Parents

Mother And Father Know Best

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LAURA TEICHER SPECIAL TO THE APPLETREE

When I sat down to think
about what advice my parents
gave me as I was growing up,
it occurred to me that they had
not hammered anything into
my head. They had set exam-
ples as good role models.
In my earliest recollection
-- I was in the second grade
— we were learning about the
dangers of smoking. My broth-
er and I sat down by the fire-
place with our Mom, who did
smoke, and shared our con-
cerns. She listened to us, and
then she got up and threw
away the cigarettes sitting next
to her. She never smoked
again.
I really felt like my parents
Laura Teicher is a reporter
for WMg radio.

listened to me. They didn't say
one thing and do another
They didn't force their beliefs
on me and my brothers. They

gave us the informaton and let
us come to conclusions.
Our family viewed prejudice
as unacceptable. I think that
had a lot to do with growing
up Jewish. We saw the hated
and ignorance people had to-
ward Jews. When my grandfa-
ther, wearing his yarmulke,

came to pick me up from ele-
mentary school, the kids made
fun of him and called him
"dirty Jew" and "kike." I will
never forget that, and my par-
ents made sure we never for-
got what it's like to be treated
with prejudice. They taught us
to respect everyone for who he
is, without regard to his race or
religion.
Itwas the tone set by my
parents that impacted my deci-
sions and beliefs. They wanted
me to be successful, but most
of all, happy. My husband and
I are trying to be good role
models for our 2-year-old
daughter, Molly. I hope 30
years from now she has nice
things to say about her Morni-

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Is your child a
better comedian than
Jerry Seinfeld, more
insightful than Plato, a more
profound writer than Leo Tolstoy?

The AppleTree would love to hear
all about the cute and interesting
quips, stories and comments your
child has made. We also would love to
seephotographs of your son or daugh-
ter with a completed project you
learned about in The AppleTree.
Send or fax your tales (typed and
double-spaced, please) to The
AppleTree, 27676 Franklin
Rd., Southfield, Ml 48034,
or fax to (810)
354-6069.

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Ten Ways to Teach Your Children About Social Justice

NANCY GAD HARF SPECIAL TO THE APPLETREE

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candles, put money in your
pushke (tzedakah box).
3) After collecting money
for charity, spend family time
discussing agencies, organiza-
tions, causes and institutions
to which you would like to
contribute.
4) Make charitable giving
priorities so that you can de-
termine, as a family, what is-
sues are most important to
you. Use these discussions as
an opportunity to learn and
teach about Jewish values.
Consider where your charita-
ble dollars will go, visit the
agency and learn something
about how it works, whom it
serves and its general mission.

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5)Acts of loving-
kindness, gemilut hasadim,
are important because our chil-
dren must come to understand
that social justice involves
more than giving money. Op-
tions include visiting the sick
or the home-bound, delivering
food for Meals on Wheels or
Yad Ezra, serving food at a lo-
cal soup kitchen, adopting an
abandoned animal.
6) Look within your own
family and home for gemi-
lut hasadim opportunities.
Is there an elderly relative in
your family whom you can vis-
it on a regular basis, but don't
ever seem to have the time to?
Family discussions can be

great tools for teaching chil-
dren about respect for the
ideas, space, integrity of oth-
ers.
7)Recycle. Teach your chil-
dren about our responsibility
as Jews to protect the environ-
ment.
8)Read the daily news-
paper and discuss current
events with your children.
Spend some part of your meal
times talking about what is go-
ing on in the world and ways
in which your children can be-
come involved in creative
problem solving. Do they
know, for example, that the
Jewish community has been
instrumental in providing

hunger relief in Bosnia?
9) Study Jewish texts so
that your children understand
the Jewish component of our
social-justice responsibilities.
There are many wonderful
age-appropriate books and sto-
ries for children to learn what
our ancient sages tell us about
our role in the world.
10)Adopt a project as a
family, perhaps with another
family or relative, and volun-
teer once a month. There is
something for every age and
physical capability.

Dr. Nancy Gad-Hart is director

of programming and develop-
ment at Temple Israel.

CO
OD
01

D ECEMB E R

1 ) Teach by example. Be
a good Jewish role model —
the best medium for teaching
is through your own actions.
Ask yourself what kind of role
model you are. Do you volun-
teer in the community? Do
you support causes important
to you through donations of
time, energy or money? Do
you spend any time in Jewish
study? -
2) Acts of charity. Do your
children know that it is the
obligation of the Jew, even one
who receives financial support
from the community, to give
money to help others? Before
the beginning of Shabbat and
holidays, just before you light