Tali

= =  The Gift Of Giving =  =   Research-F.I.R.S.T   What is the organization F.I.R.S.T and how does F.I.R.S.T influence the world? I chose to do my project about the organization F.I.R.S.T because whenever there is a tragedy going on in Israel or around the world there is always an Israeli rescue team. I wanted to know why do we usually go and in what situations. Most importantly I wanted to know what Israel is trying to show the world. And how do we influence the world

Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (F.I.R.S.T) is the national association for search and rescue, established in 1986. F.I.R.S.T trains, supports and plans activities of 11 regional search and rescue units around Israel. Since Israeli rescue teams were established there have been 8,000 rescues. All the doctors are volunteers. They are an amazing group of 550 highly motivated professional-level people that come from all types of life styles and religious communities. F.I.R.S.T is one of the few non-governmental, not-for-profit aid groups. It has sent relief delegations to help victims at national disasters around the world. F.I.R.S.T rescue units gave service in Turkey, India, Mexico, El-Salvador, Greece, Armenia, New Guinea, Japan and more. (Background, 1)

An excellent example of F.I.R.S.T's action is Japan’s recent earthquake.0n March 11 2011 at 14:46 there was an earthquake in Japan(across the east islandof Honshu). The force of the earthquake was about 8.9 at first in magnitude according to the torque scale. And later on it was scaled 9.0 it was the strongest earthquake Japanhad in 140 years. The earthquake caused waves that got up to 10 meters. The reports say that about 12,000 people died from the earthquake and over 16,000 people are still missing. (2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, 1) So what did F.I.R.S.T do to help? F.I.R.S.T sent a couple of rescue teams to Japan-they helped rescue people from under ruins and they helped medically-because there were many people that were injured. So many people were injured and there weren't enough people to take care of them and give them medical help; it was a real miracle that F.I.R.S.T came to help and rescue them.

F.I.R.S.T’s work isn’t limited to the time that the tragedy is happening; rather, F.I.R.S.T needs to be ready and alert every second something may happen; Therefore, F.I.R.S.T has many preparations and trials during the year. F.I.R.S.T works constantly on trial rescues-they go to mountains and oceans and practice rescuing people so they will be ready at the moment of truth. The volunteers need to give a lot of time to F.I.R.S.T-they need to be constantly in shape and ready to run to do their job.

Medical help to desperate countries is only one way that F.I.R.S.T influences the world. (A rocky mountain high for Israeli rescue unit, 1)

The second influence involves Israeli ideals.

F.I.R.S.T shows the world what Israel is really about. Who are the good Israeli people-people who help and want the world to be a better place with peace and happiness. Israel sends the rescue teams around the world as an expression of the Israeli belief in helping those in need regardless of race, gender, religion and disabilities. "The main focus of both sides is to rescue and help people." (A rocky mountain high for Israeli rescue unit, 1) in other words F.I.R.S.T wants to help and give and influence people. F.I.R.S.T wants to encourage people to give and do good things for the world. They are showing the world how human beings should behave-to be kind and caring to each other and to help and influence the world.

F.I.R.S.T gives rescues and makes the world a better place. They make us feel that we are in good hands if something happens. That shows us how special F.I.R.S.T is and how they constantly influence the world.

Profile  I Will Help You   I decided to do my project on Hillel Wasserman because I pass by him and his table every Friday night and I was always wondering what he actually does there. I wanted to now if he was just handing out free candy or if he was doing something deeper and meaningful. I also wanted to now why he opens up a table every Friday night and how he came up with the idea and keeps on doing it for many years.

