The Torah Academy of Bergen County Chesed Program has always been viewed as a vital component of a complete TABC education. Utilizing a variety of experiences, TABC encourages its students to step outside their comfort zone, giving them a glimpse into the life of those who are less fortunate. TABC believes these lifelong lessons transform its students into confident, compassionate Bnei Torah. As a part of that mission, TABC launched grade-wide chesed days, to offer students an opportunity to spend an entire morning involved in a chesed they may never have experienced otherwise.
Four Tuesdays in a row, each grade at TABC began their day with a shiur and then broke up into numerous groups to head out into the greater community. Students and faculty volunteered at the MASBIA soup kitchen in Flatbush, preparing meals and care packages and with Habitat for Humanity, and rebuilding homes in Little Ferry that had been ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. TABC students also visited the Alzheimer’s program at the JCC on the Palisades, playing games with and music for the residents there. They stocked shelves at the Jewish Community Center of Washington Heights food pantry and cared for the Silver Lake Cemetery in Staten Island. One group went out to the Bronx to salvage the remaining sefarim and memorial plaques in a shul building which will soon be destroyed.
TABC students also had the unique opportunity to learn from communal professionals who are involved in chesed. The junior class heard a presentation by Rabbi Ari Sytner, Director of Community Initiatives at YU’s Center for the Jewish Future, who donated a kidney to an Israeli mother he had never met. They met with Mr. Andrew Parver, the Director of Operations at the Hebrew Free Burial Society, who has dedicated his life’s work to helping those who cannot afford a Jewish burial.
The grade-wide chesed days were an important opportunity for every student at TABC to internalize the vital importance of combining a life of Torah with acts of chesed. This is a lesson the students will incorporate into their daily lives in school, at home, and beyond.
