Metro

Teens

Caring Efforts

High school students brighten the day for seniors.

MARNI FALK

Special to the Jewish News

W

hen people hear about community service,
they think of its typical definition:
"Services volunteered by individuals or an
organization to benefit a community or its institu-
tions."
Jews may have associations to the Jewish notion of
tikkun olam, to making the world a better place.
Others might think of giving money to charity, or
participating in social action projects such as serving
food at a soup kitchen.
Not many people would have the idea of 4 mil-
lion teens across the world working on community
projects simultaneously. People would be astonished
to find out that 5,000 teens representing 40 organi-
zations across America devoted a day to help their
communities, to make a better world for everyone. I
was fortunate to be one of 130 teens from Metro
Detroit participating in the first JServe community
service day.
On Sunday, April 17, 130 middle school and high
school students from the area gathered at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield for a day
of community service. As participants, we began the
day designing patches for a large quilt. We then
gathered for a brief introduction and divided into
groups to do our 90-minute work projects.
The high school students drove to Teitel Jewish

Apartments in Oak Park to help the residents clean
and prepare their building for Passover. While some
volunteers polished silver, scrubbed tables and
cleaned the main dinning room, I was part of the
group that helped pick up litter around the build-
ing.
After this portion of the day, we returned to
Shaarey Zedek for lunch and to hear a speaker talk
about the elderly. Carol Rosenberg of Jewish Home
& Aging Services has long worked with senior citi-
zens, especially the residents at Fleischman
Residence in West Bloomfield.
She taught me a lot about the many negative per-
ceptions people have of our senior citizens and how
they are mistreated as a result. She motivated us to
volunteer to help them even if only on an occasional
basis. Our special day ended with a Rick Recht con-
cert, a really fun conclusion to a productive and sat-
isfying day.
I will remember and strive to pursue what I have
gathered from this day for a long time. It was amaz-
ing to be part of such a great group of volunteers
and really contributing to the success of the commu-
nity service day. I hope we can get even more people
to participate next year as we got involved with
"Repairing the World, One Day at a Time."
This is the true meaning of tikkun olam and
tzedakah. ED

Marni Falk, 15, lives in Huntington Woods.

Photos by Brett Mountain

L :• Marni Falk
picks up trash near
Teitel Jewish
Apartments in
Oak Park.

Part Of A Bigger Cause

A.J. SCHOSTAK

Special to the Jewish News

A

4/28
2005

26

s president and four-
year active member of
my United Synagogue
Youth chapter at Congregation
Beth Shalom in Oak Park, I
have participated in numerous
social action projects locally,
across the United - States and
the world. Three times a day,
we say the phrase in our litur-
o y , L'taken
olam bMalchut
b
.
Shadai, to repair the world for
God's Kingdom.
It is the duty of Jews every-

where to take part in
programs such as
JServe2005. It is writ-
ten in Pirkei Avot, the
Teachings of our
Fathers, "It is not up to
you to finish the work, but nei-
ther are you free to stray from
it.
The JServe activities that
happened across America on
April 17 made important
impacts to the communities
that participated. There are still
many more opportunities for
others to contribute toward the
ultimate mission of repairing

the world.
JServe provided me
with an opportunity
to help and give back
to the Jewish commu-
nity. The tasks were
not easy, but I feel a sense of
accomplishment knowing my
efforts were part of a greater
effort to better the world.
I hope to continue working
on social action projects such
as JServe in the future.

Schostak of Beverly Hills is a
Jewish Academy ofMetropolitan
Detroit senior.