In This Issue:
- Message from the Board
- Another Season Wrapped Up
- A New Year's Resolution
- Lights! Camera! Action!
- Entertainment Books Sale Results In
- Watch and Read with ORT
- Welcome...
- Are You Wired?
- News from around the World
February, 2004
March, 2003
February, 2002
October/November, 2001
April/May, 2001
February, 2001
December/January, 2000–2001)
October, 2000
May, 2000
 SVORT Bulletin Archives: February 2004 |
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by Hayley Green Smith Purim is coming! The telling of the story of Esther is March 7th (sundown on March 6th). This is when we cheer Esther and Mordechai and, of course, boo Haman. One of the customs on Purim is to send gifts, known as shalach manot to friends and family and matanot l'evyonim to the poor. As Arthur Waskow writes in his book Seasons of Our Joy, "The tradition grew up that at least two different poor people must be recipients of a gift from each household. The command to give this tzedakah on Purim is separate…from the general obligation of tzedakah…" Our responsibility as ORTists, to help people achieve self-sufficiency, is magnified during this season of special giving. By providing financial support and leadership within the global ORT network, Women's American ORT helps "strengthen the worldwide Jewish community by empowering people to achieve economic self-sufficiency through technological and vocational education." Women's American ORT also advocates on behalf of quality education, democratic values, human rights, and the security of global Jewish communities. We read in the Megillah that Esther is hesitant about approaching King Ahasuerus about Haman's evil decree. Mordechai responds, "Do not imagine in your soul that you will be able to escape in the king's palace any more than the rest of the Jews. For if you persist in keeping silent at a time like this, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, while you and your father's house will perish…" (The Stone Edition Tanach, Esther 4:13-14) In her book, Jewish Days, Francine Klagsbrun writes, "It is a statement of connectedness - of Esther to the Jewish people, of Jews to one another, and, ultimately, of all people to all others. Nobody is safe…unless people assume responsibility for one another." As members of the Silicon Valley chapter, we can give matanot l'evyonim by giving our time and money in support of the ORT program. Come to our programs. Bring in new members. Pledge to increase your contribution over last year. By our actions, let's show that we are willing and able to assume responsibility for our ORT community. by Wendy Fotland You may remember that last year we said we would not be doing gift wrap during the 2003 holiday season. In spite of that, we, in fact, did have a gift wrap fundraiser in 2003! Michael Healy was once again the paid manager, and Philip Archer was in charge of overall scheduling. The good news is it was less stressful for Wendy. The bad news is it resulted in fewer ORT hours worked and less money for our schools. Expenses were low this year because we had a lot of inventory leftover from last year. ORT earned over $6,000, an increase of about $2,000 over last year. It's still a lot of work for a small return, but without a new fundraiser to take its place, we are not ready to give up on gift wrap yet. (Unless Michael decides not to be our manager anymore.) In a change from past years, we did not call people who, after several phone calls, agree to wrap one shift. We had a limited number of people doing the scheduling and decided to make the best use of our time. We hoped people would look at the online schedule and volunteer without being called, and some did. If you are one of the people who didn't help this year, please look at the schedule next year and find a shift that works for you. I know everyone is busy, but everyone can find four hours in an entire month to help ORT do its important work. Many thanks to the people who helped a lot this year, as they always do: Bobi Levine, Phyllis Newman, Evelyn Howard, the Abramovitz clan, and Wendy Fotland worked many hours. Bobi, Phyllis and Wendy also made phone calls. We are very lucky to have them! Thanks also to everyone who wrapped even one shift. Every hour counts and it takes many, many volunteers to fill the booth all those days and nights. We will do gift wrap again in 2004. (Maybe even for Mother's Day - we don't know yet.) Please be prepared to help us this fall. ORT's students need our help so much to become successful, self-sufficient adults. Gift wrap is fun and easy, and we will train. Volunteers live longer and set a good example for their children. (And teenage children who can wrap are welcome to volunteer.) This holiday season, don't just talk about helping others, do it! There is no better way to embrace the spirit of the holidays than to give your time to help those in need. January 2004 Dear Friends, At this time of the year, if you're like me, you might begin January with New Year's resolutions. Mine usually start with: time to lose weight, exercise more and take better care of my health. I then move on to: have more patience with my husband, children, family, friends and co-workers; and work on being a better person - or the best I really can be. That usually covers it. This year, however, I've given it some additional thought. If you, too, have worked on your personal resolutions, you might want to consider adding something special to your list - something that will have a positive impact for years to come. Become a Life Member of Women's American ORT. Life Membership assures the permanence of the ORT program, one that fosters Jewish continuity and creates educational opportunities worldwide. A Life