Congregation Rinat Yisrael

Dear Rinat Member:

I have been asked to act as a "shul advocate" for NNJKIDS, with the mission of increasing the participation of the Rinat community in the program. I was happy to accept this assignment, because I am convinced that NNJKIDS is the single most important project that has been undertaken in our community in the past few years, for two reasons:
First and foremost, NNJKIDS represents the beginning of a long-term solution to the funding crisis that faces our local yeshivot,. NNJKIDS is the first step in moving the funding model for Jewish education in our community from a "user fee" system towards one in which the entire community takes responsibility for the education of our children, which had been the traditional Jewish approach for centuries. This requires both grass-roots as well as philanthropic support; however, we cannot expect the philanthropic community to invest major funding until the community has shown its across-the-board support for our local yeshivot .

NNJKIDS is also exciting because it is the first time in our community's history that there is a single central address for the support of Jewish education. The large number of schools in our community has essentially limited fundraising to families who have a particular association and loyalty to one particular school. With NNJKIDS, contributions can now be made to support local Jewish education without having to choose a particular school to favor. This is especially useful for people who no longer have children in any of our yeshivot. We have heard many rabbanim speak recently about the need to prioritize our tzedaka obligations to local needs, and there is no better vehicle to accomplish that goal than NNJKIDS.
To date, NNJKIDS has received contributions from over 1200 families in Bergen County, with an annualized donation rate of over $650,000. The distributions of funds that NNJKIDS has already made to the local yeshivot have averted tuition increases of about $200 at each school, thus beginning the process of easing the tuition burden. On the one hand, this is an achievement that is beyond any initial expectations; on the other hand, the program will not be successful in the long run unless we achieve a much higher participation rate. In the Rinat community, 37% of our full members have signed up for the program. We would like to see that percentage significantly increase in the next few months.

I urge those of you who have not yet participated to go to www.nnjkids.org and sign up for on-going support. The process takes not more than a couple of minutes. The suggested minimum is $1 per day ($30 per month ); however, donations are valued very level.

If you have any questions or want more information, please send me an email at schanales [at] herrick [dot] com and I will respond promptly.

Thank you in advance for participating in this historic project.

Sheldon Chanales