Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
I’m June Simms.
On our show this week, we hear from artists who performed at a show to raise money for victims of Superstorm Sandy…
We tell about a Virginia school and its “Dress for Success” program…
But first, we hear how one religious center is taking steps to increase its membership.
Reinventing Synagogue
Last week we told how some American churches are taking steps aimed at
easing the lives of working parents. Church leaders want to help these
families make time to attend worship services and other religious
activities.
This week, we tell about another house of worship that is seeking to
increase its membership. Shirley Griffith has more about Adas Israel, a
synagogue in Washington, DC.
A large crowd of young Jewish adults gathers in the Adas Israel temple
on a Friday night. They are offered beer and potato chips. It is more
like a party than a religious meeting.
Temple member Elie Greenberg laid out the food and drinks. He knows
fewer and fewer young Americans are involved in organized religion. He
says it is time to try something new for young Jews.
“The traditional approach to Judaism does not speak to them anymore,
and we are constantly looking for innovative ways of reaching them where
they are spiritually.”
The Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism are the largest Jewish
groups in America. A recent study found that only eight percent of
their synagogue members are between the ages of 18 and 34.
Julia Crantz was among the crowd at the social hour organized by Elie
Greenberg. She says she does not feel the same sense of duty to join a
synagogue that past generations did.
“For me, belonging to a synagogue, isn’t so important to me as having
Jewish experiences and Jewish friendships and experiencing my Judaism in
other ways.”
Another attendee, Casey Girard, also questions the economics of involvement.
“I think part of the problem is it is so expensive to join and it is something only our parents do.”
Adas Israel has begun a project that its leaders hope will appeal to
young people. The temple is turning one of its main areas of worship
into a sitting room. Anyone going there will be able to enjoy coffee and
a free wireless communication system.
Financing for the project is coming mainly from the temple’s established, older members.
Adas Israel was formed more than one hundred years ago. It, like many
synagogues and churches, was once a center of spiritual life for the
community. But America’s religious culture is changing and the future of
its houses of worship is in question.
“What do synagogues have to know about you – not you, but your generation – that is different from your parents’?”
That is Rabbi Larry Hoffman. He is teaching a group of rabbinical
students at Hebrew Union College, a Reform seminary in New York.
One student takes out his iPhone and holds it up so all can see.
“Because of these little gadgets that we can just go find everything,
on the spot, in the second that we want them, we live in a world where
we want that for everything.”
Later, in his office, Rabbi Hoffman says that synagogues need to be reinvented.
“Young people do not join the way their elders did. They do not join
anything. That does not mean they are not interested in what synagogues
have to offer. But synagogues have to offer something other than what
they’ve been offering.”
Rabbi Hoffman is a member of Synagogue 3000. The group works to
reestablish synagogues as powerful centers of modern spiritual and
community life. The rabbi leads a Synagogue 3000 project that sends
Jewish leaders into a community.
“And says it effect ‘Rabbi, we will not even see you. Fifty percent of
your time at least, you should be out there in the coffee shops, in the
gyms, in the bars, meeting young people.’”
Elie Greenberg has been doing just that at Adas Israel. And his monthly beer and chips social event is growing.
On this Friday, as the gathering comes to a close, several young women
mark the start of the Sabbath by lighting candles. Mr. Greenberg hopes
the crowd will stay and pray, like the generations that came before
them.
Dressing for Success…at School
One day a week, more than 700 students dress for success when they
attend classes at the Mayfield Intermediate School in Manassas,
Virginia. Boys wear suit coats and ties. The girls wear nice clothing
like dresses or skirts and blouses.
The head of the school believed that once a week, his students should
wear something other than blue jeans. So he created a program called
“Dress for Success.” He and his teachers hope it will improve the
behavior of their students and help them become successful.
“What am I going to wear to school today?” That is the question
10-year-old Diana Otero asks herself each morning. But not on Mondays.
That is when she knows exactly what she is going to wear -- she dresses
like she is going to work, and it makes her feel good.
“I feel important and confident.”
