In what may be a model for the summer’s Mitzva Mania program, J-Serve volunteers help make a garden grow at Jewish Federation Plaza in West Orange in April.
Photo by Meredith Klein
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In an April program called J-Serve — which Mitzva Mania will replicate this summer — teen volunteer Itai Carmeli assists a resident of the Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey group home in Livingston.
Photo by Yaakov Friedberg
July 2, 2009
If you’re a teenager wondering what to do this summer, or a parent looking to engage a son or daughter in a meaningful experience, The Partnership for Jewish Learning and Life may have an answer.
The agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ is offering a program called Mitzva Mania designed to link young people with volunteer opportunities in the MetroWest area — and throw in some Jewish education to put those experiences in a religious context.
“There will be a higher number of teens than usual doing nothing this summer,” said Rabbi Shmuel Greene, director of teen initiatives at the Partnership. “A lot of camp counselor jobs fell through, and a lot of jobs they did in past years are now being filled by adults.”
With that in mind, the rabbi said, “some synagogues approached us to come up with learning-type programs and/or community service with a Jewish slant.”
Michal Greenberg, the Partnership’s coordinator of Jewish Service Learning, has compiled a list of service organizations where teenagers can devote their time and energies.
Among them are food pantries, the Lester Senior Housing Complex in Whippany, the Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter in East Hanover, and the Valerie Fund, which aids children suffering from cancer.
Greene said he is hopeful that the program “will have enough teens to come as a group.” He intends to combine those volunteer efforts with religious education by offering the teens study in relevant Jewish texts before and after each volunteer session.
Mitzva Mania was inspired by JServe, a one-day Partnership program that connected charities and volunteers last April.
“Some of the teens in JServe said, ‘I want to do this on an ongoing basis,’ and we are positive there are opportunities out there we don’t know about,” said Greene. He asked representatives of agencies that need volunteers — or young people wishing to offer their services — to call or e-mail the Partnership.
For further information, contact Greene at 973-929-2975 or sgreene@thepartnershipnj.org, or Greenberg at 973-929-2966 or mgreenberg@thepartnershipnj.org.
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