MITZVAH PEOPLE

Seth Kessler and Seth
Rosenberg help each other.

Special to The Jewish News

T

o the students of Hillel
Day School, becoming a
bar or bat mitzvah means
more than planning a party
and memorizing the haftora.
It also means building rela-
tionships with the residents
of several JARC (Jewish
Association for Retarded
Citizens) group homes
through a year-long program
of letters, monthly visits and
special holiday projects.
Developed as a community
service project for Hillel's
seventh graders, this program
has received resounding ap-
plause from both the JARC
residents and the students.
"It's been outstanding!"
said Susan Zaks, upper school
coordinator for Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills.
"The students have come to
realize there's another com-
munity out there that -needs
our help and support."
For the past several years,
Hillel students have always
had some involvement with
JARC; making Shabbat visits
to the "Haverim" (the
Hebrew word for friendship)
group homes, or assisting the
residents with special
projects.
This year, Zaks worked with
Bonnie Cohn, volunteer ser-
vices coordinator for JARC, to
intensify the program and
start building ongoing rela-
tionships between the JARC
residents and the Hillel bar
and bat mitzvah class.
The students began as pen-
pals, writing to the men and
women in the JARC homes to
introduce themselves. Then,
the seventh graders were
divided into groups of four or
five, so they could relate to
the JARC residents on an in-
dividual basis.
The students' visits usual-
ly centered around the Jewish
holidays, including projects
like making Chanukah cards
and decorations and baking
hamantashen and assem-
bling shalach manot
packages for Purim.

Photos by Glenn Triest

Hillel Day School students make regular
visits to JARC's Haverim Homes

Hillel students and JARC residents work on toys for Soviet immigrant children.

During their March visit,
the students helped. the
residents make finger pup-
pets out of gloves, creating the
characters from the Passover
story. These puppets were
then given to newly arrived
Soviet Jewish children to
teach them about Passover.
Projects like this, as well as
the Purim Shalach Manot
packages, allow the JARC
residents, too, to have the ex-
perience of giving to their
community.
The Hillel students also
helped the Haverim home
staff members to prepare for
Passover, showing them how
to clean the homes to remove
all traces of chametz.
In addition to the holiday
projects, the students and
residents found time for
snacking and socializing.

"The residents show them
their rooms and their art-
work," said Zaks.
Cory Darnell, resident
manager of the Sam and Jean
Frankel Haverim Home in
Southfield, said his six
residents "look forward to
playing basketball with the
guys," and they really enjoy
the visits.
So do the Hillel students,
although they had some ap-
prehension when the pro-
gram began. Most had never
known persons with
disabilities, and they didn't
know what to expect.
"On the way over for the
first time, they asked how
long they had to stay," said
Judy Kessler, a mother who
volunteered her driving ser-
vices for her son Seth's group.
"At the end the kids didn't

want to leave; we barely made
it back in time," she said.
"There was a lot of talk and

positive energy on the way
home!"
"It's fun working with
them," said Seth Kessler, dur-
ing the puppet-making visit.
"They seem to understand
what we're doing, and they're
very agreeable. I'm glad we
were able to do this!"
"I used to be afraid of peo-
ple like this, and now I'm,
not," said Hillel student
Jeremy Gordon. "I think we
can learn a lot from them,
and they can learn from us."
"I like my glove; I like talk-
ing to the guys," said Seth
Rosenberg, one of the
residents of the Frankel
Haverim home.
"The students are so
positive and so enthusiastic,"
said Zaks. "They beg me,
`When are we going next?' "
Cohn sees the program as a
way for JARC residents to
make lasting connections
with their Jewish communi-
ty. The Frankel Haverim
home has an honorary mem-
bership at Temple Emanu-El,
where the Kesslers also
belong. "So the next time
they see each other, they say
hello; they talk . ." said
Cohn.

Sharing scissors are Ruben Domnitch and Jonathan Knoll.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

89

GENE RATIO NS

RONELLE ROSENTHAL GRIER

P EC 1 AL
I S ITO RS

