"Walking Away With A Whole Lot Of Wow"
SHAPING THE FUTURE
Everyday in so many ways, The Birmingham Jewish Federation connects with young people locally and globally, to enrich their lives and strengthen the future.
The stories below offer a wonderful illustration, reflecting the impact of The BJF from Birmingham to Israel to India. If you are a donor to The BJF Annual Campaign, be proud. Your dollars provide the organizational structure, staffing and funding that enable us to do this important work and so much more.
'WALKING AWAY WITH A WHOLE LOT OF WOW'
Every day, through the use of technology, the world as we know it seems to grow smaller and smaller. Nowhere does this seem more evident than in our Birmingham Jewish Federation Israel Connections Committee's E-pal program. Through E-pals, 7th and 8th graders from the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School and Phillips Academy (both Birmingham city schools) and Berry Middle School (a Hoover school) email back and forth with peers at two middle schools in Rosh Ha'ayin, Birmingham's Sister City in Israel.
Modern technology makes E-pals happen. The Israel Connections Committee relies on the expertise of Israel-based Jerusalem Educators Technology Solutions (JETS) which, through the use of online forums or "wiikispaces," coordinates the programs and curriculum between Birmingham and Rosh Ha'ayin. JETS' Executive Director Semadar Goldstein was recently in Birmingham and met with the committee.
This year through a specially prepared curriculum by JETS, the E-pal students are talking about environmental issues and initiatives in their respective countries. According to Semadar, the students are "walking away with a whole lot of wow."
The online exchanges between the students include discussions on recycling initiatives, natural disasters and long term environmental effects. The Alabama students have been sharing with the Israeli students stories from the April 2011 tornadoes that hit our state, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Israeli students are sharing about their most recent natural disaster, the December 2010 wildfire in Israel's Carmel Mountains, the largest such fire in Israel's history.
What has been interesting, according to Semadar, is the environmental differences the students have discovered together. In fact, she said, before E-pals these Israeli students did not even have a concept of what a hurricane is -- there is no Hebrew word for the word "hurricane. "
THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE
Semadar also paid a visit to each of the participating schools during her stay in Birmingham. The photo here is of Semadar at Phillips Academy, teaching students about the history of Israel.
In an email following her visit to Phillips Academy, Semadar wrote to teacher John Mark Edwards, "I thoroughly enjoyed visiting your school and meeting with your wonderfully inquisitive students. Thank you for hosting me and for welcoming me so warmly into your classroom. I was impressed with your students' thirst for knowledge and success at understanding Jewish culture and Israeli lifestyle. I enjoyed being a part of their lives and was glad to share a slice of mine."
Shrinking the distance between our Birmingham community and Israel is what our BJF Israel Connections Committee does. N.E. Miles Jewish Day School educator Sheri Krell serves as chair of the committee in a volunteer role, and funds raised by the BJF Annual Campaign support the committee's programs and initiatives. This important work helps us further connect people in Birmingham and Israel with one another.
Everyday in so many ways, The BJF strives to strengthen connections between people in our city and the people of Israel; we are proud of this wonderful E-pals program and the other great work done by Sheri and her committee. For more on how to be a part of the work of the Israel Connections Committee, contact BJF Director of Overseas Programs Joyce Spielberger at joyces@bjf.org.
AROUND THE CORNER, AROUND THE WORLD
When you donate to The Birmingham Jewish Federation Annual Campaign, your dollars support 32 agencies and programs that touch and enrich lives in Birmingham, Israel and throughout the world. One of the ways we help Jews and others across the globe is through providing funding to the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
JDC is involved in a range of efforts including developing young Jewish leaders in other parts of the world, including countries where there are few Jews. This is important to us in Birmingham, because the stronger the Jewish community is worldwide the better for Jews everywhere and for Israel.
Included in JDC's efforts is a program to strengthen Jewish leadership in India, an extremely important country with only 5000 Jews (about the same number as Birmingham's small Jewish community).
A current story on JDC's website tells more about this effort. It begins as follows: "Hailing from a small and distant Jewish community like India's, 21-year-old Meirah Bhastekar (pictured here) called JDC's leadership training programs an opportunity to 'discover the global Jewish community and embark upon building an international Jewish identity' with other leaders her age.'"
