In This Section:
Social Action Awareness
for giving us the opportunity to mend the world.
L'takein, written by Rabbi Ron Klotz, 1994
In its serious commitment to Social Action Awareness, NAASE has made some very significant arrangements to partner with Jewish social service agencies and with Conservative congregations and chavurot in Israel.
Known for asking American Jews to contribute 3% of the cost of life-cycle event celebrations, MAZON was established in 1985, conceived as "the Jewish response to hunger", and provides grants to Jewish and to non-sectarian organizations working to ease the suffering of millions of hungry people worldwide. Mazon provides over $4 million annually in grants to over 300 hunger-relief agencies, collectively seeking to find long-term solutions to the world's hunger problem. NAASE is a proud sponsor of the life-saving work of Mazon.
International Conferences . . . Local Action and Global Action
Each annual NAASE Conference features an integrated programmatic component of Social Action Awareness that encourages hand-on involvement by attendees with a local community group with a passionate and compelling mission. Among recent past years' partners in this commitment have been these wonderful agencies and individuals.
- The Boys Town, Jerusalem is the valued beneficiary of the tzedakah efforts of the Conference attendees returning to Israel in 2012. Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel's premier institutions for educating the country's next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From Junior High through the college level, the three-part curriculum at Boys Town - academic, technological and Torah - is designed to turn otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. The campus, located on 18 acres in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem, is a home away from home for its more than 850 students. More than 6,500 graduates today hold key positions throughout Israeli society.
- Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando (JFS) is a multi-faceted family service agency whose mission is to provide vital, high quality and innovative social services to those in need. Since 1978, JFS has been serving the Orlando community through professional guidance in a caring and confidential environment. JFS’s ability to help those in need is extended through a range of programs and services, including: The Center for Counseling, Growth and Development, which encompasses individual, family and group counseling; Emergency Assistance including traditional financial aid for rent and utilities in a one-time assistance program as well as the distribution of food through several pantry locations; the Family Stabilization Program (FSP), a preventative, solution-based long term case management program designed to increase self-sufficiency in low income families through intensive 6-month case management and education; the Roth Family KidsKonnect Program, a supportive educational group program developed for children of divorce and children in unique family situations; RIDE (Reliable Independent Drivers for the Elderly), which provides free door-to-door transportation to medical appointments for low-income older adults or disabled individuals who have no other means of transportation; the Community Rabbi Program, a pastoral outreach service providing end of life and burial services for unaffiliated Jews; and the Women’s Forum, an interfaith outreach education and self-development program designed to educate and support women of all ages.
- Jewish Family Services of Houston is a non-profit human services agency for people of all ages and all walks of life, in the greater Hosuton community. JFS’s goal is to provide light, hope and help to individuals struggling with life challenges. JFS’s professional, highly credentialed staff offers mental health and support programs for individuals and families including a specialized program for individuals who suffer from chronic mental illness. JFS also provides senior services and case management, community outreach, social and educational programs, financial assistance programs and volunteer opportunities
- Visions Anew Institute, a Marietta, GA non-profit common-cause organization empowers divorcing women to successfully create and achieve a new vision for their lives, through peer support programs, seminars, a Divorce Directory of referred divorce professionals, a weekly educational radio broadcast, and divorce survival weekends.
- Senior citizens at the JCC's Jacob and Esther Stiffel Senior Center in the heart of South Philadelphia, greatly depend on the program for vital adults who seek programs and friendships that exercise their minds, bodies and spirits. The Stiffel Senior Center also serves the elderly who want to live independently. Broad-ranging activities are offered to Jewish and non-Jewish members of the community.
- JAFCO, Jewish Adoption and Foster Care Options, established in 1992, provides family preservation intervention, foster care and adoption, emergency shelter and group home programs to abused, neglected, and at risk children and their families residing in South Florida (Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties).
- Two affiliated organizations address the same problem from two different angles. The Shade Tree is a nonprofit organization established to help victims of domestic violence, in the greater Las Vegas community. They provide shelter and protection for the family, counseling, and an education process to help break the cycle of domestic abuse, ever mindful of the need to make it possible for family members to stay together. In an effort to address this latter problem, Noah's Animal House was established, as a shelter facility for families and also providing for any family that has a pet to arrange for interim foster care for that pet.
- Packages From Home are sent to Israeli soldiers stationed all around the region, by a very small group of "miracle workers" we met when we were in Israel. Of all the tzedakot supported by the NAASE pilgrims at that time, none conveyed a more lasting impact. Donations they receive pay for the purchase of fleece jackets, long underwear, anti-fungal stockings, warm hats, gloves, underwear, candy and snacks, toiletries, and other items to fulfill the soldier's needs. Since the start of the second Intifada in October 2000, they have sent more than 135,000 packages from the kitchen table of the tireless driving force behind this international effort, Mrs. Barbara Bloom.
- Ve'ahavta is a Canadian humanitarian and relief organization, fulfilling the Jewish value of tzedakah (viewed as justice, not charity), that assists the needy at home and abroad, through volunteerism, education, and acts of kindness, while building bridges between Jews and other peoples. Through hands-on programs including their Mobile Jewish Response to the Homeless and Passover Seder for the Homeless, an annual Medical Mission to Guyana and their work with HIV/AIDS victims in Zimbabwe... Ve'ahavta ensures that the Jewish people are front-and-center in world efforts to deliver humanitarian aid and relief.
- Our "sister" Conservative congregation, Tagel Arava is a small USCJ-affiliated congregation characterized as a chavura, served by Rabbi Shmuel Shaish, located in Eilat. The congregation conducts Shabbat and holiday services and has developed several vital programs including the preparation of teenagers for their high school bagrut examinations. The group meets in the former Alon School in Eilat.
