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May 23, 2013 11:45 am PDT

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Tribe

February 24, 2010

Teens build bridges, from So Cal to Uganda

By Rachel Heller

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On the last day of the convention, the USYers gave out honorary memberships to all the AYA youth. Igaal Sizomu, 16, told Shomrei Torah members he was thankful for their visit. “It meant so much to the youth there … so much,” he said.

To FWUSY board member Weissberger, 17, it was just the natural next step in a partnership meant to show the Abayudaya community that they are not alone, but rather are connected to the larger Jewish people.

“They have so much passion for Judaism, but they don’t get the same opportunities we do,” she said. “It’s important to give them the same tools so they can become stronger as a people.”

One tool the Far West Jewish community has been able to share with the Abayudaya is its strong fundraising infrastructure. To finance bringing the three Ugandan teen delegates to Los Angeles last spring, Shomrei Torah sold challah covers hand-stitched by Abayudaya women and donated enough money to cover the rest. 

When AYA members wrote to Weingarten asking for USY’s help organizing their first convention, Weingarten knew Shomrei Torah and other regional synagogues once again had to step up to the plate. FWUSY came up with $3,000 to help underwrite the convention, thanks in large part to a letter regional director Merrill Alpert sent out to member synagogues asking for support.

But the donations didn’t stop there. As the weeks went by, a total of 22 rabbis and another dozen lay leaders across the southwest United States sent contributions, which ranged from $18 to $360. When Alpert totaled the donations, she found they had raised an additional $4,500 — enough to send three USY representatives to Uganda to help run the event.

She credits Weingarten with having the drive to pull it all together.

“In the 30 years that I’ve been working with USY, I’ve never met a young man like David,” Alpert said. “His tenacity, perseverance and determination to make this happen — he’s truly amazing.”

At the Shomrei Torah presentation last month, the challah covers made by Abayudaya women were still for sale, along with kippot, T-shirts, jewelry featuring handmade beads and coffee grown at a local interreligious co-op. Proceeds are sent back to Uganda to help support the Abayudaya community, where the average yearly salary hovers around $4,000.

This financial partnership grew from a vision Shomrei Torah Rabbi Richard Camras and Rabbi Sizomu shared while Sizomu was interning at the synagogue, Camras said. But even he admitted he’s floored by the warm relationship the two communities now enjoy. “To think that our youth would come together and create such strong bonds — that was beyond our wildest dreams,” Camras said.

In the end, the three USYers came home from Nabugoye Hill with 12 hours of video, more than ` 2,500 photos and an unquantifiable new sense of connection to their Ugandan Jewish peers.

Weissberger said she felt it most strongly during a nearly two-hour ruach (singing) session with AYA teens that Shabbat: They may not speak the same language, but, to her surprise, they knew all the same songs.

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