Opportunities of Stewardship

Dear FJECC Families,

At FJECC, as in most Jewish early childhood programs, it is customary to introduce the idea of “tzedakah,” or giving, to children by having them bring coins to school on Friday and placing those coins in a tzedakah box. At the end of the year, the children and teachers vote on what charitable cause(s) should receive the collected coins. I’ve long thought that we could do more to help children connect in deeper, meaningful ways to the impact of their giving. And last spring, an opportunity presented itself to do just that.

One of the things we are ever grateful for at FJECC is our proximity to the Muddy River. Our school is located in a busy, urban environment. On the cusp of the Longwood Medical Area and bordered by the busy Riverway, we are fortunate that our outdoor classroom is an oasis in the midst of the neighborhood. And across that busy Riverway is the Muddy River, a section of the Emerald Necklace - also an urban oasis.

It has long been an FJECC tradition to take classroom groups to the Muddy River. In fact, the Blue Room goes every week. Their visits are spent exploring the paths that wind along the river and on the banks of the river itself. Last spring, the children learned that the water and mud of the “Muddy” river was polluted. To learn more about this issue, Rabbi Slipakoff, who has been guiding Temple Israel’s work to support environmental justice, connected us with some folks at the Muddy Water Initiative. The children learned about the history of the River and the Emerald Necklace, including more recent efforts to clean up the river (in which Temple Israel members regularly participate) and to ensure this natural treasure remains viable as an urban waterway. The Blue Room children then made the decision at the end of the year to direct their collected tzedakah funds to the Muddy Water Initiative. Co-founder Caroline Reeves came to FJECC to receive the donation and presented the Blue Room with a certificate honoring them as “stewards of the Muddy River.” And thus a relationship is born that plants seeds of compassion, justice and philanthropy - the very meaning of tzedakah. Throughout the school, and the school year, we will continue to look for more opportunities of stewardship.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Amy