1999 Newletter

This November it will be 13 years since the death of our daughter and sister Adina. 13 is a significant time in most children's lives as they enter their teens; for a Jewish child it can take on special significance as they become a Bat or Bar Mitzvah. During the course of our lives we encounter many such special moments when we are touched and we experience the miracles of growth, of commitment, of community, of memory. As we journey from one year to another, may we remember each of the miracles we have already experienced and may we continually discover more, and especially let us embrace the opportunity to bring about such "miracles" for others.

The ripple effect during these few years since the Fund's inception has been indeed miraculous: $96,750 has been awarded to more than 200 individuals for 215 projects, $81,400 between 7/87 and 7/98 plus $15,350 from 9/98 through 8/99. This year 27 grantees were the beneficiaries of your commitment; they have used your money and added their own expertise and energy to touch and to transform the lives of numerous other individuals. In the process they have reinforced their own commitment to making this a better life for others, and it becomes a better world for all of us.

We are pleased to share the news that this year the Fund's principal has risen to more than a quarter of a million dollars - $264,000 at the end of August, 1999. As our capital base has grown each year we have increased the number of grants and the amount of each. A grateful THANK YOU to the first non-family member who has included the Amy Adina Fund in their will as a charitable remainder annuity trust! The Fund continues to be defined by the IRS as a non-profit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) corporation. The Schulman family covers all administrative costs, so 100% of your gift is added to the capital base.

As has been our custom in each of these annual newsletter updates, we excerpt passages from letters sent by grantees. It is only a small window into their activities and their passion, but we will be pleased to send you any of their full reports.

This year with Ruth's coming retirement from her work as an Associate Dean at Rutgers, she plans to establish a web page with greater details about the work of the grantees, an on-line application, and links to other philanthropic umbrella groups. Your suggestions (and assistance) in this area would be most welcome. In the meantime, we ask you to continue to encourage young people to volunteer their time and talents and to request an application from the above address. Thank you all for your continuing support!

It's been years since I have been in touch. In 1993 you were generous enough to give me a grant to make staying in Israel possible. I want to share with you the fruits of that support. Four years ago I was blessed to be able to make my personal dream a national reality by creating a not-for-profit organization [called Through Our Own Strength] dedicated to transforming the lives of Jewish and Arab women and the communities in which they live…

More than 500 women from all walks of Israeli society and of all ages have taken part in our group empowerment workshops, including community leaders, political candidates, business women, young Jewish and Arab women, directors of women's organizations, rape survivors, single mothers, new immigrants, senior citizens, religious women…Specialized workshops help diverse groups of women such as breast cancer survivors… aiming to develop a support network.

Among our client organizations are Hadassah, the Joint Distribution Committee - Israel, Association for Americans and Canadians in Israel, Hotline for Religious Women …Through Our Own Strength is about getting more women into politics, community leadership, business, law, medicine, or wherever else they want to be…making sure they know they belong there - with confidence and respect, with vision and support, and with the inspiration to set sights high and leave their mark on the world.

The two months I spent in Sakhnin [an Arab village in the Galilee] with your help two summers ago changed my direction in college, and from there my direction in life. During my two years at Harvard prior to that summer, I majored in physics, and planned to teach it at the college level …. After my rich experience in the village, I decided that my interest in Arabic language and literature could no longer be a second priority. I transferred into the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, focusing on the period of Muslim/ Jewish/Christian coexistence in medieval Spain, studying the literature and philosophy produced during that Golden Age…I received a Marshall fellowship to study in Cambridge [this coming academic year]…doing research in their collection of manuscripts in the Cairo Geniza and earning a master's degree…

My [own] research will focus on the aspect of Hebrew poems which best symbolizes the coexistence in Spain…a rare intersection of Arabic, Hebrew, and early Spanish. This poetry is evidence of a vibrant cultural and intellectual partnership largely forgotten in today's world of sound bites from Hebron and Nabalus… The mutual living and learning from each other in Spain provide an inspiring model for today… Common language allows a free flow of communication. The personal contact made possible by language leads to under-standing that can reduce the fear and stereotypes that separate Arab and Jew, Orthodox Jew and feminist Jew, immigrant and threatening environment. I have come to know myself as a traveler who likes to linger on the borders between cultures and languages. In the Middle East, where the current shared language is violence, I hope to contribute to the process of translating fear and mistrust into understanding… I thank you for your support in fulfilling the first step in the process by being a part of my wonderful eight weeks in Sakhnin.

ILAN G. is a student at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. His resume includes: co-chair of the 9th Annual Jewish Collegiate Festival of the Performing Arts, founding member of "Damn the Core", an undergraduate Columbia U. rock band, and a consultant for the United Synagogue Youth International Programs on Social Action activities. He has served as interim chaplain at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute, and as a student rabbi for a Virginia congregation. This past year he was the Hunger Programming Coordinator of a social action group organizing student awareness and food donation activities; this coming academic year he will be a Homelessness Awareness Intern.

