Community Magazine September 2003

T here’s a knock on the door. It’s a rabbi in a black hat and jacket, wearing a friendly smile and carrying a gift for the Kahn family. “OK,” says Mrs. Kahn. “I accept the gift; Now what?” Now the rabbi wants to talk to the Kahns about their children’s education. Where do they go to school? What are they learning? Are the parents happy with the values they’re picking up? Are the children get- ting a good foundation in Judaism? They ponder the questions and begin to see some flaws in their children’s public school education. By now, the rabbi is sit- ting at their dining room table and the Kahn children are enjoying the candies that have materialized from his pockets. He offers to send the children to a Jewish day school. He’ll find them a good school, he promises. And he’ll pay for it, too. This extraordinary scenario has repeat- ed itself hundreds of times in the past 23 years throughout Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey. Volunteers for Oorah Kiruv Rechokim simply knock on doors and talk sense to the families inside. The result of this cold calling has been the restoration of hundreds of Jewish families to their heritage. That means hundreds of children growing up with Judaism implanted firmly in their hearts — hun- dreds of children starting their own fami- lies with the Torah as their foundation. Knowing that learning is the key to a meaningful Jewish life, Oorah focuses on getting the children into day schools and yeshivot. Then, it offers a complete sup- port system – tutoring, summer camps, Shabbatons, chol hamoed trips, learning in Israel, parent education, ritual objects, and an endless supply of support and guidance. Here are some stories of people who responded to the “knock on the door”: Liora Mizrachi* “My family wasn’t shomer Shabbat, but Oorah got my sister and me into a religious girls’ school and helped us with the tuition,” Liora Mizrachi recounts. “They were very easy-going about it. They just stated the facts to my parents and made a good case for sending us.” But a child’s heart is not won in the classroom alone. Mrs. Mizrachi fondly recalls the Oorah Shabbatons that highlight- ed her school years, the chol hamoed trips, the Sukkot gatherings and Purim parties, the friends and excitement of the religious life Oorah opened up for her and her sister. Even today, Oorah doesn’t see her and her family as a finished project to be filed away. “Rabbi Mintz is like an uncle to my children,” she says. “They love to visit him and go with him on the chol hamoed trips. He was at my son’s bris, and he was there for his Bar Mitzvah. We couldn’t think of having the Bar Mitzvah without him.” Racheli Rabinowitz* As a 12-year-old girl, Racheli Rabinowitz came to the U.S. from Israel to live with her married sister. The sister, with children of her own, felt there was no option but to place the girl in public school. If that plan had been followed, Racheli’s life would be very differ- ent now. Her future was altered when Oorah offered to pay her tuition in yeshiva. That was the beginning of the transfor- mation in this extended family’s life. With Oorah’s help, Mrs. Rabinowitz went through elementary school and high school in a Torah environment. Now mar- ried with two children and a third on the way, Mrs. Rabinowitz has a daughter in a Bais Yaakov school and a son in a Brooklyn yeshivah pre-school. Marave Silber* Marave Silber had just graduated from high school in 1997 and was deciding what to do next. Her friends were all going to colleges in the New York area. But Miss Silber, an all-American child of Israeli par- ents, felt a pull to Israel. She began inves- tigating a program at Bar Ilan University that combined academic studies with some religious courses. She decided that this was where she wanted to go, but how? Her mother had a friend who had a friend. That friend was a volunteer for Oorah. “He said Oorah would pay for the program,” Miss Silber recalled. When she came home from Bar Ilan, she called her friend at Oorah, “just to say hello.” From that point on – it’s been six years now – she has been receiving shmurah matzah each Pesach and shalach manot each Purim from Oorah. “I always know that Oorah is there and that they care about me.” Now, after earning a degree at the State University of New York in Binghamton, Miss Silber is ready to delve deeper. This summer she planned to join Aish HaTorah’s Jewel program. After that…maybe Neve…maybe a different program. She’s discussing it with her friend at Oorah. * Names changed for privacy 32 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE s xc B Y : C H A N A N E S T L E B A UM Knocking onDoors and Changing Lives CM