This past Sunday evening, Ezrat Avot's intergenerational intern, Eryn London from Baltimore's Goucher College, and I organized our first intergenerational Tu B'Shvat Seder. Despite the inclement weather, over 50 of Jerusalem's English-speaking retirees and students from Hebrew University, Nishmat, and Pardes Institute participated in the event, held at the OU Israel Center.
Tu B'Shvat is a beautiful holiday in which we celebrate our connection to nature and the Land of Israel. Eryn and I saw it as a perfect opportunity for students and seniors to celebrate and learn together about how this tasty festival reveals the importance of bonds between the generations.
Ezrat Avot is no neophyte to intergenerational programming. Indeed, their Hebrew intergenerational curriculum has spread from Jerusalem to Ashkelon in past years, fostering meaningful friendships between Israeli elementary school students and seniors. Designed to promote social awareness and challenge stereotypes surrounding aging and the elderly, Ezrat Avot's Kirvah program, lays the foundation for long-term mutual and meaningful intergenerational relations within the family and the community. This Tu B'Shvat Seder, however, was the first of its kind – bringing together English speaking seniors and university-age students.
My rabbi in Montreal, Rabbi Schmidman z"l, always reminded his congregation of the famous proverb "In order to know where you are going, you must know where you come from." I think this phrase, although simple, yet very profound, highlights the necessity for younger people to not only know their history, but to connect to their living history as well.
Who knew though, that such a 'necessity' could actually be fun!? Both seniors and students genuinely enjoyed celebrating and learning about the origins of the holiday together, not to mention a few l'chaims, four to be exact.
Many thanks to the OU Israel Center for their hospitality, Pardes Institute and Nefesh b'Nefesh for their publicity, our gifted photgrapher, David Hirsch and of course our dedicated intern, Eryn London, to whom we wish a safe trip back to America and an open invitation back to Ezrat Avot anytime.
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1 comment:
heather and Eryn, you both did a wonderful job at this most recent intergenerational event. I had a great time at the seder. I'm looking forward to more events that bring me togeather with the older/wiser generation.
they are actually pretty fun to be around :-).
i like what is happening with this blog. keep up the great work.
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