Hillel Wasserman lives in Efrat, after growing up in New Jersy he made 'aliya' 9 years ago. He is a father of 3, ahusband and works as a cook. His giving to the teenagers of Efrat shows how a little simple act can make a big change and influence upon many people and change their lives. What he does is make himself available to the teenagers in case they ever need something-the way he does it is by opening a table on Friday night. Each Friday night he drags a table from his home to the area that the teenagers hang out, he opens it and puts on it candies and drinks, he sites there and talks to teenagers that need help. He moved to Efrat when his kids were teenagers (13, 11 and 9) and on Friday nights they would go out to the 'rimon'(kids hang out there at night). The 'rimon' had hundreds of kids. There were kids that were smoking and talking on their phones on 'shabat'. There was a good ambience of teenagers being together but it was lacking an ambience of 'shabat'. And when he saw that he decided that he wanted to raise the spiritual level a little bit. Hillel places a big value on his own family. A big reason for why he does the project is because he and his wife wanted to make sure that unlike the Israeli society and culture where children are out freely all night until whenever they feel like it-he wanted to make sure that his children have the ability to have people that know where they are and what they're doing. The best way to do that was to "camouflage" themselves. The first 'shabat' Hillel put out the table on the street he didn’t stand near it and people were afraid to touch it-they didn’t know what it was about. The second 'shabat' he put on the table a sign-"you asked why and the answer is 'oneg shabat'". And people began to take. In the third 'shabat' he stood by the table and he heard wonderful funny things-"it's good that there are Americans that have nothing to do with their money". It was when people started to ask him why he was putting out a table-people started to get really connected to him. The first 'shabat' that it rained he and his wife saw that they had a problem. They were very confused about what to do. So that 'shabat' Hillel and his daughter got dressed up and walked to the 'rimon' and there were teenagers standing under the awning and they gave out lollipops and said that their home is opened and its warm. The first few weeks he had hundreds of kids coming to sit in there house on Friday nights. So that’s how slowly slowly Hillel built a trust system with the teenagers. Hillel believes that he got that value of giving from his parents. He remembers that when his mother would do laundry she would need to look at the label to see whose name is written inside because so many people would sleep in their house. Last 'shabat' Hillel had a girl staying at his house whos father became religious as a result of the influence of Hillel's parents. It's something that Hillel and his wife learned from their parents and it is natural. The first emergency Hillel was involved in with the teenagers was when a boy got hit on his head with a rock on Friday night and the kid knew that if he would go home his father would kill him even more then the rock because the kid shouldn’t have been there. That kid went straight to Hillel and asked him what he should do. Hillel went to explain to his father what happened. Another story that happened and Hillel was really" touched" and felt that he is making a change was 2 years ago a boy came to him with his car keys and said to him-"I'm drinking too much and I want you to save my keys until I get insurance and every thing is good". To Hillel that was very significant because it means that the boy trusts him enough. There have been other stories of people that their parents simply couldn’t deal with the teenager or didn’t choose to deal with the teenager and the parents threw them out of the house. So those people chose to live in Hillel's home for a while on and off times. Hillel had people under house arrest in his house because they had no were else to do it. A lot of interesting things that a regular household doesn’t usually see happen in the Wasserman home; but they do well with it. Hillel's kids were and are very involved with the project. They would stand by the table with their father and talk to the teenagers. And now each kid gives in his own way, whether its advice that they give to friends or helping in different places. They have nice relationships with people that went through their house. It's very nice to see how the kids have learned to have conversations with not religious people and not being influenced, says Wasserman. Until about 2 years ago, Hillel went out every night to the shopping center. There used to be a vegetable store there and every night he would put a table and chairs inside to run a "beit midrash" for all the kids who had nowhere else to go. The problem was, that it is very unhealthy to work all day and to be up all night; so he ended up getting sick 2 years ago on 'pesach' and it took him around 2 months to get better. Hillel says he learned from this that a person has a responsibility first to himself and his family and with whatever is left he can share with the community. Hillel thinks that in a few years Efrat will be too large for anyone to make a difference. He thinks that we are losing our children and that we have not chose- to inspire our children to be religious. Hillel would love to see in every major neighborhood a place that is always open for teenagers to come talk and get something better then what's being offered on the streets. Hillel is convinced 100% that the most important thing anyone needs is to be able to talk. The ability to talk when you have something on your mind is very important-"dagat libcha yasichena" (to solve your problem you need to talk about them).Wassermann explains, "If you ask anyone of your friends why they wear kipot they can give you ideas-people ask questions when there is someone to answer them. In school it's not the place to ask questions like-why I believe in god? They assume you believe in him and why to wear a kipa…"(Waserman.efrat.20.11.2011). Hillel really thinks that teenagers have questions and they just need a place to ask them. Hillel doesn’t understand why there are math, science and English tutors but there aren’t religion tutors. There are a lot of parts in our religion that children don’t understand. Teenagers have a lot of questions and they want to have people to go to, to ask them-not because they don’t believe, they just don’t understand and want to ask. He wants to pass forward the message that he believes religion is a wonderful thing for those who choose to understand it. People think that if you don’t talk on your phone, and don’t drive your car that you kept 'shabat'. But he thinks that that’s not true-'shabat' has a lot of things that you should do. It's Important that people learn to love the things they should do and they're all wonderful things if you understand them. Wasserman says that the teenagers really care and appreciate the work he does for them but he doesn’t care if they do. It's not about the teenagers appreciating it; it's about them benefiting from it. Hillel thinks that every person that’s good at something has a responsibility to do it. And when he makes good things happen it's not a feeling of good; it’s the knowledge of accomplishing something that is going to be long term-You won't know the benefit. It's like watching a movie and waiting for the end that brings the whole movie together. They wish that the kids they helped will help other people and pass it forward. Hillel and his wife discuss a lot whether its still important what they do: "every time especially in the winter when I bring a pot of soup out and its gets finished it means that there is still a need. There has not been a week that no one showed up and there wasn't anyone to talk and discuss something with…." (Wasserman.Efrat.20.11.2011). It's something that grew on their family-that is what they do-so they will keep on going till they see a reason to stop-they're leaving that decision to 'hashem'. Hillel remembers that there used to be a television show named "Kung Fu". The man from the show would say-"my name is Cain-I will help you". That’s what Hillel does-he has no conditions. Whenever he can help he helps. 'chesed' comes in all forms: lending someone money, giving someone a ride and much more. The goal is to help-and whenever the chance comes he tries to do it.

