Helping Kids Read
Is Mitzvah Project

Ann Arbor

A

midst all the studying of
the Torah portion and how
to chant it, it is also expect-
ed that the bat mitzvah student take
on what is called a mitzvah project
— that is, a project that helps some-
one in some way.
For her task, our daugh-
ter Gabbi chose to help set
up a program that provides
books for low-income
parents to read to their
children.
Not being Jewish, I
found the whole bat mitz-
vah concept foreign. I had
heard that the students
typically had their work
cut out for them. Is that
ever an understatement!
Gabbi's workload reminded me of
college when you already had a full
schedule and then took on another
three-credit course.
This wasn't "Rocks for Jocks,"
though. The addition of her mitzvah
project took a lot of planning and
hard work. The boy that Gabbi was
partnered with for her big day was
Alex Brenner. Alex is a smart young
man with a very likeable personality
and sense of self-confidence rarely
found in boys that age. Together, the
two of them helped Alex's mother, a
pediatrician, establish a Reach Out
And Read program at her office.
The tenets of Reach Out And Read
require pediatricians to provide
children's books for low-income
families and then encourage the
parents to read to their children.
Alex and Gabbi collected hun-
dreds of books for kids age 6
months to 5 years. They also encour-
aged the guests of their bar and bat
mitzvah to donate books. Then, on
Memorial Day weekend, when many
kids were at the pool or riding bikes,
Alex and Gabbi sorted and set up
the books at Dr. Brenner's office.
The final piece in this model is that
the physicians will now encourage
the parents of their patients (during
well-child checkups) to read to their
children — offering free books for
their patients to keep. Why is this
important? Through research, Gabbi
found that people who are literate

are healthier. They are able to read
instructions on medicine boxes, and
they are more likely to be informed
of public health hazards. The best
way to jump-start literacy is for par-
ents to start reading to their children
at an early age.
I think that Gabbi said it best: "If
you give a man a book, you don't
really do much for him. If
you teach a man to read,
you open up lots of oppor-
tunities for him. This is
not quite as catchy as the
original saying about fish,
but it is true all the same."
As for the Reach Out
And Read program, Gabbi
said, "Here we are not only
providing the fish, but the
rod and the bait as well."
As a parent, you always
hope that your children grow to be
compassionate and selfless. I was
very proud of what she and Alex had
accomplished. To be honest, when
I was their age, helping the corn-
munity like this was not anywhere
on my radar. In the middle of all
my brain waves trying to figure out
school, relationships, being just cool
enough, my braces hurting my lip
when I played trumpet and what my
changing body was doing, I never
thought I would have enough room
or time to spend helping others.
Gabbi and Alex showed me that
young people could find the time
to perform good deeds in the com-
munity.
While many people worry about
how the newest generation — with
their Facebook, g-mail, and Twitter
— is forgetting how to really touch
others, I see these teens doing
extraordinary things to engage and
help the people around them. They
are not too self-absorbed to cast
their lines after all. 0

Jim Keen is author of the book "Inside

Intermarriage: A Christian Partner's

Perspective on Raising a Jewish

404.1•1 -

PATIO & CASUAL FURNITURE

Ann Delisi's Essential Music

Weekends 12noon - 4pm

Family" (URJ Press, forthcoming) and

a contributor to the book "The Guide

to the Jewish Interfaith Family Life: an

InterfaithFamily.com Handbook" (Jewish

Lights publishing). He is a columnist for

InterfaithFamily.com. His e-mail address is

jckeen@umich.edu.

a public service of Wayne State University

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