LETTER: Day School Seniors Do a Mitzvah of Love

Editor's Note: Following is a Letter to the Editor submitted by Rabbi Ellen Greenspan.

The Beth Tfiloh seniors are in the middle of their month long trip to Poland and Israel. After a week in Poland, the students arrived in Israel, and one of the stops on their mitzvah-oriented agenda was a visit to ALYN Hospital.

ALYN is Israel’s premier rehabilitation center for children with physical disabilities. Children from all over Israel come seeking ALYN’s cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary treatment for a wide range of disabilities including neuromuscular conditions, birth defects and issues that result from cancer surgeries, car accidents, acts of terror and other life happenstances.

ALYN welcomes all children regardless of ethnicity or religion and combines expertise with love to offer physically disabled children the chance to reach their highest potential.

The visit to ALYN is especially meaningful because throughout their years at Beth Tfiloh, the students explore the importance of helping others while recognizing the significance of the State of Israel and its national institutions.

A goal of the Beth Tfiloh trip is to forge powerful bonds to their heritage and to each other while exploring the history, culture, archaeology, geography, and people that unite the Jewish people. They definitely connected with the children of ALYN when they visited there this week.

This is the third visit to ALYN for a Beth Tfiloh senior class.

The 2012 trip has inspired the students to want to help the children of ALYN. As a private nonprofit hospital, ALYN receives no automatic government funding and relies on a network of friends to bridge the gap in funding between health insurance reimbursements and the actual cost of ALYN’s extensive care.

The Beth Tfiloh Seniors have made a commitment to raise funds to help; they set a goal of $6000 which would bridge the gap for one child for six weeks of care in ALYN’s Pediatric Respiratory Rehabilitation Department.

May 17th will surely be a highlight of the Beth Tfiloh senior class Israel trip when the students participate in the third annual Beth Tfiloh Bike-a-thon in Israel. The class will be riding for the children of ALYN who cannot ride and are asking family and friends to support their effort. Anyone interested in helping the class reach their goal can visit www.alynus.org/btbikeathon or call the American Friends of ALYN Hospital at 877-568-3259.

If you are looking for a tzedakah project for a bar/bat mitzvah, a youth group or a religious school, consider helping the heroic children of ALYN Hospital by doing your own Mitzvah of Love. American Friends of ALYN Hospital offers projects to suit any individual or group. For more information, call 877-568-3259 or email programs@alynus.org.