Our Mission

The mssion of the Tikkun Olam committee is:

To coordinate and guide a wide variety of volunteer activities by synagogue members aimed at “repairing the world” outside the scope of our own synagogue community.

Our Activities

Blood Drive – Temple Israel has earned a reputation as one of the most reliable contributors to the Bergen County Blood Center.  Established by Jerry Birenz, the semi annual blood drive is held twice a year, in the spring and fall.  Mark your calendars - our next drive is: Sunday, April 25, 2010 8:45 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  All eligible volunteers are encouraged to give.

Feeding the Homeless – Spearheaded by Sue Hill, Temple Israel continues its commitment to help feeding the homeless by participating in the Interreligious Fellowship for the Homeless. We prepare and serve food in Hackensack four times a year.  Next date is Tuesday December 29, 2009.

Our Feeding the Homeless 2010 dates are: March 9, April 27, October 21 and December 21. 

Volunteers can help purchase and prepare the food, as well as serve at the facility.  If you want to participate please contact Nadine Genet at nzgnzg@aol.com  or Sue Hill at suzstchs@msn.com

River Clean Up – in cooperation with the Ridgewood Wildscape Association, Temple Israel dedicates one Sunday each fall to cleaning up a segment of the Hohokus Brook.  Stay tuned for our 2010 program.

Commitment to “green”

The Tikkun Olam committee also has orchestrated our ongoing “green efforts.”  In 2006, Temple Israel joined Green Faith, New Jersey’s interfaith coalition for the environment.  We are participating in Green Faith’s Sustainable Sanctuaries program, which enables a select group of New Jersey houses of worship from diverse traditions to integrate care for the environment into their worship and education, facility management and social outreach.
 
Community Support and Opportunities

Tikkun Olam supports the efforts of Bonim Builders.  Bonim is an initiative (SLI) of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey.  A coalition of local synagogues and organizations participate in Bonim Builders, a project to involve volunteers from the Jewish community in building or renovating affordable housing in Northern New Jersey.

Bonim works in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide organization devoted to providing housing for families in need.

It also participates with the organization Rebuilding Together – Bergen County that renovates homes once a year in April on a national Rebuilding Day.

If you would like to participate in Bonim Builders, please contact Genene Kaye at 201-820-9303 or email genenek@ujannj.org.

Tikkun Olam regularly supports free recycling events for residents of Bergen County (Individuals only, no businesses.) at the Bergen County Services Building, 327 E. Ridgewood Ave., Paramus.  Dates are posted on a regular basis.

For more information: call BCUA Environmental Programs Hotline 201-807-5825 or www.buca.org

The Agahozo Shalom Youth Village
A  Jewish Response to Genocide

www.agahozo-shalom.org

This New Year Temple Israel embarks on a synagogue-wide Tikkun Olam initiative —supporting the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda (ASYV), a member inspired project which promotes many of the values and efforts of Temple Israel.

TIC member Dr. Will Recant’s latest project at the Joint Distribution Committee has been bringing into reality the vision of a special school for the many orphan children survivors of the Rwandan genocide.  The school opened in early 2009 with its first 125 students. (For more information on ASYV see: www.agahozo-shalom.org)

Our goal: fund the education of one orphan for one year: $4500.

The ASYV aims to create a safe and structured residential community that will be a place of hope where traumatized youth can “dry their tears” (Agahozo), “live in peace” (Shalom), and become positive citizens in the rebuilding of their country.  ASYV is modeled after the Yemin Orde Youth Village that was founded in Israel in 1953 as a home for orphans of the Holocaust and continues to receive orphaned youngsters to help them establish a life in Israel.

This year long campaign focuses on small incremental ways we as a synagogue community can fund one orphan for a year as well as generate awareness of this unique Jewish program. In addition to the Tikkun Olam committee, Sisterhood, Men’s Club, Adult Education, the Hebrew School and Youth Programs and other temple committees have committed to reaching our goal.

"At Temple Israel we help raise each other up to a higher plane where commitment to others is part and parcel of who we are and what we do.  Projects like our support for the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda  reveal the soul of Temple Israel," said Rabbi Fine

Watch for our progress in future editions of Temple Talk as well as ways you can participate in this project.

If you would like more information on this program please email Nadine Genet at nzgnzg@aol.com

Donations can be sent to the Temple Israel office, attention Maureen: checks should be payable to Temple Israel, indicating ASYV in the note section.