2004/5765 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
This is our once-a-year communication, our annual report, and we are pleased to notify you that the Fund continues to award increasing numbers of grants to most impressive young people.
This month, it is 18 years since Amy Adina's death. The letters for the Hebrew word for life, “chai,” spell out the number 18. Your financial support continues to keep alive Amy Adina's values of idealism and resiliency in today's grantees. You support young people who dedicate part of a year of their life to learn about and to teach social responsibility, to build a more hopeful world during these perilous times, and who find meaning and purpose in their own lives during this process. You have sustained life, hope, and understanding for thousands of individuals in the Near East, the U.S., Ethiopia, and Central and South America through grants totaling $196,100 to 314 grantees. Indeed, in 2003-2004 the Fund's capital base was able to award more grants and the largest amount of funding ever: 28 young people received grants totaling $27,300.
Every contribution is fully tax deductible and goes directly into the capital base to earn interest that is then given in grants; the Schulman family covers all administrative costs. Donations in memory of, or in honor of, special occasions are promptly acknowledged to those families or individuals. Thank you to those who have provided gifts of stock or who have named the Fund in your estate plans
Our best wishes for a healthy year, a year of good deeds and peace.
Mel & Ruth Dan & Jennie, Molly, Jake Joel & Nancy, Logan
Notes from some of of our 2004 grantees
Rachel B. is now a senior at Tufts University. Her Hillel rabbi enthusiastically
described her campus involvements: organizing a Shlomo Carlebach minyan on campus, “proceeding in a way that was respectful of the existing campus communities but addressing the needs that a growing group of students expressed for a more spirited experience in services…She helped initiate and organize a Hebrew Table and became one of the campus leaders planning a citywide Israeli Independence Day celebration… She worked together with Tufts Arab Student Association to plan a co-sponsored vigil in support of ending the violence in the Middle East. She also joined the committee that organized our Holocaust Memorial week.”
She co-founded a student “New Initiative for Middle East Peace” which she described as, “a non-polemical group designed to foster productive research and discussion of the Middle East…Ten of us traveled to Israel and the West Bank to speak with Israelis and Palestinians to gain a better understanding of the conflict.”
Rachel received her grant to attend the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution in Cyprus this past summer, and last month sent us a copy of her 96 page report completed in August, “Across the Divide: An exploration of current Israeli-Palestinian coexistence building initiatives.” A brief excerpt:
I began this project very skeptical of the potential for the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. Given the day-to-day reality of innocent people being killed, and the extreme hatred towards and lack of trust between peoples, I did not understand how Israelis and Palestinians could be making genuine progress towards any form of reconciliation. Rather than rest satisfied with my unfounded skepticism, I wanted to talk to the people actually involved in various coexistence initiatives to hear what they had to say about how the current reality in Israeli and Palestinian society affects their efforts towards peace… After speaking with multiple people about their involvement in peace education and building coexistence, my skepticism has waned and I now know there are a handful of people who are truly committed to creating forums for dialogue and grounds for coexistence…
There may be little progress between people on a governmental level,
but individuals are working hard to ensure that at least a few positive relationships
are maintained between Israelis and Palestinians on a people to people level. It is these relationships that will serve as a foundation for further reconciliation and coexistence on a larger scale when one day a political resolution is achieved.
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Abby H., a sophmore at Rutgers, participated in the Alternative Spring Break program in Yaxunah, Mexico.
...how can we, as privileged Americans, contribute our assistance to those in need? We will learn to do strenuous physical work with our host families, and they in turn will learn about organizing their community from us… Upon our return we are expected to devise a community service program incorporating our experience with social justice work, working with Rutgers Hillel, and potentially involving students from the Latin American Cultural Department.
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Julie F. wrote in July:
…thank you for your gift to help me come to Israel and attend the WUJS (World Union of Jewish Studies). I had an amazing, life altering experience here and am anxious to return to the States this Fall and share all that I have learned…on my college campus (UC Berkeley)… I was able to study the Bedouin and Druze cultures and learn about some of the disharmony between these cultures and the Israeli government. I was able to inspect these cultures and their villages first-hand, and see the difference between `recognized' and `unrecognized' villages. I learned about security issues that further complicate the problem of the Arab culture in Israel. All this will help me to facilitate dialogue on campus about peace between our two cultures, from a more know-ledgeable point of view….
On a personal note, this trip must have been designed by HaShem. In
the first week I was here, I met an amazing man (part of the WUJS Israel group) and we began a courtship. Since I am religious, courtships are usually very `hands off' and very intense. I am excited to report that we are scheduled to be married… Your grant has made it possible for minds, and lives, to change for the better.
