Baltimore boy donates soccer jerseys to kids in Ashkelon

There is joy and beauty in bringing Jewish together people from opposites sides of the globe, and through THE ASSOCIATED's Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership, this delight can be witnessed almost daily. Thirteen-year-old Joshua Schwartz demonstrated the ever-growing powerful connection between Baltimoreans and Ashkelonians last month, in what was described by his family and friends as a "quite amazing" bar mitzvah project. Josh designed and purchased soccer jerseys for underprivileged students in honor of his bar mitzvah. His family flew to Israel and donated the shirts to the kids on June 20.

"Josh is really involved in sports, specifically soccer. He gets a lot of joy and pride out of playing soccer for Beth Tfiloh [Dahan Community School]" explained Josh's father, Louis Schwartz. "We went on THE ASSOCIATED Family Mission three years ago, we helped build the Lyn Stacie Getz Creative Playground in Ashkelon, and we all made a strong connection with the community. Josh wanted to do something for Ashkelon for his bar mitzvah project."

Mr. Schwartz called Maia Hoffman, who serves as THE ASSOCIATED's Director of Missions & Israel Projects. She spoke with Sigal Ariely, director of the Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership , and with Gesher Chai School Program Coordinator Marcelo Burdman. They referred her to the Ohr HaChaim School. The institution does not have substantial funds and though the students do play sports, it was explained, they have no uniforms. Josh decided he would provide them. When the Schwartz family arrived at Ohr HaChaim, they were greeted with tremendous honor. Mr. Schwartz said the school made "a big deal" out of the jerseys, but what was most moving was the way Josh and his other two children were able to connect with the Israeli youth.

"All the kids went out and played soccer with my children. My kids do go to BT and they do understand and speak Hebrew fairly well," he said. "But what was so special was how they really bonded over this universal game. There were not lengthy conversations in Hebrew or English, they connected over the sport."

THE ASSOCIATED allocates roughly one-third of its Annual Campaign to projects in Israel and other overseas communities. The Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership is working to build stronger bridges between the people of each community.

To learn more about THE ASSOCIATED's Israel & Overseas agenda, or to get involved, www.associated.org.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• bar
• mitzvah
• baltimore
• ashkelon
• children
• soccer
• Jewish Baltimore