Thursday, May 28, 2020

Fwd: News From Agudas Yisroel - 5 Sivan 5780/May 28, 2020


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Agudath Israel of America <news@agudah.org>
Date: Thu, May 28, 2020, 1:14 PM
Subject: News From Agudas Yisroel - 5 Sivan 5780/May 28, 2020
To: <agentemes4@gmail.com>


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May 28, 2020 - 5 Sivan 5780
News from the Agudah:

  • Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, executive director of Agudath Israel of Maryland, wrote an article in the Ami magazine about his involvement in the plasma initiative and his experience delivering a prayer at the White House. You can view the article here.

  • Your sons will enjoy this week;s Pirchei Shavuos newsletters. Click here for the Pirchei Weekly and here for the Pirchei Pages. We'd also like to share with you a recording of a Pirchei conference call from earlier this week where Rabbi Shalom Kamenetsky shared a short pre-Shavous message with the Pirchei boys. Your sons can listen to a recording of that here.

  • Are you aware of the P-EBT program? This program gives money in place of school lunches for parents of children in many areas. We have put together information about this program and links to help people in various states. You can see our P-EBT information page here.

  • Bnos recently held two big virtual events. There was a virtual Bnos leaders appreciation event and a virtual Bnos One-on-One big and little sister event. See below for more details.

  • We would like to remind everyone again that it has been brought to our attention that the Agudath Israel calendar for 5780 (2019-2020) indicates that the next cycle of Pirkei Avos begins this Shabbos, 7 Sivan/May 30. However, as this is the second day of Shavuos, Pirkei Avos is not said on that Shabbos. Therefore, please mark your calendar with the updated corrected schedule of Pirkei Avos, found below, for the remainder of 5780. We apologize for the error.

  • Agudath Israel of California has been hard at work dealing with getting houses of worship open again- in a safe way- and they welcome the governor's guidelines for safely reopening houses of worship. Please see below for more details.

  • Last night's V'nismach event was joined by around 150,000 people around the world, who joined together to remember the Siyum and have a hisorerus towards kabbalas haTorah. If you missed it (or part of it!) click here to watch the whole thing, or go right to the segment that you missed by clicking here for a playlist of each segment. Enjoy!

  • We've already shared that Project LEARN hosted a webinar with Dr. David Pelcovitz last week, on the subject of parenting special needs children during the COVID-19 pandemic. See below for a brief write up of some of the tips he shared, and a chance to watch the recording.

  • The virtual Yarchei Kallah program will be continuing next week on the topic of Talmud Torah. Rabbi Asher Weiss will be giving a shiur on Sunday; see below for more details.

  • Lastly, we would like to wish everyone a chag kasher v'samei'ach!
Bnos Update
National Bnos Leaders Virtual appreciation event:

Close to 1,000 Bnos leaders from over 30 different cities joined the National Bnos leaders Virtual appreciation event this week. It gave Bnos leaders a chance to interact and connect with other Bnos leaders in other cities while getting practical tips, hearing inspiration and playing a very exciting interactive game. The program included inspiration from Mrs. Yael Kaisman, noted teacher and life coach, on the role of Bnos leaders during these trying times. The leaders also heard reports from cities and played a fun game.

Bnos 1 on 1 big and little sister virtual event:

Over 150 big and little sisters joined the virtual event. The girls played a game, did a Shavuos project with singing and dancing, and enjoyed the chance to connect with other girls and have some fun.
Calendar Correction
Houses of Worship to Reopen in California 
Dr. Irving Lebovics, Chairman of Agudath Israel of California
This Monday Governor Gavin Newsom released guidelines for safely reopening religious institutions in the State of California. The guidelines allow for up to 25 percent of a building's capacity capped at 100 people. The plan also contains 12 pages of safety measures that will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in religious communities. Yesterday, the guidelines became operative in the city of Los Angeles.

These guidelines have been released at an opportune time for California Jews. At the end of this week, Jews all over the state will be celebrating the holiday of Shavous, a holiday which is chiefly observed with communal prayer.  

