Local Hebrew School Students Build Bridges to Israel

is an experienced bridge builder, someone who seeks to find common ground between people from different walks of life, however great or small their differences.

So this fall, when Goldstein was tasked with teaching a combined Hebrew School class of fourth grade students from Temple Israel in Ridgewood and , she knew just what to do:

Bring the congregations together by working toward a shared goal -- 100-100-$100

That’s 100 Rosh Hashanah cards, 100 stuffed animals and $100 for shipping the cards and toys to a school in Israel.

Goldstein, who through her Bears from Bergenfield project has collected and sent packages of nearly 118,000 stuffed animals to hospitalized Israeli children for the past nine years, started the 100-100-$100 offshoot for her 3^rd and 4^th grade Temple Israel class last year.

She’s continuing the program this year at the Northern New Jersey Jewish Academy, the newly merged Temple Israel and Temple Beth Sholom Hebrew school initiative.

“Teddy bears build bridges,” Goldstein said. “People can all understand comfort, cuddling, being with a teddy bear. So there may be slight religious differences between the two schools, but everybody certainly can relate to this.”

Ten of the 14 students in Goldstein’s class went through the program last year at Temple Israel. She said they’ve been eager to share their knowledge with the Temple Beth Sholom newbies.

“They know the ropes, they know what to do,” she said. “They’re helping the other four know what to do.”

The NNJJA students began making cards and collecting stuffed animals two weeks ago in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The decorated cards contain a message of friendship and most of the stuffed animals are gently used and taken from the children’s own collection

“Most children have stuffed animals on their beds and they don’t really play with them much, they’re basically there for decoration,” Goldstein said. “And some of the kids have so many hundreds of toys in their bedrooms that I just ask them, ‘Can you part with your stuffed animals?’ And they bring them in.”

To raise the shipping money, students are asked to bring in spare change they have laying around, or as Goldstein calls it, “Change for Change.”

So far, she said her class of 14 students has collected about 30 stuffed animals -- each with a card -- and has raised $35 of the $100 it costs to send a duffel bag of goodies to Israel by way of El-Al Airlines. She’s hoping to reach the 100-100-$100 goal by mid-October.

When the duffel bag arrives, it will go to the nursery school class of Goldstein’s friend, Adena Levine.

Levine, who was born in the United States but has lived in Israel for most of her life, previously was the director of the Israel’s Peace Preschool, which brings together young Christians, Jews and Muslims in a setting of peaceful co-existence. She now runs a nursery in Gilo, east of Jerusalem.

Goldstein calls Levine one of her “unsung heroes.”

“I love what she stands for -- building bridges towards peace,” Goldstein said. “Yes, they’re living in a Jewish country, but she certainly wanted to acknowledge that there are Christians and Muslims living in the country and that they’re welcome to live there. That everyone can live in peace and harmony.”

Because the Israeli children receiving the toys are nursery school age, they can’t directly reply to Goldstein’s class.

To get around that barrier last year, Goldstein said the Israeli teachers took pictures of the children holding up the toys with “Thank you” signs and sent them to her.

In the future, however, Goldstein said she’d like to get hooked up with a school of children similar in age to her class, so they can chat over Skype and maintain an ongoing correspondence.

When that happens, it will be another bridge built.