Times have changed in the 25 years since kiruv reached its first peak. The Orthodox community has grown stronger in numbers, in learning, and in observance. That growth has caused a dislocation to some members of the community, which in its most extreme manifestation has lead to some of our youth diminishing their Torah Observance.
One kiruv organization has leveraged their experience and knowledge of what excites Jews about Judaism to shine a light on some of our disconnecting youth. That organization is the Jewish Heritage Center of Queens and Long Island.
Since 1987 The Jewish Heritage Center of Queens and Long Island’s mission has been spreading the value and relevancy of Judaism to Jews of all backgrounds. The JHC has offered a full array of free lectures and classes, hotel retreats and educational and social programs designed for Jews with little or no formal background in Jewish Studies. In that time it has reached tens of thousands of Jews and has significantly impacted upon the lives of thousands of them.
Three years ago the JHC expanded its services to include inreach, strengthening the emotional and spiritual development of disenfranchised Chassidic Youth while at the same time providing prevention based programming to mainstream Yeshiva High School students.
In the last three years alone, the JHC has brought in hundreds of new young families and thousands of new young students and participants. The JHC has hired five new young dynamic Rabbis to take the organization to even greater heights.
From Monday, March 21 at 1:00 pm, to Tuesday March 22 at 1:00 pm, you have an opportunity to voice your approval and support for efforts such as this.
Click here to follow and help the JHC try to reach there $400k fundraising goal. They have benefactors who collectively will quadruple your donation. That means that for every dollar that you give, the JHC will get $4.
Support outreach that leads to inreach – which benefits the entire Jewish community.
The dictionary definition of disenfranchised is “deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote”.
In the post, it means no longer feeling supported and a part of the Chassidic community or the larger observant community.
Here are some recent usages of the word disenfranchised and thanks for the prompt to add it to an upcoming 11th grade vocabulary quiz.
It makes us feel disenfranchised by the very organizations that were put in place to protect Jessica and our family.â€
New York Times-Mar 22, 2016
These are predominantly locally sourced and readily available given the plethora of disenfranchised radical Sunnis who constitute the Islamic State’s base.
Washington Post-Mar 18, 2016
Partition could worsen the violence and generate new grievances by creating disenfranchised populations and insecure minorities.
Time-Mar 15, 2016
“With all of that being said, we’re being disenfranchised so much in this country,†he said.
Los Angeles Times-Mar 13, 2016
What exactly does “disenfranchised” mean in this piece?