My Israeli Giving-Creative project Whenever someone mentions the word Israelthe first word that comes up to my mind is "giving". Israelis a nation that throughout all the history is seen as a giver. Since the early days of "avraham avinu" being a "machnis orchim" to our modern days. The fact that every 18 year old needs to serve the country in the army or community service proves the desire of Israel to be a country of givers, every one helps and gives to people and earns there place in Israel. My giving to Israelis by volunteering in "Shalva". "Shalva" is a center for kids with special needs. Each day after school the kids go to "Shalva" till 17:30. "Shalva" works very hard to build the independence of each kid so they will be able to live a good independent life after they grow up and leave "Shalva". "Shalva" also helps the kid's parents by taking care of the kids and giving the parents time to spend quality time with their other kids and letting them freshen up from the time the parents spend with their challenged children. "Shalva" is divided into three groups. There is a group of boys and girls together till age 12\13 that is could "rimon". There is a group of boys over age 13 that is called-"shaked" and there is a group of girls over age 12 that is could- "tamar". Every Tuesday I go to "Shalva" from 15:00-17:30. I have a specific girl that’s 15 years old that I'm with. I also spend time with ten other kids that are in group "tamar". Volunteering with a girl with Down syndrome is not easy. You need to train yourself to be patient and calm. To understand that there are good days and bad days and not to get easily frustrated. To try to understand the kids when you have no clue what they're thinking. But the most important thing in volunteering is to come each week with a huge smile and a lot of love and happiness to give to the kids. I really believe that when you give and volunteer you get more then what you give. I can say about myself that I'm getting so much from volunteering in "Shalva". I learn how to communicate and interact with kids that are different and not like me. I learn how to be patient and take things in proportion. It happens a lot of times that I had a really bad day in school or that I'm not in a good mood that I go to "Shalva" and I come out glowing and smiling. Each time that I go to "Shalva" I feel a good feeling of satisfaction and that feeling keeps me going the rest of the week.

Reflection It's hard to reflect and say what this project gave to me because it gave me so much. I was working on this project for a couple of months already and it's really fun to see how I progress from it. When we talked about the project in class I was very nerves and I had no clue how I will be able to do it. In the beginning I started to type and it took me a really long time to type a sentence because I usually type in Hebrew. And now when I'm typing, I'm typing fast and the words are flowing out and I'm not having a difficulty explaining myself in English. It's good to know that I can express myself in English and I know how to find websites to get information from and how to find the right words to express my feelings. I feel now more connected to Israel. I learned about organizations and people that make Israela better place. The project opened me up to people and helped me see how each person can make a change, give what they could and influence so much. I thank god that he gave us the ability to give and that's why I called the project – "The Gift Of Giving". I believe that the ability to give is a huge gift and we need to learn to use it correctly and give the maximum out of ourselves and fulfill our purpose in the world.

NOTES "A Rocky Mountain High For Israeli Rescue Unit" ,IsraAID, Web, July 17 2005, 22.11.2011. Background", IsraAID, Web, 22.11.2011." ,Youtube,Web, 22.11.2011."פרסט היחידה הישראלית להחשת פעולות סיוע, חילוץ והצלה" "2011 Tohoku Earthquake And Tsunami", Wikipedia, Web, 22.11.2011. GRAPHICS http://israaid.org.il/member_page.asp?id=6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXyGaH-Fdwo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXyGaH-Fdwo