Ilan received a grant for a six-week four-part unsubsidized internship in Israel under the auspices of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund. It included introducing hundreds of teen-agers who were in Israel for the summer to "Mitzvah Heroes, individuals who are devoting their lives to extra-ordinary projects involved with social justice, tzedakah [righteousness], and acts of loving-kindness…We are also a resource to raise awareness [in these areas.]" One set of Heroes they introduced were "directors of an organization that works with individuals who have suffered severe mental crises, helping these people put their lives back together physically, emotion-ally, and mentally. They find jobs for these people and work with their supervisors to ensure they are progressing…" He described his summer as "thrilling, a feeling of exhilaration, and memories that will last me a lifetime." Ilan sees his life's mission as "…continuing to educate Americans and people the world over to the ways they can help better society."

ROSE-LYNN F. requested grant funds for the Jews of the Sahara Expedition,a 6 week trip to Morocco for a "photographic exploration of Jews and Muslims who live by tradition and faith in the context of change." She worked in collaboration with a Moroccan-born Israeli ethno-graphic researcher "to trace the presence of the Jews who once lived there and the tradition of the Tzaddikim [righteous men] who have been venerated for generations by Jews and Muslims

The Sahara compels, particularly as a point of convergence in spiritual greatness among people who are often enemies in other lands. The remnants of continuity are still evident in faces and stories, customs and costumes. However, as ancient rhythms are replaced by television, the legacy of knowledge and the ways of many ancestors are soon to vanish….

I have traveled extensively and generated a series of photographs, `Faith at the Threshold', showing Jews, Muslims, and Christians whose essence links them to each other regardless of their cultural and religious origins and whose lives are in parallel transition. (It) is part of an evolving body of work guided by `threshold' as a central metaphor of birth or death; of traditions meeting new ways; of immigrants coming to a new land by choice, or refugees forced out of their homes by necessity; or reaching the point of exhaustion or the promise of possibility…we are each always at some threshold of spatial, temporal, or spiritual transition: ending and beginning, passing back and forth between the known and the unknown.

I have images of Jewish and Muslim life; we were in mud villages at the edge of the Sahara…Old people with good memories would invite us into their homes and provide information about the Jews who used to live in the village... We would see former synagogues, some in ruins, some structurally intact, some with goats and sheep. We went to the tombs of many many Tzaddikim. Some were very beautiful compounds where Hiloula's are celebrated annually and people arrive from throughout the country and from Israel to celebrate and venerate, and some were simple, and some were almost anonymous, and some were dug up. It was very remarkable and I am reliving it as I print the images that document these experiences.

For the 3rd year, the Amy Adina Fund helped support the University of Michigan "Volunteers in Action" (VIA), for their Alternative Spring Break program. 10 students volunteered at a geriatric facility focusing on art and music therapy, working in a soup kitchen, and living in a cooperative living society in Chicago which houses new immigrants, battered women, and abused children.

...coordinating the Israeli component of a new development project between Partnership 2000 and the IFP. Paired American and Israeli communities will adopt programs to bring North American college grads to live in the partnered community. working with Israeli Jewish and Arab university students to advance coexistence through community development. I will be developing relationships with these Israeli communities and adapting the IFP program to their needs…"

In college she established a chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute. Her advisor noted, "She diligently pressed her cause at both Barnard and Columbia. As a result of her persistence, she received a prestigious award from the Provost's Initiative Fund and from the Committee on Race, Religion, Identity, and Ethnicity for seed money for a Train-the-Trainer program; over 25 students and administrators became diversity educators."

"My experience in prejudice reduction and conflict resolution… my five-years as a counselor, asst. director, and director for Habonim-Dror's Camp Moshava encouraged me to invest my energy and skills in the conflicts of the Middle East. The goals of IPF matched my experience and passions well. This coming year I hope to increase the breadth of our work…

The Center is developing high-quality educational pilot programs and schools in areas that have a mixed Jewish-Arab population: organizing parents and local educators, developing a new bi-cultural and bilingual curriculum, creating a new form of discourse between Arab and Jewish residents about community issues, particularly education. In all of Israel, only one small community of Israeli Jewish and Arab families has an integrated elementary school.

Last September the Center opened integrated Jewish-Arab schools in the Galilee and in Jerusalem. The one in Northern Israel is a unique partnership between the Misgav Regional Council, which is Jewish, and the three neighboring Arab communities including Sakhnin (See Miriam's report, page 4). This project, a first grade class of 16 Arab and 16 Jewish children, has the support of the four local governments and the Ministry of Education. Each year a new first grade class will be enrolled; the previous year's class will move up. "I listened to a story that was told to the students in Arabic, followed by a discussion about the story and its symbolic message about individuality and appreciation of others who are different. It impressed me that first graders could understand this deeper meaning to the story and were able to articulate their impressions." And in the kindergarten: "The lesson being taught that morning was about clothing and head coverings. The teachers explained… simultaneously in Hebrew and Arabic… about different head coverings which Jews and Muslims wear and let the students try on different examples of these coverings…

…True community schools with a tremendous amount of participation and involvement of parents and community in decision making processes… Research on bilingual programs shows the effectiveness of this learning on achievement levels in a variety of subjects, as well as fostering positive attitudes towards differing cultural, national, and ethnic groups.