CIJE Robotics Competition

45teams from nine schools competed in the Robotics Competition of CIJE (The Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education) held this year at Yeshiva Darchei Torah. Darchei fielded four teams – from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades — who performed exceptionally well. After the competition, Rav Yaakov Bender, Rosh HaYeshiva, addressed the students from Boston and Baltimore.

Lev Chana students are all ready for Pesach. Each class had their own model seder to prepare for the Seder with their families

National Day at YOSS

Did you know that there is a national basketball day, a national oatmeal day, or a national grandparents’ day? Boys in Mrs. Gross’s second grade class at YOSS are National Day experts. Every day, a student gets to introduce the National Day theme. The class has discussions about the theme, which is a prompt for their daily journal. Topics range from favorite sports, popular foods, businesses, animals and more! The students love thinking creatively about what the day’s theme means to them. Mrs. Gross is so proud of the incredible journal entries the boys have written and everyone in the class enjoys hearing their creative stories. The boys come into class excited to know what the new national day is and can’t wait to write about it.

It may not be National, but every day is a writing day at YOSS!

Record-Setting Pesach Food Distribution By Tov V’Chesed

The massive Pesach distributions by Tov V’Chesed in Israel are no longer news. The efforts of the organization, led by the renowned man of chesed Rabbi Yakov Eliezer Shisha, have become part of the yom tov season. Poor families, and more specifically those who have lost a father, have come to rely on the group’s support in the manner that we rely on our local supermarket to sell us food and Pesach essentials.

And yet it is sometimes important to take a step back to acknowledge what Tov V’Chesed has made routine. More than ten thousand families, totaling close to 100,000 people, will be sitting down to a Seder and enjoy seudos with their family, due to a complex weeks-long operation which ensured that simchas yom tov reaches every corner of the Holy Land!

This year, with global inflation and financial slowdowns impacting families across the globe, a growing number of recipients desperately reached out in need of assistance.

“Not an hour went by where we didn’t receive heartbreaking calls from families begging to please be added to our lists,” said Rabbi Shisha. “How can you say no to a Yid in such a matzav?” he rhetorically asked.

Dignity Above All

Indeed, they didn’t. After weeks of preparation, the week before Pesach saw a couple of streets blocked off as trailers of food were delivered to Tov V’Chesed headquarters. Hundreds of staff and volunteers worked around the clock to organize all products so that they would soon be ready for shipping all across Israel.

As distribution day arrived, dozens of trucks and vans lined up, ready to be loaded with pallets of food that would be delivered to the doorsteps of the needy.

Tov V’Chesed has long made it its mission to ensure that the dignity of every family is protected, which is why recipients are not asked to pick up their food and drag it through the streets. Every order is dropped off at their door, the way a traditional grocery order would be.

In their delivery, each of the 10,000+ assisted families received between 6-9 food boxes to help bring simchas yom tov to their table with peace of mind. Produce, fish, chicken, matzah, grape juice, pantry essentials and much more quickly filled their homes, enough to serve young and old throughout the season.

Clothed in Style

In recent years, the organization’s Buneinu and Bnoseinu programs for yesomim and yesomos have expanded to provide children with new clothing so that they’re not left behind during the festive seasons.

Orphans in the program were provided with a credit card loaded with funds totaling between 1,000-2,000 shekels to purchase new clothing and shoes in honor of yom tov. Many of these families live in such poverty and shame that the children would otherwise wear torn, ragged clothing, and this support uplifts them in an impactful and long-lasting manner.

“The feedback we receive is tremendous and overwhelming,” Rabbi Shisha shared. “But I always respond with the same thing: the credit isn’t ours, it belongs to the generous members of Acheinu Bnei Yisroel who see and hear the pain of almanos, yesomim and the poor, and step up to ensure that every Yid can have a part in this Zman Cheiruseinu!

To donate, go to www.tovvchesed.com or call 845-517-0656.