A World
Of
Difference
Teens go from being students
to advocates in one quick lesson.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
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11114
Staff Writer
CARE PROJECT
Feb. 7 conference on
world hunger moved a
group of Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit
eighth-graders far beyond their
classroom.
During the daylong kickoff
program for Hillel's first-ever
class trip to Israel, the students
spent the morning platting the
itinerary for their two-week trip
that begins April 23.
But the afternoon was dedicat-
ed to food insecurity and how it
is related to Israel, said Steve
Freedman, Hillel's head of
school. It included students writ-
ing letters to politicians "press-
ing for their attention to this
enormous problem."
The group watched a
PowerPoint presentation created
following a November mission to
Israel organized by MAZON: A
Jewish Response to Hunger. It
A
Eighth graders plotting the
included Dr. Eric Schockman,
MAZON's president, and Eric
Bost, U.S. undersecretary of agri-
culture.
"We went to Israel on an advo-
cacy mission to encourage the
Israeli government to deal with
the issue and improve conditions
of the poorer class there," said
Freedman who also participated
in the trip, along with MAZON
board member Joel Jacob of West
Bloomfield and Lea Luger of the
Berkley-based Yad Ezra,
Michigan's only kosher food
pantry.
Luger also addressed the
eighth graders. "Lea introduced
the children to the concept and
power of advocacy to effect
change," Freedman said.
Luger said, "Part of my presen-
tation included client profiles,
information on government pro-
grams that address those who
are impoverished and the 2007
federal budget, which calls for
cuts in those very programs!'
Freedman spoke about the
Jewish response to hunger, using
texts as the source for the stu-
dents' obligation to involve
themselves in this sacred work.
The group learned facts about
food insecurity locally, national-
ly, in Israel and throughout the
world from Hillel's middle school
principal Sue Shlom and eighth-
grade science teacher Dara
Robichaud.
"The students worked in
groups to begin brainstorming
ways they can help address the
issue of food insecurity,"
Freedman wrote parents.
"By the end of the day, the
eighth-graders were both excited
about their upcoming trip to
Israel, but also recognized their
responsibility as a Jew to set
time aside while in Israel to work
on the issue of food
insecurity" Li
itinerary for their upcoming
trip to Israel included 13-year-
olds, Blake Orman, Megan
Epstein, Lizzy Isak, Amanda
Cohen and Lauren Goldstein,
all of West Bloomfield, Justin
Polk of Walled Lake and Joshua
Schostak of Huntington Woods
Fund Food!
During a recent program on world hunger, Hillel Day School's
eighth graders were encouraged to write politicians. Among the
letters is one written to U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield
Hills, by Rachel Margolin, 13, of Orchard Lake. Rachel wrote:
Rachel Margolin
"In school, we have been learning about hunger in our country, and
other countries all around the world. There are 12 million children in
the United States that go hungry every day. Changes must be made
immediately.
I feel very strongly about this cause. There are many different ways to stop hunger. One
way to go about this is to make sure that budget cuts are not made on food sources. In this
country there are many good sources for food for people that are less fortunate. Programs
like Food Stamps, WIC (the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Women, Infants and Children sup-
plemental nutrition program) and Lunch Assistance should remain strong, and should not be
forgotten. These three programs, along with many others in this country deserve to stay
alive, and feed this country."
February 23 R 2006
67