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What inspires a person to Jewish life? What motivates a person
to live with values of Tzedakah?
I guess everyone has their own story. Mine began when I was
just a kid of nine, living in Wales and collecting for Blue
Boxes. Just a few years later, a local branch of a Zionist
youth movement called Hanoar Hatzioni started up in our community.
My 10 year involvement with this group and my first trip to
Israel at 16 helped cement my sense of Jewish identity and
a lifelong passion for Jewish culture and support of Israel.
I believe education and connection to Israel are foundations
to Jewish identity and continuity. It’s from this belief
that I devoted myself to creating a fund for the Wolfond Centre
for Jewish Campus Life.
We need to teach more than rituals and festival stories.
We need to bring young people to Jewish life through a much
richer education and Jewish experience. Our history, stories
and values offer so much -- lessons in morality, tradition,
courage, tolerance, contribution and spirituality.
The Jewish people, in turn, have always had much to offer
the world. But continuity today is threatened. And so will
our Jewish contribution be. How can we re-engage our young
people and ensure future generations live and experience life
with a strong Jewish identity and carry forth our values?
Good questions. But without easy answers. Still, we must
find a way because we have a great responsibility to those
who came before us. It’s an absolute miracle that we
(the Jewish people) are still here. It’s because of the
commitment, tenacity and bravery of our ancestors – not
just in recent years but of centuries ago.
To preserve our story and grow our story, we all have to
be part of the story. Large or small, every effort and every
dollar counts. Let’s work together.
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