With just a little encouragement from their mom Beth, two-year-old identical twins, Asher and Noah Rotenstreich, decided to participate in The Birmingham Jewish Federation's Operation Grassroots fundraising initiative.

The twins are the grandsons of Bunny and Joel Rotenstreich. Joel is a past president of The BJF and has twice chaired The BJF Campaign. The twins are shown here with Beth proudly displaying checks for Operation Grassroots. Asher is in the tan sweater; Noah is in the blue sweater.

"I hope these are the first of many contributions that the boys will make in support of the needs within the Birmingham community, Israel and the world," Joel wrote in an email. "The boys were so proud, with very little instruction, to hold their checks above their heads for all to see."

Continued Joel, "It will be cool when Noah and Asher have their own computers and can see the actual story from Update, and how their contribution, at age two, doubled in value the day their checks were deposited; and how people they never knew were helped by their generosity."

"As their lives evolve, here's hoping that we are all here to be warmed by their glow," added Joel.

GREAT KEEPSAKE

What a great keepsake today's Update will be for Asher and Noah. It also will be a permanent representation of the values that are important to their mom and their grandparents. If you have young children or grandchildren who would like to make a contribution to Operation Grassroots, even if they have to pool their dollars, we will be glad to feature them and their picture in Update.

We'd also be happy to have you and them come to The BJF to learn more about the great work we do. To arrange a visit, contact Donna Berry at 879-0416 or donnab@bjf.org.

Operation Grassroots is an unprecedented BJF effort to raise ONE THOUSAND new gifts and increases of at least $100 to receive a $100,000 challenge gift. Already, 130 Operation Grassroots gifts have been received, including those from Asher and Noah. Only 870 to go!

Click to make an Operation Grassroots payment.

Click to make an Operation Grassroots pledge and be billed.

One of our Update readers, Birmingham Jewish community member Jerry Brown, forwarded us a piece that appeared Sunday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It wasn't just any article. It was one of two first place high school prose winners selected by the Creative Writing Program at Carnegie Mellon University's English Department in a writing competition in connection with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The essay by Jesse Lieberfeld, a Jewish 11th-grader at Winchester Thurston school, is worth reading. He expresses profound discomfort with his Judaism and Israel. He ties Israel and US Jews who support Israel to the American Civil Rights era, comparing both to white supremacists and comparing the Palestinians to the African-American community. In his article, he also mentions Birmingham and King's famous "Letter from the Birmingham Jail."

For sure, those who are proud of their Jewish faith and committed to Israel will be discomforted by the young man's sentiments, but his piece is worth reading for several reasons.

It's a glimpse into the minds of those young Jews who are coming of age who are confused about Israel -- in part because Israel is a confusing subject. It's also a situation of a young man who, because he didn't get answers that worked for him, arrived at conclusions about Judaism and Israel without context and facts. (Such as Israel's repeated attempts, since its rebirth in 1948, to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians based on territorial compromise and mutual recognition. Or that Israel's much-criticized security barrier was built as a last resort after pleas to the Palestinian leadership to reign in their suicide bombers fell on deaf ears.)

Moreover, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by publishing and recognizing Lieberfeld's writing, has no doubt further empowered him as an anti-Israel activist; another young, bright, passionate Jewish anti-Israel activist who will likely help facilitate protests against the Jewish state during his forthcoming college years.

This happened in Pittsburgh where there is a great Jewish community and strong Jewish Federation. It could just as easily have happened anywhere, including Birmingham. We Jews and others who care about Israel must acknowledge that today there is a generation coming of age which is skeptical to begin with, and through technology has access to a range of perspectives and interchanges with people across the spectrum on any subject. These young people must be listened to, respected and not marginalized, even if their views are off-putting to us. At the same time, we must develop the ability to answer their questions, not in an adversarial way but in an informational way.

We, at The Birmingham Jewish Federation, have made education of our young people a top priority. We strive to connect with them through Update, Facebook, programs and projects and are developing a new generation of professionals -- their own peers -- who can answer questions and explore issues. We welcome inquiries from our young people, all of whom remain crucially important to our Jewish future.

-- Richard Friedman, Executive Director