Women of Reform Judaism acts on its mission statement in many ways.  One of those is through it's YES Fund (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) grants program.

Beit Daniel, the Center for Progressive Judaism in Tel Aviv-Jaffa Israel is one of WRJ's grant recipients. The Center's education department is working with approximately thirty schools whose students participate in a "class-wide" b'nai mitzvah program.  Through this program, students, primarily those who are immigrants or the children of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union are given the opportunity to strengthen their ties to their Israeli and Jewish identities.

Shevach Mofet High School in Tel Aviv, for instance, is one of the largest "Russian" schools. Ninety percent of the students there are either first or second generation immigrants from the FSU, live in low income families, and typically, only 5-10% of the male students celebrate their bar mitzvot.

Now for the third year, Beit Daniel has offered Shevach Mofet students courses in basic Jewish concepts, national Israeli identity and Zioism, and community and social responsibility. The final stage of the program is a b'nai mitzvoth ceremony which, for many of the students, represents their first time in a synagogue.

Talia Avnon-Benveniste, Beit Daniel's education director, said that "The teachers and students are very excited with the program. Many of them have very little to do with Jewish customs or Jewish heritage so it is an opportunity to be "invited" to join the Jewish family and become a member of it."

It is hoped that the students will then bring what they've learned home to their families. "It's a slow process," say Avnon-Benveniste. "It doesn't happen in one day. We believe we need to continue our program throughout the students' high school experience. It's actually just the first step they make into the content of the Jewish world and we hope they will bring their families along as they themselves embark on the journey."  It is a journey that WRJ is thrilled to be a part of.