Later this month, a group of volunteers from Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley will gather to help repair a building that houses a care program for kids with developmental disabilities. What’s unusual about this group of volunteers is their age — some are as young as 5.
The Family Room program at Netivot Shalom, coordinated by Rabbi Serena Eisenberg, consists of seven families who gather once a month in each other’s homes to study Jewish texts and do a volunteer project in the community. Projects are created in cooperation with the Volunteer Action Center of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.
Past projects have included making Purim baskets and bringing them to seniors, and bringing a meal to a homeless shelter. Active since January, the group includes children between the ages of 5 and 10.
What makes the Family Room project unique, according to Eisenberg, is the combination of a family-learning atmosphere and a focus on social action.
“I know some religious schools have mitzvah days,” says Eisenberg. “But the idea of drawing a community of families that want to do these projects together draws a wonderful response. I think families are yearning to do it, but it’s hard with their schedules to find a way to plug in.”
Vicky Kelman, of the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education, created the Family Room program years ago, with an emphasis on learning. The Netivot Shalom group, under Eisenberg’s guidance, maintains the original structure of the program, in which a handful of families with children come together to learn. But this group adds a new component: community service.
For Sharon Priven, a social worker who participates with husband Mark and their two children, that element is key.
“We chose social action because we want to build that component of the community,” says Priven of Albany. “We want our kids to have that experience while they’re young.”
Although it can be difficult to find activities that will satisfy the interests of both the younger and older children in the group, the older kids help make it work by encouraging and organizing the younger ones. Priven says once the project is under way, the children often take great pride in the work they’re doing.
“It was exciting to see the kids bagging the lunches [for the homeless], because the kids took it upon themselves to make sure it was done right and done well,” she said.
Each month, one family takes charge of finding a project to do. Finding projects that can include kids can be a challenge, but including the whole family is one of the basic goals of the Family Room.
“We don’t often think we can include our kids, but they get it,” says Liz Jaroslow, director of a Jewish preschool in San Francisco and a mother of two children involved in the program. “He goes to the grandma that doesn’t have family around and understands he’s helped her.”
One of the attractions for Jaroslow and Priven is that Family Room brings the whole family together to learn while doing mitzvot.
“As our kids have grown up, there’s a shift when kids are in Hebrew school and learning on their own, and the adults are doing adult things,” says Priven. “But a whole lot of us wanted to learn together with our kids. When you learn together, it’s building a foundation so that kids will want to stay connected with Judaism.”
With an emphasis on tikkun olam — repairing the world — Eisenberg is hoping that the project will make a lasting impression both on the children involved and the community around them.
“The most exciting thing is planting in these children’s lives and hearts the idea that Judaism is about coming together in order to do good for others,” says Eisenberg. “We often come together to pray together, to celebrate together — but the heart and soul of what we’re doing is about tikkun olam, and it’s a real treat to give that to children.”
The group has no plans to expand, but members are hopeful that other similar groups may sprout. The current group is scheduled to meet through June, after which the families will evaluate how they want to continue after breaking for the summer.
“The vision is that these families will develop a longer core in our community, and develop longer-term kinds of projects,” explains Eisenberg.
Priven, for one, is optimistic about the group’s future.
“I think it’s a great model,” she says. “I think we’ll be together for a long time.”