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Call of the Shofar: 3 Year Olds Request is Fulfilled
"I want to hear the shofar", Alain, 3 ½ announced to his mother last week. His mother, Vivyan, was moved to tears and immediately sprung into action, calling the social worker at the JDC Baby Help program to find a synagogue where she and Alain could attend Rosh Hashanah services. The social worker at the JDC Baby Help program was excited to receive the call and eager to help. The JDC Baby Help professional knows Vivyan and Alain, they both receive essential services from the program. Like many in Argentina, Vivyan's life was thrown into turmoil when the economy collapsed in 2001. Raised in a middle class family in Buenos Aires, Vivyan never imagined that she would be a single mother living below the poverty line. Shortly after Alain was born she separated from her husband for reasons of domestic abuse, now the two live with Vivyan's mother. She depends on assistance by way of food aid and child care from the Jewish community. Ever grateful for the all of the help she has received from the Jewish Community, Vivyan is playing an active part in preparing for the Rosh Hashanah festivities at the JDC Baby Help center on the afternoon of Sunday, September 24. Vivyan and the other volunteers are busy deciding what will be cooked for lunch, how many round challahs to bake, who will decorate the cloths for the tables and put holiday boxes together for the local families. Through JDC Baby Help, similar preparations are going on across Argentina, enabling hundreds of families and their youngest members — like Alain — to partake in the New Year celebrations. Hearing the bellowing of the Shofar, joining in holiday song and sampling the sweet taste of the New Year will familiarize Alain, Vivyan and their peers with the holiday and further instill their sense of Jewishness and pride. Thanks to the JDC Baby Help program, Vivyan does not have to worry about her son being taken care of during the day, enabling her to return teaching. Soon she hopes she and Alain will have a small apartment of their own. September 2006 |
