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I hope you're well.  Four things:

1) In case you missed our earlier announcement, we are planning a wonderful trip to Israel from February 17-27, 2019.  If you're interested, or if you know anyone else interested, you can find all the details here: https://www.route613.org/israel-trip.  We'd love to see you, family or friends.

2) If you haven't joined our Facebook group yet, please do so here: https://www.facebook.com/Route-613-Your-Route-to-GeRut-1390267221299917/?ref=page_internal.  In addition to many articles of interest, we also post upcoming events, which you're always welcome to attend, as a participant or to give of your experience and wisdom to our current students.

3) Over the past week, I met with a former student from a few years ago visiting Israel with her family, and helped perform a wedding of a student who went to the mikveh two months ago.  It was wonderful to see the new life that my first student has built, while participating in the beginning of a new life upon which my second student is embarking.  Thank God, over the years, I've had the great merit to teach over 300 new Jews, which continues to be a humbling experience, working with so many beautiful and inspiring people.  While I give 10-15 hours/week as a volunteer to this project, teaching, overseeing our interns and other teachers, communicating with students throughout the week, and working with the beit din to do my best to ensure a smooth process, we have expenses, including rent, stipends and subsidies for our programs (i.e. shabbatonim, our Israel trip etc.).  In addition to supporting Route 613, your donation goes to support Route 613's parent 501(c)(3), Kedma USA, Inc.  As you can see from the brief description of Kedma below, Kedma utilizes hundreds of post-high school students to provides services to disadvantaged Israelis from all walks of life.  Please consider making a donation here  to support Route 613 and Kedma.  

4) Please drop me a note on how you are doing.  As always, I would love to hear from you.  We'd also love to host you in our class, to speak about your journey, which is very helpful to our current students.

Thank you.

-Rabbi Maury Kelman
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Kedma's

Accomplishments:

Since our second year, Kedma has benefited greatly from the talents of Meital Bonchek, who served as our Executive Director for the last 15 years. With great passion and love for the Jewish people, Meital initiated numerous programs that have benefited hundreds of gap year students and Israelis from all walks of life. Meital recently accepted an offer to join a growing foundation that focuses on women's health. So while we'll miss her greatly, we wish her great success in her new position, where she'll continue to help people in need.

Fortunately, we were able to find a wonderful replacement in Orit Seif, an attorney and educator, who brings us a wealth of experience and accomplishments, as you can read in her note below. We are excited to gain and grow from her fresh perspective on our mission of inspiring students to volunteerism in Israel and beyond, helping countless people in Israel, and encouraging students to continue volunteering when they return to their homes and campuses. While we plan to continue many of our successful programs, Orit has been meeting with numerous seminaries and other leaders in Israel to plan needed programming for the future. We'd greatly appreciate any support that you can lend us in helping others, whatever the amount.

- Maury Kelman

the past twenty-two years by the numbers...

  • Added over 11,818 people to the bone marrow registry, found 531 matches, and facilitated 88 transplants
  • Trained over 200 medical clowns who have brought joy to countless children
  • Donated over 2,000 pints of blood to Magen David Adom
  • Raised over $125,000 for Women in Need through our Kedma/YU choir competition; and
  • Engaged thousands of students in transformative programs such as spas for battered women, carnivals for Ethiopian children and victims of domestic abuse, traveling choirs to sing for the elderly and the sick, and leadership training for campuses, among many, many others.

We hope you will include Kedma in your end-of-year charitable donations. Thank you for your support!
 

*If you donate through PayPal, using the button below, PayPal will match 1% of all donations made until the end of 2018. If, for some reason, you can't make a donation with the button below, you can always donate through our website, here. Kedma is also on the approved list of organizations recognized by the Jewish Communal Fund, so those with an account, can donate through the JCF.


Best wishes for a happy & healthy 2019!
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Orit’s Letter:

I am excited to join Kedma as its new Director.  As a new olah, Kedma’s mission of connecting students to a broader Jewish community and to the Land of Israel through chesed oriented activities, resonates with my personal and professional life.  Four and a half years ago, my husband and I moved to Israel with our five boys. Our Aliyah was motivated by a desire to belong to a larger Jewish society — one that is not bound by a shul, school, or geographic community, but one that extends beyond these natural boundaries and encompasses an entire nation.  Likewise, Kedma’s goals also align with the trajectory of my professional life.  Although I am a lawyer, my passion is working with the Jewish community — and much of my career has been devoted to that cause. As the founding educator of the JLIC program at the University of Pennsylvania, and while working with the Jewish day schools in the Philadelphia area as the Kohelet Foundation’s Program Director, my professional life has focused on serving the Jewish community. 

Over the last twenty-two years, Kedma has succeeded in creating a broader Jewish community by focusing on the importance of service. Kedma Israel has impacted tens of thousands of people worldwide since its inception in 1996 — from the students who have participated in Kedma Shabbatonim, bone marrow drives, and the thousands of seminary students who attend the annual Kedma-YU choir competition, to the numerous beneficiaries of the life-saving matches made by the Kedma-Gift of Life drives.  These activities have not only fostered the development of communities beyond individual seminaries and yeshivot but have also granted students valuable leadership opportunities during their gap year in Israel.  

I look forward to continuing this legacy as Director of Kedma. We are currently gearing up for the annual Kedma-YU seminary choir competition on January 26th, and plan on partnering with YU on other exciting initiatives. Additionally, we are kicking off a leadership program consisting of Kedma student representatives from different seminaries. In addition to creating a broader community by getting to know students from other schools, this cohort will also help plan activities geared at introducing gap year students to different segments of Israeli society. 

I am looking forward to continuing Kedma’s important work, and encourage you to reach out to us during your next trip to Israel. 

Warmly,
Orit
The KEDMA Incubator
 
In order to encourage more students to take leadership roles, Kedma plans to open an incubator/accelerator that will serve as a platform for students to initiate, plan, lead and implement creative projects focused on volunteerism, outreach sand Israel advocacy. Students will receive professional guidance and necessary tools in strategic planning, content, PR, fundraising, social networks and evaluation. Participating students with proven commitment will receive micro-grants as appreciation for their efforts. We are looking to raise $2,500 to get this started.
Donate Here






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Kedma Inc. · 574 W End Ave Apt 24 · New York, NY 10024-2726 · USA

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