The following email was sent today to the RBS email list...

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Yesterday in my class at Hebrew University, a professor spoke about his visit to Ramat Beit Shemesh. He had met with both Lemaan Achai and Hakshiva and was hugely impressed with their professionalism, goals, achievements and the community support. He ended off by saying that if you want to know the true meaning of chesed, this is the community to visit!


RBS gets a lot of bad press, it was a true Kiddush Hashem to hear someone like
this sing its praises!

Urgent Letter to the Community

Dear Friends,

Hakshiva works with adolescents and teenagers in Ramat Bet Shemesh who are:

• Struggling with insurmountable learning difficulties
• Struggling with addictions to drugs and alcohol
• Struggling with the trauma of having been abused
• Contemplating suicide
• Engaging in self-mutilation
• Coping with mentally ill parents

Hakshiva helps these and other teens with a consistent caring relationship that has meant the difference between success and failure and in some cases even between life and death.

With the help of the community we have created a family of support for these teens that has brought them from failure to success and from pain to joy.

Graduates of our program are currently succeeding in Yeshivas, Midrashot, army and university.

In addition Hakshiva expends tremendous resources in to helping prevent these problems from occurring. Hundreds of children from around RBS have been helped and have avoided these problems altogether thanks to Hakshiva's help. Hakshiva is supported and seeks guidance from Rabbonim across the community.

We are grateful to many of you who have donated consistently and have made Hakshiva one of their community causes. Without more people making Hakshiva one of their consistent Tzedaka causes we will be forced to cut services. More children and teens will suffer and many problems will become catastrophes. We need your continued help to stop this from happening.

Please support us generously and participate in our raffle at https://www.hakshiva.org/raffle or call the office at 077 228 5230

Tickets can also be purchased at:

• Robert Airley Yavneh 10 Ramat Shilo
• Esther Ofier Nachal Revivim 19
• Suri Fingerer Nachal Dolev 4
• Amy Gitlin Katlav 7
• Michal Baruch Yarkon 14
• Danielle Lieba Luz 8
• Avram Goldstein Nachal Shimshon 16
• Michael Schoemann Ayalon 19

Thank you for your support

Yonason Martin

Director

Guest Post by Hakshiva

Our Rosh Hashanah campaign is in full swing. We have had tremendous support from many members of the community - thank you all!

When we help a child, there is often a positive and dramatic impact on the entire family. This year we are starting to work within schools, enabling us to help children who would otherwise fall through the net. We believe that the impact of our interventions with these children will have a positive effect on the entire class. This means that in the coming year, apart from the hundreds of children we will help directly, thousands will benefit indirectly. We continue working every day towards our goal of ensuring that each child in Ramat Beit Shemesh gets the services they need to succeed.

Special Matching Opportunity

Any donation you can make is appreciated. This year, until Yom Kippur, a few generous donors have offered to match anyone who will commit to $900 over the next year or $75 a month, so your donation will be worth $1800 - enough to cover one year of mentoring for one child. If you are interested in this opportunity please send an email to office@hakshiva.org

As our wonderful community grows, so does the need and demand for our services. Your partnership with Hakshiva has never been more crucial.

If you haven't yet contributed to this campaign, please make your pledge by sending an email to office@hakshiva.org . Please include a phone number on which we can contact you.
Alternatively, you can donate online by clicking here .

Hakshiva is holding a fundraising raffle.


Hakshiva is a wonderful organization that helps local kids who need a "big brother" and extra attention. They help them succeed in school and in life, by helping get through their issues and problems.

If you can help Hakshiva, so they can continue saying yes to developing programs for the kids, and so they can continue saying yes to the kids, and parents, who turn to Hakshiva, it would be like saving a life. In todays bad economy, they have had a hard time raising money for their programs. Here is a way to help them and possibkly help yourself by entering the raffle, but definitely helping yourself by having an organization like Hakshiva be able to continue functioning in RBS.

Buy a raffle ticket for the Hakshiva raffle.

I posted a couple weeks ago about having shechted a turkey named"Billiam" for some teenage boys I know.
Those boys, and many others like them, are in an organization, located in RBS A, called Hakshiva.

A common problem, not unique to RBS, but perhaps it stands out more in places like RBS because of the high percentage of Olim, is when families make aliya, the children can have a hard time adjusting. Especially if the child is a teenager, or approaching his/her teens, it might be difficult for the kids to adjust and acclimate, make new friends, fit in to schools while overcoming language barriers, and the like. Sometimes these kids do not succeed right away, and end up having difficulties, both academic and social.

The kids end up just hanging around and acting wild in the streets and parks, their situation continuously deteriorating, often because nobody deals with it and assists in getting them back on track.

Hakshiva has seen the need and has stepped up to the plate.

Hakshiva offers three major areas of support:

1. The Individual Mentoring Program helps kids while problems are small. Kids spend time twice a week with a mentor who really is just an older friend. Mentors give support, and the results speak for themselves.
   
2. The Group Mentoring Programs support kids whose struggles have gone a bit further already. Still, the basis is the same: support them, love them, don't judge them, and things just get better.
   
3. They also offer parental support.

A representative of Hakshiva once spoke in our shul. He said something very interesting (in response to a question). The problem is not unique to RBS. One can look at any Jewish community around the world and see the problem. In Israel it is rampant and the boys are known as "noshrim" a.k.a. dropouts. One can see them hanging out in downtown Jerusalem, Bnei Braq, and scores of other places. In the US the problem exists as well with kids "dropping out", not having a framework, getting into trouble. Each kid ends up in that situation out of his own individual circumstances, and it is not specifically a RBS problem.

The thing is that it is a bit more acute in RBS and similar places. Because of the aliya issue, the problem is more acute. A child is starting out with a challenge, and if it is not dealt with early on, it often ends up with needing Hakshiva to step in and get involved.

I should add that not every family that makes aliya ends up with his kids falling through the cracks. Plenty of families make aliya, perhaps most of the families who make aliya (but I have no numbers), do so successfully and the kids integrate and interact socially and educationally and succeed.

But some do not. And Hakshiva has really stepped forward and made an impact on the lives of these kids and their families.

So, check out the hakshiva website and get familiar with them. If you have a way to help them - offer tutoring, mentoring, Big Brother, whatever, do so. If you need to use their resources for your own child, please do so. If you can make a donation to them, funds are always vital and I am sure they would appreciate that as well.

Hakshiva is a very important organization operating in RBS. Any other neighborhood that does not have a similar organization, should quickly set one up modelled after Hakshiva and begin dealing with, and not ignoring, their problems.