Jewish Day Schools Offer Students Many Ways to Make an Impact on Their Communities

One of the central tenets of Judaism is doing good in one’s community and in the world at large. Such acts of contribution are reflected in the words of Judaism’s prophets, sages and ancient texts: There’s tzedakah (charitable giving), gemilut hasadim (acts of kindness) and one of the most widely known phrases, tikkun olam (repairing the world). These values are especially important when it comes to fostering the next generation of Jewish changemakers.

Going beyond a focus on academics, Jewish day schools immerse students in a curriculum that nurtures and fosters community-minded engagement, around the world and right here at home in Washington state.

Jewish day schools creating change around the world

From providing service to the local community through volunteer work and fundraising to international mission trips to help people in need, Jewish day school students are learning firsthand what it means to be a global citizen.

This past year, after receiving a call from the Jewish Ukrainian orphanage Tikva Children’s Home in Odessa (tikvaodessa.org), seniors from Northwest Yeshiva High School (nyhs.org) took their educational values and translated them into action by flying to Romania with only 10 days’ notice. Their purpose was to support hundreds of children who had been displaced by the war in Ukraine.

The call for help came while the group was on a service trip to New Orleans with NCSY Relief Missions (reliefmissions.ncsy.org), a Jewish teen relief organization. The organization learned that there was a severe shortage of volunteers and staff to work with hundreds of children ranging in age from newborn to 16 years. As a grantee of the Samis Foundation, NYHS immediately reached out for a grant to support as many students as possible with the opportunity to join the Romania mission.

“We’re proud of the students for responding to this call for help, and we, at Samis, were honored to play a small role in supporting the mission,” says Eli Genauer, Samis Foundation board chair.

Teachers leading by example

At the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle (JDS; jds.org), cultivating “upstanders,” or people who will proactively stand up for good in the world, is central to its mission. Teachers at the school lead by example to demonstrate the upstander ethos. JDS teacher Nance Adler spent this past summer as a scholar in residence in Germany. After Adler taught a class on Jewish resistance and the rescue of Jews by non-Jews during the Holocaust, German teachers at the institution highlighted a recent instance of bigotry at the school. Following Adler’s class, the call to be upstanders was invoked in a staff meeting to encourage administration and faculty to take a united stand against expressions of hate and bigotry.