Volunteering in Torah School

Torah School Chair, September 2002

This year we have big plans to reinvigorate the community of Torah School! Most of us, as parents, want a caring community of friends for our children as an important part of their Adat Shalom experience. To this end, we, the Torah School Board, want to form our Torah School parent community into a community of chaverim/friends. The Torah School Board has voted to undertake a 100% Parent Participation initiative this year. We want parents to be deeply involved in the life of the Torah School, in projects large and small. Members of the Torah School Board believe that full parent participation is necessary to have the kind of exciting, vibrant and warm community life that characterizes Adat Shalom in so many ways.

What the Torah School Board is prepared to do is to organize and encourage parent volunteers. Here are some of the volunteer opportunities:

• Tikkun Olam parent
• Giving a Dvar Torah or reading Torah at Torah School services
• Member of the Torah School Board -- this is open to anyone
• Organizing or hosting a potluck, including Friday or Saturday nights or Saturday daytime oneg (this will be a first time program for the Torah School)
• Room parent
• Substitute teaching
• Volunteering to help at the three Friday night family services (This year, for the first time, we will have three Friday night services that will be organized in large part by the Torah School and open to the community.)
• Fundraising subcommittee and its projects
• Purim Carnival organizers and staffers
• Teacher appreciation
• Program and teacher evaluation by parents
• Programming with Congregation Har-El, and starting a pen pal project with Israeli students

There are one time volunteer opportunities, there are ongoing opportunities, there are opportunities in all areas of the life of the Torah School. Darin Schonzeit will be coordinating this effort on behalf of the Torah School Board. Please call her for more specifics.

When I was Hospitality Chair, many people asked me why oneg duty was a requirement of membership. Some folks wanted to know because it was so different than other synagogues? expectations (paying your dues being the only requirement) and to them I would say that it is not only money that we believe builds a community, but personal involvement in that community. Other folks wondered why a food requirement and not a Tikkun Olam or service requirement, since we highly value that as highly as we value building community. And for them I have no real answer -- We should be requiring that which we most value.

And in that vein, the Torah School Board has seriously discussed moving to a co-op model where parents would be required to participate in the life of the school. We decided that before taking that radical step, we would try a model of promoting 100% parent participation.

So show your kids that you, yourself, value their Jewish education enough to devote your time: volunteer with the Torah School.

L'shalom,

Loren Amdursky
Chair, Torah School Board