewish community, with the goal of becoming leaders themselves.”
Jesse Nagelberg of East Brunswick was pleased when, during the tour, he found his grandfather’s name on the wall of donors. Gaby Winter of Livingston was particularly impressed with the senior housing complex on the campus, while Jacob Gonzalez of Clifton was moved by the representative who spoke from JVS. “The things she said reminded me of my own grandparents who came here from Cuba and had a hard time getting jobs,” said Jacob. “Maybe that agency helped them.”
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