Many blessings to you and may Amy Adina's memory be for a blessing.” As far
as we know, this marriage is a first for the Fund!
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Ilana K. completed her undergraduate work at Cornell where she took many women's studies and global issues courses. In her senior year she co-authored a
chapter in a professor's book about international women's rights violations.
For our grant, Ilana participated in the Dept. of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia U. working in their Human Rights and Peace Education in Brazil program. The program collaborates with Viva Rio, a frontline NGO in Rio.
...I believe I will learn concepts of human rights that are applicable
to peace education issues, in essence learning a common core of universal rights…
The editor of Lilith Magazine told us, `I know that all the young people to whom you have awarded grants over the years have been extraordinary. Ilana
fits right in with this stellar group. She is an exceptional young woman - smart, courageous, and a Jewish social activist in many different arenas… She inter-
viewed young teens for a groundbreaking article on sexual behaviors of the bat-
and bar mitzvah crowd…Her perspective is always fresh, and fearless…Her feminist activism is always modulated by a sweet willingness to put in the extra effort needed to make new projects happen.
Returning to the U.S. Ilana plans to bring her experience and information
to a broad community. As an intern and writer for Lilith,[she hopes to] write an article in a following issue about what I learned in the program and also about
the Jewish Brazilian community in Rio... As a Masters student in gender politics
at NYU, there are a variety of venues: lectures, conferences, and round-table discussions in which I can educate others about women's human rights, peace education, and a lecture about the period of service in Rio.
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News and Notes about Five Former Grantees
Raquel Ukeles, a 1998 grantee who is currently completing her doctoral program in Jewish and Islamic Studies at Harvard, was featured in the Oct. 22, 2004 issue of the national Jewish newspaper, The Forward. “Ukeles told a gathering of 75 Jewish community representatives [at a forum sponsored by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs] that they have a rare, small window of opportunity to take some risks and engage Muslim organizations…(B)y limiting the number of conversation partners, the Jewish community is missing a historic chance to build relationships with the next generation of American Muslim leaders ….She recommended a two-pronged strategy: that national Jewish groups such as the ADL and the AJC continue to guard against American Muslims who actively work with terrorist organizations, but local interfaith and community relations experts take greater risks and focus on building bridges.” Her report is entitled, “Locating the Silent Muslim Majority: Policy Recommendations for Improving Jewish-Muslim Relations in the U. S.”
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Rose Lynn Fisher, a 1998 grantee who photographed Jewish and Muslim life
in Morocco, wrote about her exhibit “Drinking from the Same Well” which has been shown in Chicago, at the Hudson Museum of the U. of Maine in Orono, and in the Museum of Anthropology at Wake Forest U in NC, as part of their theme of social dialogue.
The exhibit [is now] open in Chattanooga, TN at the Jewish Cultural Center. What makes this special is that the Jewish and Muslim communities got together and formed a partnership in order to host my exhibit and use it as a jump-off point for doing outreach together on peaceful co-existence in the city. The ambassador from Morocco to the US made a speech at the opening…
Hadassah Magazine, Nov. 2004, describes “her stunning photographs exploring the spirituality, friendship and interdependence of Jewish and Muslim coexistence.”
I send you my best wishes for a sweet, peaceful and healthy new year. I always remember your warmth and generosity.
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Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer, a 2000 grantee who received funding as a playwright, has had“10 Imaginings of Sarai & Hagar” produced through Theatre Ariel in Philadelphia. It is a contemporary “midrash (story)…a theatrical symphony in ten scenes, each unique in style and voice, as Sarah and Hagar are discovered in Biblical times, in contemporary society, and even in the world to come.
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Lauren Erdreich, a 1996 grantee with Interns for Peace, just wrote that she moved to Israel, is working with the New Israel Fund, and completed her dissertation on Palestinian Israeli Women. She is active with Machson Watch, a women's group that monitors human rights abuses towards Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints.
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Melissa Appleton's parents wrote from Canada. “Again, please accept our contribution to the Amy Adina Fund. Five years ago, our daughter was a recipient of a grant enabling her to attend Habonim Dror's Workshop. This coming spring she will graduate university with a major in Peace Studies. The passions and interests begun during her year in Israel have continued to fuel her energy and passion for peace. Thank you for your good work.”
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THE FUND WISHES EACH OF YOU AND ALL OUR GRANTEES CONTINUING OPTIMISM AND FAITH DURING THIS COMING YEAR.