At school, Diana and the other students attend classes and other
activities just like they would if they were not dressed-up. This is
Diana’s first year in the Dress for Success program. She likes it.
“I feel like this program enhances our learning opportunity.”
That is why student Shawn Arrigo likes the program.
“If you, like, feel good and you’re, like, sitting and it is comfortable, then you’re not going to have any problems focusing.”
Shawn says he does better in class when he is dressed up.
“It makes me feel more mature.”
It also makes him look like one of the people he wants to
be like – school principal Jeff Abt, the creator of “Dress for Success.”
“I asked the kids if they’d consciously make an effort to wear
something different on this day. I think it presented a climate where
the students said, ‘You know what, I’ve worked hard, I’m dressed in my
best and I’m going to do my best on this day.’”
Sixth-grade teacher Erika Redler says she sees a big difference in students’ behavior on Mondays.
“The kids who think about how they’re going to dress for school before
they come to school, they already are in the right mindset when they
walk in the door. And I always shake my kids’ hands when they walk in
the door and they look me in the face and say, ‘Good morning, Ms.
Redler.’ And the kids who dress for success are already in that, like,
'head up, shoulders back, good morning' kind of mood. And they start the
day off right, they feel more proud of themselves. And when they have
that attitude, their behavior is usually better for the rest of the
day.”
Ms. Redler says the program teaches students to be serious, and improve their grades.
“And when you’re dressing for success and you’re taking yourself more
seriously, then you’re probably going to be doing what you’re supposed
to be doing in class, which means you’re going to be doing better in
school. But I think that we’re still working toward that goal.”
That is why there are Dress for Success signs throughout the school, urging students to join the program.
Jeff Abt says dressing up on Mondays does not mean students must buy expensive new clothes.
“Our kids come from different economic backgrounds, so if they’re
wearing a collared shirt, and they generally would not, then that will
be considered a Dress for Success. But as you saw today, we have kids in
suits, students in dresses. We have the whole gamut.”
He hopes the lessons students learn while they are dressing for success
will help them make better decisions in high school and in life.
“I tell our students if you are dressing for success, if you go to an
interview, you’re normally looking at your closet saying, ‘What’s the
best thing in there to show that person I’m the best person for the
job?’”
Jeff Abt’s students are getting a lot of practice answering that
question now, while they have fun dressing up, and feeling like adults.
Benefit Concert for Hurricane Victims
Singers Bon Jovi (L) and Bruce Springsteen perform during the '12-12-12' benefit concert for victims of Superstorm Sandy
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Singers Bon Jovi (L) and Bruce Springsteen perform during the '12-12-12' benefit concert for victims of Superstorm Sandy
Some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry came together
Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The
performers held a concert to raise money and show support for the
victims of a disastrous storm last month along the northeast coast.
Christopher Cruise tells about the show.
Bruce Springsteen opened the sold out show, “12-12-12: The Concert for
Sandy Relief.” It was fitting. Springsteen is from one of the states
most damaged by Hurricane Sandy: New Jersey. Entire beach towns were
destroyed by winds, waves and flooding. Governor Chris Christie is
requesting thirty-seven billion dollars in emergency money from the
federal government. Thousands of people lost their homes.
Among the songs Springsteen performed was “My City of Ruins.” He wrote
it in two thousand about a favorite beach town, Asbury Park, New Jersey.
New York City native Alicia Keys also performed. The composer and
singer released an album about two weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit her
hometown. She performed “Empire State of Mind II” as firefighters were
honored on the stage for the final song.
The Robin Hood Relief Fund Foundation is collecting the donations
raised by the concert. It says ticket sales alone brought in thirty
million dollars.
We leave you with another one of the performers at the “12-12-12” concert. Here is Bon Jovi with “Livin’ on A Prayer.”
Archaeologists
working at Japan's Kanai Higashiura site have unearthed the remains of a
Kofun-period warrior and infant - both of whom were killed in a
volcanic eruption. The bodies were covered in a layer of volcanic ash
that dates to the early 6th century.
