If You Feel Like Giving

Michael "Miki" Neumann was an amazing man, and I'm proud to have shared the Shavuot education stage with him at Beth David in West Hartford back in 2010. When he passed away suddenly last year of a heart attack, the entire community and all those tied to Miki were broken. He was a boon to the West Hartford community, but he also was internationally known and recognized for his research in Numerical Linear Algebra, Matrix Theory and Linear Algebra, and Numerical Analysis. Miki published more than 150 scholarly articles, coauthored a book in his field and was working on another book at the time of his death. In shul, I will always hear the prayer for the safety of Israel Defense Forces soldiers with his voice, as every Shabbat he led the prayer in West Hartford.

So why am I writing this now? Well, a fund has been set up in his honor at the University of Connecticut, where he was a professor at the time of his untimely death. This is a note from his wife, Helen:

I'm writing to tell you that the University of Connecticut has established a scholarship fund called the Michael Neumann Dissertation Award fund. This scholarship will be given every year to the student who writes the best PhD dissertation in mathematics. This is a very fitting way to honor Miki's memory. In his career at UConn he was a wonderful and devoted PhD supervisor to nine students. He remained a mentor to them all. 

A very generous member of the math department at UConn has offered to match all donations made between now and June 21st up to $5,000. Below is the information on how to make a donation to this fund. 

So, if you're feeling like giving today, considering giving to the Michael Neumann Dissertation Award. He was a brilliant, kind soul, and his memory should be for a blessing!

How to Make a Donation By Mail Checks, payable to "The University of Connecticut Foundation," can be mailed to: The University of Connecticut Foundation 2390 Alumni Drive Unit 3206 Storrs, CT 06269-3206 Please note Michael Neumann-22909 in the memo line. Online Donors can also make a gift, up to $5,000, to any part of the University from our secure Web server. ·         For gifts to the Michael Neumann Dissertation Award, visit: giving.uconn.edu ·         Check box: I would like to give to a fund not shown on this list. ·         Account or fund you would like to support: 22909 ·         Gift Amount: ______ ·         Please enter school, college or program this fund supports (if known): Michael Neumann Dissertation Award - 22909 Online donors should select the box on the giving screen (example on the left) that informs the Foundation that the gift is being made in memory or honor of someone. When this box is checked, a form will appear where the donor can enter the name of the honoree and who should be notified of the gift (often the honoree or a family member if it’s a memorial gift). Payroll Withholding If a UConn faculty or staff member would like to give through payroll deduction, they may call Human Resources for more information. As little as $1 per pay period can be deducted from your paycheck and designated to the account of your choice until you reach your goal. You may download the pledge form, which may be delivered to the UConn Foundation or faxed to the Office of Annual Giving at 860.486.0907. Phone Donors can also make a gift over the phone by calling the Office of Annual Giving at 860.269.9965.

A Quick Favor

Hello friends. It's me, your overly busy and completely unpredictable and lacking in sleep blog host, Chaviva! I'm here, briefly, ever so briefly, because I'm working to the point of brain-explosion and not eating and ... well, you get it.

Anyway, I have a huge favor to ask.

I'm trying to help collect money to get our Hebrew High Denver and Boulder Hebrew High students to New Orleans for a service-learning trip. 

Got $18 to spare? Please oh please help them out! These are our future leaders doing good in NoLA! 

Just go to https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=caje&id=1 and make sure to mark it down for Hebrew High and for the Service Learning & Leadership Trip. 

I'll love you forever. And maybe I'll bake you something, too. 

For 24 Hours: Just Give!

no one has ever become poor by giving 

~anne frank~

Today, folks, is a big day for Colorado! Why? Because it's Colorado Gives Day, and I'm taking part in one way or another via my gnarly clients the Colorado Agency for Jewish Education and Stepping Stones.

What is Colorado Gives Day?
It's 24 hours of raising as much money as humanly possible for 839 participating Colorado nonprofits and is the brainchild of Denver-based Community First Foundation. Last year's efforts raised $8.7 million, and I think that this year will blow last year out of the water!

The Organizations for which I'm Pulling?

The Colorado Agency for Jewish Education (aka CAJE), which is pretty self-explanatory. It's responsible for Hebrew High, the Melton Mini-School (adult learning), Israel Study Tour, Early Childhood Education and everything else awesomely educational in Colorado. Them's are some big shoes, folks, and they're hoping to raise $20,000 today! Give $1, give $18, just give, will you? I know most of my readers don't live in Colorado, but Jewish education is Jewish education, and if there's a state that needs it, it's Colorado -- with a Jewish population of 86,000, most Jews here are secular and CAJE does what it can to light a spark in all Jews.

