SHALOM AND CHAG PESEACH SAMEACH! Hi, my name is Julia Bernicker, and I am a sophomore in high school. For school I was required to complete community service hours, and while I had a deep passion for service, I couldn’t find a project that really spoke to my heart; that is, until I became involved with Federation’s Teen Initiative MOTIV. Inspired by Jewish values, the MOTIV Summer of Service Internship helps to strengthen Jewish identity through a variety of exciting and meaningful programs.
COUNTERING INDIFFERENCE COUNTERING INDIFFERENCE 23,
YOM HAZIKARON ISRAEL'S DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
By the end of the summer, the 11 teen interns had collectively logged 112 hours of community service, volunteered for 20 different organizations and evaluated the projects so they were teen tested and approved. By gaining access to a broad range of stimulating and inspiring opportunities, teens may find they like doing service, and those who want to do more can connect to projects that feed their passion.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 30 | 7PM
The seeds of my Jewish identity have been planted. I know after high school I will be an active participant in Hillel, experience my Birthright trip, and after college, be excited to bring my experience to Federation’s NextGen program. From there, who knows? But I do know I’ll find a meaningful way to give back to this community that’s given me so much.
SUNDAY, MAY 21 2:30 - 6:30PM
SAN DIEGO JEWISH ACADEMY
Yom Ha’atzmaut
Powered by Jewish Federation www.sdja.com
ACTIVITIES
Friendship Circle Walk, Henna Tattoos & Crafts, Face Painting, Entertainment & Games, Israeli Music, Israeli Dancing, Kosher Food, Community Booths, Artisan Booths
Learn more about upcoming events at
jewishinsandiego.org/events
I WOULD LIKE TO DIRECT MY GIFT AGING IN COMMUNITY NEXTGEN SHALOM SAN DIEGO ISRAEL CONNECTIONS SAN DIEGO TEENS OVERSEAS ALL OF THE ABOVE
Chag Sameach
This is what your generosity supports. Through MOTIV and Federation, we will engage hundreds more Jewish teens — ensuring there is a generation of Jews that aspires to the value of tzedakah and takes care of our future community. Your gift to Federation is an investment in me. It is an investment in our Jewish future. I am just one example of the way a gift to Federation changes lives. You have changed my life for good — and I am only 15. Your investment is paying off!
Julia Bernicker THANKFUL MOTIV TEEN
YO U R G E N E R O S I T Y I N AC T I O N SAVING LIVES IN UKRAINE
INSPIRING LOVE FOR ISRAEL
Raisa Liebenson believed she and her family would be safe when fighting broke out in her hometown of Donetsk, Ukraine. But when the 78-year-old’s apartment was destroyed by a mortar shell that rendered her temporarily deaf, she and her husband knew it was time to leave.
I want to thank the Federation for allowing me and my friends from Soille Hebrew Day to have the chance to visit the Holy Land of Eretz Yisrael. I was lucky to have an amazing time with my friends and advisors from school.
They fled Donetsk for Pavlograd, where they are receiving much-needed help from Federation partner the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and its network of Hesed social welfare centers.
Even though I had been to Israel a few times before with my family for Pesach, this time it was not the same. Not only did we go to Masada and see the old ruins where our ancestors stood, but I got a chance to appreciate how important our land is to the Jewish people. Standing on the same soil as Moshe Rabenu and visiting the holy Rabbi Akiva’s grave, and visiting Ir David, was truly a humbling experience.
They are not alone. More than 3,000 Jews escaped the conflict in eastern Ukraine, many of them vulnerable young families and seniors who depend on JDC to survive. JDC provides shelter in centers and temporary homes for internally displaced people. Your gift helps them pay rent and provides them with clothes, shoes, and a monthly stipend for food, medicine and other essentials. During brutal winters, they receive blankets, socks, and other warm items to help ward off the cold. Raisa is particularly grateful for the basics: the meat, cheese, sour cream, and oil that allow her to feel some comforts of home while displaced. Their lives are changed forever by your generosity.
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ENSURING JEWISH FUTURES
Shell fragments were all over my bed. There was smoke in the apartment….it felt like something hot flew over me. I froze with fear. I did not know how we would survive.
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We would not survive these eight months in Donetsk without Hesed.
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RAISA AND MOISEI LIEBENSON UKRAINIAN BENEFICIARIES
Seeing the Kotel was like seeing it for the first time. Yet, I had been there many times before. My understanding was enhanced, and my love for the land grew and grew. Those short but amazing 10 days flew by so fast, and I gained a new understanding of Israel. I came home on a high, inspired by what I learned, felt, and saw. Those memories will last a lifetime.
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Sharon is one of just three kids in her grade who will have a bat mitzvah this year. To the rest of her classmates, she constantly has to explain what being Jewish means. It can be a bit lonely, to say the least. But thanks to your generosity, Sharon now spends her weekends traveling to attend the b’nai mitzvot of her closest friends — her new friends from Jewish overnight camp. Sharon is one of hundreds of young San Diegans attending Jewish overnight camp, which will instill in her our shared values, history, and culture, thanks to Federation One Happy Camper grants. For so many kids like Sharon, camp is the first time they’ve been immersed in Jewish community. She and her new friends play sports, swim, boat and hike, “but we also happen to say prayers…and celebrate Shabbat together each week. It all feels so normal, yet Jewish,” she says. Camp is only the beginning. The effects of those summers last long after August goodbyes. Later in life, Jewish campers are much more likely to support Jewish causes and take on leadership roles in our community, and beyond. Sharon is exploring her Judaism in a whole new way. Now that it’s her turn to become a bat mitzvah, Sharon is making her first act of Jewish adulthood an act of tzedakah — donating to the One Happy Camper fund at our Federation — paying her mitzvah forward.
teens are on the My Israel Journey wait list. Your gift can make the difference!
“ JASON SALTZMAN
MY ISRAEL JOURNEY RECIPIENT
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Camp is amazing. All of my best friends are there. We’re all Jewish, and I feel like I belong.
SHARON METZ
ONE HAPPY CAMPER RECIPIENT