Membership shows a commitment to Jewish people wherever they live, whether in Israel, France or the CIS and Baltic States. Today, perhaps more than ever, the value of the ORT program is profoundly evident, as we realize the need for job retraining and technological advancement. Become a Life Member and make a commitment, for now, for the future. What better resolution can a person make than to commit to our students, our program, and ensure our future! It's an easy resolution to make, and becoming a Life Member is easy to do. For more information, please feel free to contact the National Office at 800.51.WAORT, ext. 267, or go to www.waort.org. Every Life Member receives a beautiful certificate suitable for framing. If you have already joined the ever-growing roster of devoted Life Members, please consider giving a gift of Life Membership to family and friends, which translates into the gift of an education for our students. What a great way to share your love of Women's American ORT! ORT has been in existence for over 120 years. This year, become a Life Member and ensure that it will be here for many more years to come. Rhonda Wolfson National Life Membership Chair The 76th Annual Academy Awards® will be presented Sunday, February 29th, and ORT will be watching! Please join us once again at Wendy Fotland's house for food, fun & film criticism. We'll see the clothes, hear the jokes and try to predict the winners. Come at 5 p.m. to watch the stars walk down the red carpet for the 5:30 show. Billy Crystal is our host, so expect an evening of glamour, humor and surprises. Bring your completed Oscar® ballot (download here) to compete for fabulous prizes. (And please contact Wendy at 408.985.1236 or wendy@svort.org if you have a prize to donate or need directions.) You can't have a party without food, so please bring a dairy or parve dish to share. A - M, bring a side dish, N - Z, a dessert. ORT will provide a main dish and drinks. Admission is $5, free for anyone who becomes a new member on Oscar Night®. Mark your calendar and bring a friend! (W.F.) We still have a few Entertainment books left for last minute shoppers. Please contact Wendy or Hayley to get them. Unfortunately, our sales were down this year, but we still made over $1500 for our efforts. With just a little more work next year, we could earn more money for our students and our schools. As usual, some people deserve praise for their outstanding sales. Bobi Levine, as always our top seller, sold 57 books this year. Great job, Bobi! Wendy Fotland was in second place with 36 books sold. Other top sellers were Hayley Green Smith, 22 books; Alice Nichols, 19; Sheila Gold, 18; Lil Schwartzberg, 12; and Carol Parris, 10. Congratulations and thanks to all of them! We also made an arrangement with El Camino chapter this year. They didn't want the hassle of dealing with the Entertainment company and weren't planning to sell books. We got the books for them and Bobi was very helpful in delivering them. Because they usually sell fewer books than we do and earn $4 for each one, we were able to keep $2 from each book they sold. We earned $150 from our partnership, which helped make up for our own chapter's drop in sales. Thank you to everyone who bought or sold one or more books. We need the help of every member to make this fundraiser a success. Please save lots of money with your coupons, and sell more next year! (W.F.) The ORT Book and Movie Club is still around. We are currently reading The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. It's a bestseller and for good reason - you'll find this intelligent thriller hard to put down. We usually meet the second Monday of the month, but the February meeting has been postponed. Watch your email for updates or email us at bookclub@svort.org. (W.F.) ...to members of the Foothill Chapter! The chapters were recently combined and this is the first opportunity we've had to welcome you to our chapter. Together may we go from strength to even greater strength in support of the ORT program. If you're reading this, you already know what a great resource www.svort.org is. We try to keep the website updated with information about the ORT world- locally, nationally, and internationally. Sometimes, due to time constraints, the website and email are the only way we have to get information out to our members. Speaking of email, are you on our email list? If not, email info@svort.org to get on our email list to find out about the latest goings on in the chapter and ORT worlds. (Being a former email administrator, I am very sensitive about SPAM and will never send you junk emails. I will also never share your email address with anyone.) (H.G.S.) Convention 2004 will be April 30 to May 1 in New York City. For the first time, Convention is being held in conjunction with the World ORT General Assembly that will take place May 1 to May 2, 2004.  The ORT Renzo Levi High School in Rome was inaugurated on Monday, January 26th 2004 in new premises. The school opened in September 2003 near the city's main Synagogue. The new building provides an upgraded technology department and state-of-the-art language laboratories. More... A fully functional state-of-the-art media suite has opened at the ORT Technology Centre in Jewish School 1311/Lipman School in Moscow. This facility is the first of its kind in the country and is part of World ORT's Regeneration 2000 program. This four-year-old program is part of World ORT's strategy to create successful and attractive Jewish schools in the CIS and Baltic States. Its goal is to deliver high quality education to provide students with a real competitive advantage when seeking higher education and opportunities for employment. More... Archived ORT News |