The other organization is Stepping Stones, which is an "outreach organization whose mission is to welcome, support and educate interfaith couples, children and their families." So put your anti-interfaith dialogue on the back shelf and remember that Jewish outreach to interfaith families means a Jewish flavor that otherwise might not exist, and that's important. Stepping Stones also is pushing for $20,000, so give a little, give a lot, just give darn't.

What now?
Be a part of an amazing day of giving. Seriously, give $10, give $100, just give. And then browse the GivingFirst.org website and see what other organizations are worth your hard-earned cash!

Give to CAJE!

Give to Stepping Stones!

I'll be around town throughout the day today roving and reporting for the agencies, so if you want to donate in-person, check out King Soopers on Leetsdale, Zaidy's in Cherry Creek, Panera at the Denver Tech Center, and Bookies. 

Give and let give! Spread the word, friends!

Trust Set up for the Shuters

My father is in remission from lymphoma, so I know the pain that it can cause. May Barry's memory be for a blessing. 

After a long battle with lymphoma, Barry Shuter succumbed to complications from multiple pneumonias last week, leaving behind his wife, Amy (@tripnmommy), and their 7-year-old triplets. Amy and the triplets will need continued financial help as they learn to live without Barry. The expenses are significant, and they will continue for years to come. To ease their considerable financial burden a trust has been set up that will help with both immediate and longer-term expenses such as bar/bat mitzvahs, tuition, weddings, and more.

Please contribute! Checks should be made payable to “Barry Shuter Family Trust.”

Please send to: 
Adam Hofstetter
441 Oak Avenue
Cedarhurst, NY 11516

Please let me know if you have any questions. And please pass along to anyone you think could help.

Thank you so much for your help.

(Pulled this from In the Pink. I'm looking into whether they're going to make an online donation form.) Update! Donate here: http://www.rootfunding.com/campaign/barryshuterfamilytrust

Update: The Katz Family Torah!

I wrote -- not that long ago -- about a a sefer Torah that my dear husband found while organizing a family member's house. The sefer needed some work, and we were overwhelmed by the cost, so I put out a call to my readers and friends to help us fund the repair work that will run us anywhere between $2,100 to $3,400.

I was amazed at the instant reaction. We had five donors give $263, and, to our utter happiness, a family member has agreed to foot the rest of the bill. We're fixing up the sefer, replacing the etz chayim, and getting a new mantel for it, too. We're trying to find a way to store it in the new house, because we haven't had luck finding a local shul to take it on. Again, if anyone in the NY-NJ-CT-PA area needs one for their shul, still, let us know!

And THANK YOU so much to those who donated to this amazing mitzvah.

Saving a Sefer Torah

Many, many months ago, my dear husband was tasked with organizing the home of a relative, and in the process he has found some true treasures. I've blogged some of the photos before, but I can't help but post them again because I, myself, am shocked that we have this.

The only surviving family photo of the Berkowitz family.
The three oldest (on the far left, middle, and far right)  were the only to survive.
Two of the sisters married two of the Katz brothers, pictured below.

That being said, we were told by this relative whose house Tuvia is organizing that there was a Sefer Torah somewhere in the house. Now, Tuvia had no prior knowledge of such an item in the family and neither did anyone else. Tuvia made sure to look for the Sefer Torah, and even checked with the local synagogues to see if it had been donated back in the 1960s as we'd been told it might have been. Eventually, Tuvia gave up and assumed the Sefer was gone, never to be seen again -- after all, it hadn't been seen in probably 30 or 40 years. And then? He found it! Out of the blue, there it was, rolled up safely in a carpet.

Okay, hold on, you're probably asking yourself: Why on earth does Tuvia's family have a Sefer Torah hanging out somewhere in their house?

Where's the etz chayim!?

Well, legend has it (seriously) that when the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, community's four synagogues combined forces as the community shrank, the Sifrei Torah were dished out to members of the community who had donated money toward the original writing/purchase of the scrolls. The person in charge of the disbursement was my husband's grandfather's step-father, so -- knowing that the family had given toward the scroll -- handed the Sefer Torah over to the family.

Thus, there's a family Sefer Torah, and this is where you come in. We took the sefer to a sofer (scribe) to give it a once over and let us know what kind of shape it was in and what it would take to fix it. Yes, we noticed right away that one of the etz chayims was missing (that's the wooden thing that the parchment is rolled on), but the parchment looked like it was in pretty good condition. But these things aren't cheap, folks.