Agudath Israel of California has been hard at work daily regarding this issue by contacting representatives and senators. With the help of the Jewish Caucus of the California Legislature , specifically Sen. Henry Stern, as well as Sen. Ben Allen and Assemblyman Richard Bloom, Agudath Israel ensured this issue was a top priority for the Governor.

Earlier this month, Dr. Irving Lebovics, Chairman of Agudath Israel of California, was asked to join a committee to review these guidelines. In fact, many of the instructions the guidance dictated were directly lifted from Agudath Israel's guidelines that were released in early May.  

Dr. Lebovics was very grateful to the Governor for the guidance, saying, "We are very thankful to the Governor for prioritizing this issue. The Jewish residents of the state of California consider these houses of worship essential and have been aching to return in a safe manner."
Project Learn Webinar
It isn't easy to be a parent. It's challenging to be a parent to a special needs child. It's difficult enough to be a parent during the COVID-19 pandemic, with illness and lockdowns disrupting our routines and taking away the support systems we've come to lean on while we raise and educate our children. It is beyond difficult to be a parent to a special needs child under those same circumstances.
Take all the challenges parents have, and multiply them exponentially. Then, you will only be able to scratch the surface of how tough things are for them right now. While all children thrive on routine and stability, these children – and their parents – need it to survive. And right now, there is neither.
 
For nearly two decades, Agudath Israel of America's Project LEARN has been at the forefront of countless efforts to help these children and their parents, whether from lobbying and advocating for legislative changes to assisting individual parents with their needs.
"Naturally, we saw this challenge as something different than we have ever dealt before, but one we are perfectly positioned to help with," said Mrs. Leah Steinberg, director of Project LEARN. "We know exactly what these parents are going through and how dependent the kids are on the professional help they usually get. The first step, of course, is helping the parents know how to deal with the immediate challenges, creating a framework that feels safe for their child, and learning the tools which would help them further."
 
Last week, Project LEARN held a Zoom webinar aimed at achieving just that. The first in a series of webinars explicitly aimed at filling this critical gap, the program, moderated by Mr. Ami Bazov, coordinator of education affairs for the Agudah, featured Dr. David Pelcovitz, who, as Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America said in introducing him, "is one of the great heroes of our time" in the field of child psychology. Dr. Pelcovitz has been at the forefront of advising parents for decades, and his expertise in this area and many years of dedicated leadership made him the perfect person for the job.
 
Dr. Pelcovitz focused a return to the basics, and on laying a healthy foundation children can rely on in these turbulent times. Seemingly little things like consistent bedtime, adequate sleep, and a dedicated workstation, he told parents, can do wonders in making these children feel a measure of stability in their lives.
There is also a strong need for the parents to focus on their own emotional stability – even from a health point of view – to help bring, as he said, "order to the chaos."
"Just sit down with a piece of paper," Dr. Pelcovitz advised the parents, "and ask yourself in the midst of chaos, how do I answer the three questions Yaakov Avinu told his children to be prepared to answer at the final confrontation with Eisav: Who am I? Where am I going? What am I going to do with what I have? Just by writing it out, it puts our values front and center, and the research shows it can bring us to a greater sense of control."
Dr. Pelcovitz took questions from parents, covering topics such as how to deal with the possibility that the special summer camps might be closed, how to manage with the loss of privacy when special services need to take place in the home, and how the child's behavior impacts the other children – and what to expect to remain from that going forward.
 
As over 200 parents from all over the world tuned into the webinar, the silver lining to this online event was that we were able to reach parents throughout the world and plan to do this on a regular basis. We will be surveying interested parties, starting with those which were on Thursday's webinar, on which issues need addressing. Stay tuned.
Yarchei Kallah Continues
The Yarchei Kallah continues next week on the topic of Talmud Torah. On Sunday, there will be a hachanah shiur from Rabbi Shlomo Gottesman at 11:00 am EDT and a shiur from Rabbi Asher Weiss at 12:00 pm EDT on Birchas HaTorah.

The Zoom access code is https://us02web.zoom..us/j/83528677424 and the call in number is 1-646-558-8656, access code: 835-286-77424.
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