We teach our youth about mitzvot from a very early age. We encourage them to give charity to those less fortunate as they prepare to become Bar and Bat Mitzvah, and we hope these lessons will carry them forward through adulthood. We teach our children to repair the world (tikkun olam), so they will teach the next generation about the values of being Jewish, and we take pride (kvell) as they build friendships along the way with other Jewish youth who know the importance of giving.
TALIT Nation teens will have the opportunity to give back to their community on Sunday, October 23, during this year’s first Social Action Sunday. The October event will be held at the Garden Grove food bank. Students will learn about hunger in Orange County and help prepare food for the needy.
“It was a good feeling to be helping out the community with my Jewish friends,” said Alyssa Keys, a high school senior from Orange who participated in the Social Action Sundays last year. “I enjoy doing mitzvah projects through the program (TALIT Nation) and I plan on doing more this coming year.”
“We want our students to have a primary engagement in social action and to participate in social action,” said David Lewis, chief executive officer of the Bureau of Jewish Education. “Kids are attracted to human needs.”
Tikkun olam serves as the guiding path for TALIT Nation students throughout their four years in the program. From their first steps onto the Brandeis camps during the 8th grade introductory retreat to their final friendship circle under the night stars as seniors, the students gain the tools to become the Jewish leaders of tomorrow, with the power to repair the world.
“TALIT Nation has given me the Jewish pride I was missing when I was younger,” said Keys. “It has changed my life.”
The Social Action theme will continue as the focus of the first weekend retreat, from October 28 to 30, and will include workshops on advocating for the less fortunate.
“The friends I made on my first retreat, only a year ago, are my closest friends now,” said Dana Spitz, a high school senior from Irvine. “It has meant so much to me to have Jewish friends and to have experienced TIES (Teen Israel Experience Summer) through TALIT. It seriously is the best program, and I have loved everything about it.”
Students have the opportunity to participate in three Social Action Sundays each year. To learn more about TALIT Nation @ the Bureau, please contact Sheri Gropper at the Bureau office: (949) 435-3450 or sheri@bjeoc.org.