The sofer aged the Sefer Torah to at least 70-80 years, and he said that it's in pretty good condition for being so old. (Of course, my first thought was: I wonder if this came from Europe pre-Shoah?) The klaf (parchment) has some fraying and small tears, but nothing too severe. It is written in Ksav Bait Yosef, which is the Ashkenazi form of lettering. Oddly enough, one section of the sefer -- from Parshat Ekev through Ki Setzei -- was written by a different sofer, meaning that perhaps the section was damaged and needed to be written.

The Sefer Torah goes for a ride ... to the sofer!

Despite it being in good shape, there's been a lot of fading in Sefer Bamidbar and Devarim, and that with a complete refurbishing, we'll be good to go with a beautiful Sefer Torah! There also is a lot of wonky things going on with many of the letters like the yod (י), hey (ה), chet (ח), and tet (ט), which means that the refurbishing will cost anywhere between $1,500 to $3,400 (depending on if we go machmir and get the letters fixed). Yikes.

The Katz Family, probably from the 1930s. The man in the hat, Fred Katz, Tuvia's great grandfather,
we believe, is who gave money toward the purchase or writing of the scroll.

As the sofer said, "The mitzvah of actually writing a Sefer Torah is one that does not come around very often. Consider this a great zechus and a perfect opportunity to fulfill it in a most Mehudar way."

Translated: To take part in fixing up a Sefer Torah is a great virtue and fulfills a mitzvah in a most enhanced way! And this is where you guys come in. The sefer recommends doing the minimum fixing of $1,500 plus fixing the yod ("The letter י is missing the 'kotz' in the majority of instances. According to the vast majority of poskim, this renders the Torah possul, and must be repaired") for $600.

So help us save this Torah. Our plan is to loan the Sefer Torah to an organization or synagogue that needs a Torah use it, but for the Sefer Torah to remain in the family for use at b'nai mitzvah. (If you know of an organization that needs a sefer, please let us know!)

Will you help us in this mitzvah?

To help us in this mitzvah, click on the DONATE button on the top right of my homepage. We are trying to raise at least $2,100 by the High Holidays! I will be compiling a list of those who donate, and we hope to somehow acknowledge the donors upon the completion of the Sefer Torah's renovations by Rosh HaShanah!

Who Wants Free $$ (To Donate, That Is)!?

I wrote very recently about my awesome experiences at the Future of Jewish Nonprofit Summit in New York City, which was hosted by Social Media and Nonprofit guru Dave Weinberg. Most specifically, I wrote about DonorsChoose.org, which helps classrooms all over the country to meet their financial goals for projects on such things as salmon, the Holocaust, and the Great Gatsby (to name just a few, of course). DonorsChoose provided those of us in attendance with $10 to use on the site, so we could get started and really feel the goodness of giving (it's easier to give when it isn't your own money, right?) and hopefully inspire some of us to continue giving (I helped a friend meet his classroom's goal of math supplies!).

So I'm here to pay it forward, and hopefully, I can inspire some of you to start giving, too. I truly think that giving once (in this case it's free money) can really spark your neshama into a constant effort of tzedakah (charity).

GIVEAWAY: I have TWO $10 DonorsChoose gift cards to TWO individuals. The winners (that is, GIVERS!) will be chosen at random from individuals who comment below. You will get the gift card information via email, at which time you'll head to DonorsChoose, pick a project, and give your $10. The result should be a feeling of great pride, mitzvah awesomeness, and hopefully, as I said, an urge to give again and more often.

TO ENTER: When you comment, to fulfill your chance at $10 to give at DonorsChoose.org, you have to write about either an experience in which you gave (whether charity or time) that truly impacted you OR about a project on DonorsChoose.org to which you plan to give your $10. 

GIVEAWAY ENDS ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010, AT 6 PM EST. 

Nu? What are you waiting for? Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and everywhere else. 

Tzedakah, Days 4/5

I neglected to throw some change in the tzedakah box last night, and I also meant to do it this morning, but forgot. So I've decided to do a little researching on the Web this morning for Jewish charities (I'm not going to be Jew-exclusive, here, never fear, but that's where I'm starting my tzedakah -- I also intend on donating to groups focused on literacy, because darn't I need more readers!). Today's lucky winner?

FIDF: Friends of the Israeli Defense Force

Mission Statement: The FIDF initiates and helps support social, educational, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for the young men and women soldiers of Israel who defend the Jewish homeland. The FIDF also provides support for the families of fallen soldiers.

