Shabbat e-mail: "Everything for the kids"

My Opa was very fond of his dessert.  He had a sweet tooth that he continued to indulge well into his old-age and the onset of diabetes.  But on more than one occasion, when the family gathered around the table was confronted with the sad news that there was only one helping of dessert left, he would say “Alles fur Die Kinder” or “Everything for the kids” and I got the last piece.

Several months ago, I announced the completion of Minneapolis Jewish Federation’s Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 and pointed out that a commitment to Jewish education was at its core.  The COVID-19 crisis has certainly had its impact on so many parts of our community’s daily routines, and the education of our children is indeed at the top of that list.  But like teachers and students all across the country, our educators and learners are making the best of it and are, indeed, making lemons out of lemonade.

Since Federation announced that the Board had allocated an initial $2 million to address COVID-19 emergency needs, we have been focusing on Phase-1 of that effort: providing immediate dollars for urgent expenses related directly to the crisis. (Longer term relief is being dealt with in a second phase about which you will hear more in the future.)  Schools in our community needed to ramp up their distance learning game literally on a moment’s notice and they did not disappoint.  The grants we made to Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, Torah Academy, Temple Israel’s JEWL and ECC programs and Shir Tikvah Religious School allow learning to continue with minimal delay.  They are able to purchase much-needed additional equipment, fortify their electronic platforms, and in some cases, continue heavily-relied-upon school lunch programs.

L-R: Heilicher 6th grade student Dahlia Cohen meets with her teacher and classmates during homeroom; Shir Tikvah’s Board of Directors testing out their updated web platform; Torah Academy students enjoying their lunch program

Opa would have been amazed to see his own great-granddaughter conversing with her teachers and classmates on Zoom, but he would not have been surprised by the ingenuity of our community, and our commitment to keep things humming.


Shabbat Shalom,