When I was in Israel on Birthright in December, the time I spent with the Israeli soldiers who took time away from the IDF to jaunt around the country with us was probably the most memorable. Here are these people, my age, half a world away who are willing to put their lives on the line for not only the safety of the Jewish homeland, but also for me. Yes, little ole me over here in the United States. They aren't just protecting Israel, they're protecting every Jew from New Zealand to Alaska to Dallas to Warsaw to Beijing. They do it every day so that we will always have a place of safety, a home. Visiting Mt. Carmel cemetery was one of the hardest things I've ever done, period. I cried like a baby when I saw the grave of the paratrooper with my name, not to mention when I saw the not-so-old grave of a soldier who passed during the Second Lebanon war where someone had placed a toothbrush. Something so simple as a toothbrush! This soldier, surely, in his afterlife needs a toothbrush, no? There were old men sitting near graves, just staring at their sons. And there were empty plots, ready and willing to take on the remains of soldiers who fell during the most recent and upcoming wars. It was a beautiful place, a shrine to the lives of the soldiers who make MY life easier to live.

So, for yesterday and today, I give to the Friends of the IDF -- may these funds offer good things for my friends, the soldiers, and to the families of those who have fallen to protect you, me, and the message of shalom.

A Chicago-Inspired Tzedakah Goal!

Having just returned from a five-day trek to Chicago for a little vacation (I'm on Spring Break this week, huzzah!), I will be writing a few different installments about my trip -- some uber-Jewish, some not. Enjoy!

In an effort to increase the returns on karma, I have decided to give tzedakah every day. Yes, EVERY day. I've made plans to commandeer Tuvia's UJF tzedakah box (though I have yet to mention this to him) that his mother sent his way, since we have a nice, new Purim-inspired, Chabad-issued tzedakah box at Tuvia's place. The effort was sort of randomly begun while we visited Chicago after I found myself giving twice in a series of days to jewish causes.

On Friday, while at Breadsmith -- a delicious kosher bakery in Skokie and Lakeview that dishes out amazing challahs, and interesting jars of peanut butter (including a jar that was almost taken from us at security -- chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter!) -- I was procuring two chocolate chip challah "muffins" while Tuvia spoke with a nice Jewish man in the next shopping center over about our options for a kosher lunch. I saw the run-o-the-mill tzedakah box on the counter and threw my change (about a dollar's worth) into the box. A few days later, on Sunday, while waiting to get brunch at my favorite "kosher style" diner in Chicago -- Eleven City Diner -- I saw another Jewishly oriented charity box on the counter, dug through my purse and pockets and threw some change in. It was then that I decided and made the vow to donate a little every day. So Monday, in an effort to continue the trend, I took our two seven-day passes -- both with three full days left on them -- and passed them on to complete strangers preparing to buy their OWN CTA bus/train cards at the airport.

Now, I'm not saying I'm going to give $20 every day, neither am I intending on only giving a dollar in change every day. The amounts will vary, and I will do my best to document them as such. I always end up with some change taking up space. My old method was to chuck it all into my personally painted piggy bank that I made years ago when in high school (or was it college?). Piggy banks scream "treyf," so I'm going to pack the little piggy away and replace it with the UJF tzedakah box until I manage to get a more fancy tzedakah box.

I'm blogging about this in the hopes that perhaps others will see how easy it is to give just a little bit every day. Whether it's $20, 50 cents, or something in between, every little bit can make every little bit of a difference. I'll be blogging EVERY DAY in order to log my efforts, hoping that maybe I can inspire a few other bloggers to do the same. If it becomes excessive? Well, I'll probably set something up and merely put a link to it on the side.

Until then ...

Guilt = Money for Charity

Absolutely famished, I made dinner, scarfed it down, and about 15 minutes later realized what an absolutely STUPID thing I had done. I made a huge party foul in the likes of catastrophe. I'm so angry at myself. So I went first thing to AskMoses.com to get some wisdom -- what does someone who severely busted the laws of kashrut do to amend? I mean, this isn't Catholicism folks, you don't confess. You just sit around with loads of guilt, waiting for the incident to escape your mind. And then something else happens and it's a vicious cycle! So what did the nice woman at AskMoses.com tell me to do? She suggested I pay more attention to what I'm eating, which is a given, and that I donate money to a food-oriented charity.

So Mazon, please take my guilt money and use it for a good thing.

All you have to do is comment!

What's the best way to give in this brand-spanking-new year of 5769?

Go over to the PopJudaica.com blog to this post and write a little note in the comments section. For every comment posted, PopJudaica is donating $1 to Sharsheret , a breast cancer organization geared toward women affected by breast cancer.

It's awareness month, so do your part for a great cause! And spread the word, darn't! Re-blog it, re-tweet it, get the word out!