SFW at the Jerusalem Marathon

Many of our students took part in Jerusalem’s 5th Annual Marathon this Friday. Some ran 5K and some ran 10K  - all were winners in our eyes!

They braved the Jerusalem sun to raise money and awareness for various tzedaka and chessed organizations such as Yachad HASC, Shalva, and others!

Please click here for more pictures!

Kol Hakavod! Keep up the amazing work!

Chanukah at SFW!

We had an amazing, ruach-filled and inspiring Chanukah at SFW.... click here for photos!

Chessed with Leket

This past Monday, the entire student body went to Rechovot for a trip of fun, togetherness and chessed as we picked vegetables with an organization called Leket Israel (Click here to learn more about this great organization).  Those vegetables were then supplied to a nearby soup kitchen.

Click here for more pictures!

Bone Marrow Drive at SFW!

This week, Sha’alvim for Women held our own “Bone Marrow Campaign.” Girls over the age of 18 were invited to submit a “bone marrow sample” (a painless swab in the inside of the cheek). If they chose to do so, their information will be sent to the Gift of Life registry which matches potential donors and ill patients who might benefit from a bone marrow transplant.

Our campaign was run by SFW students in conjunction with Kedma, Gift of Life’s Israel agent for registering overseas students in the international bone marrow registry.

Click here to see more photos!

SFW Chanukah Carnival in Sderot's Secure Playground Recreation Center

Over Chanukah, SFW brought ruach and joy to the children of S'derot in their Secure Playground Recreation Center in Sderot.

 

Click here for more photos!

 

Chessed with Leket

Click here for more pictures!

Chessed at Yad Eliezer!

We began our weekly chesed program with a trip to Yad Eliezer. There, the girls from both Shana Aleph and Bet sorted and packaged food for needy families living in the Jerusalem area. Not only did the girls have an opportunity volunteering for such a great chesed organization, they had a wonderful time as well!

We hope this is a positive start to a chesed-filled year!

Click here for more pictures!

Chessed Appreciation Breakfast

On Tuesday, we held a very special “Chessed Appreciation Breakfast” where we discussed, celebrated and honored the great work that the girls have been doing this year thus far in their Chesed opportunities. 

Click here for pictures from the breakfast.

Click here for some individual girls' chessed pictures (more to come....)

Click here for pictures SFW's chessed at Sderot's indoor and secure playground area.

Click here for pictures of SFW's chessed with the I.D.F. 

We had the privilege to hear from a variety of girls as they shared their beautiful, funny and even sometimes challenging experiences they experienced. We heard from all sorts of chessed places where girls workd such as medical clowning in Jerusalem hospitals, Ezrat Avot, Aleh, Kav L'Chaim etc. etc. We were all inspired by each other!

We would like to thank our faculty advisors Mrs. Mindy Hilewitz and Mrs. Mim Schwedel for arranging this breakfast and, more important, for all of their work all year for the girls and their chessed!  

 

Keep reading below for ONE example, from Eliana Block, of the beautiful talks we heard….

      

Chessed Panel at SFW

On Tuesday, we were privileged to be a part of a special Chessed panel discussion celebrating and honoring the great work that the girls have been doing this year thus far.

Please click here to hear the panel discussion.

We also from incredible ba’alot chessed including Mrs. Rachel Nadel (founder and director of “Anywhere in Israel” - click here), Mrs. Karen Thaler (founder and director of “Gemach Yad Leah” - click here) and Mrs. Reena Rosenblum (founder and Director of “Reena’s Place”). We were inspired by their “regular” chessed - the kind of chessed that almost anyone can do if they put their mind to it. 

Our girls know firsthand from their own lives and from their chesed opportunities this year - and they heard from the panelists - how incredible things can come from just one person!

 

We would like to thank our faculty advisors Mrs. Mindy Hilewitz and Mrs. Mim Schwedel for arranging this panel and for their work all year for the girls and their chesed!

Kedma/Stern College Choir Competition

Many of our students invested dozens of hours preparing for the Choir Competition sponsored by Kedma and Yeshiva University this past Motzaei Shabbat. 

A great time was had by all as SFW students and students from 14 other seminaries displayed incredible achdut as they sang and cheered each other on. 

Click here for pictures!

The evening raised thousands of shekalim for tzedakah. It was a special honor for us when we found out that SFW won the award for most tzedakah raised.... for the third year in a row! 

We were also especially honored that our presentation - a beautiful medley of tunes from the Yamim Noraim combined with dance, drumming and stunning harmonies - netted SFW a third place finish!

Though our wonderful students competed against many other seminaries, the evening reminded us that we're really all "on the same team."

SFW Chanukah Carnival in Sderot's Secure Playground Recreation Center

Over Chanukah, SFW brought ruach and joy to the children of S'derot in their Secure Playground Recreation Center in Sderot.

Bringing our ruach and our energy - along with all of the supplies necessary for a full-blown Chanukah carnival - SFW came to Sderot with one goal in mind: to bring simcha to the children of Sderot after weeks and years of trauma and fear.

And what a simcha it was (click here for more pictures) and see a video of the special SFW girls and this wonderful experience below....

The children from Sderot and its environs enjoyed face-painting, dreidel spinning, bowling, sufganiya-decorating, arts and crafts, basketball, ping-pong, singing, dancing and lots, lots more in a fully- protected environment.

Yossi Swissa, general manager of the Sderot
Secure Playground Area, addresses
the SFW students

Yossi Swissa, the general manager of the facility, addressed the girls at the end of the day. He said, "Children all around the world want only one thing: to laugh. It has been hard for the children in Sderot to do that these last few weeks. They got the opportunity to do that again because of the immense chessed of the young women of Sha'alvim for Women. Thank you!"

(Please click here and here for more information on this wonderful place.)

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the following families that helped defray the costs of this outstanding program!

- Lyons Family (for a refuah shelaima for Daniel Avraham Raphael Ben Rachel)

- Shapiro Family (dedicated to Rabbi Menachem Leibtag who is now inspiring a second generation of the Shapiro family)

- Meyer Family (l'zecher nishmat Avraham ben Efraim (Daniella (SFW ‘13) paternal grandfather - Arne Meyer) and l'zecher nishmat Hene Rachel bat Nachman Leib (Daniella’s maternal grandmother - Ruth Windwehr)

- Bierig Family (in honor of their children Eli, Rena (SFW ‘13), Yael, and Yonah)

- Wietschner Family (in memory of Danielle (SFW ‘13) maternal grandfather, Avraham Yosef Ben Yisrael Shalom)

- Bodoff Family (to commemorate the 10th yahrtzeit of Col. Dror Weinberg, Ariella (SFW ’12, ‘13) step-uncle and commander of the Hevron Brigade, click here)

- Stark Family (dedicated to Lola Stark (Cayley's (SFW ‘13) Bubbe who, after Auschwitz, came to Israel)

- Lerner Family (in memory of my mother and Rachael Lerner’s (SFW ‘13) grandmother Sara Raiza Frankel a”h who passed away 3 weeks ago.)
- Sima, Richard, Eliana and Yonah Soskin (in honor of the brave Chayalim who stand on guard in defense of Eretz Yisrael every day and night and in honor of all the children of Sderot.)
- Chesir Family (in memory of Adina (SFW ’13) grandparents, Selma and Morton Rosenbloom)

May this wonderful chesed - bringing simcha and joy to the children of S’derot and its environs - be a z’chut for all of the above!

Bone Marrow Campaign at SFW

This week, Sha’alvim for Women held our own “Bone Marrow Campaign.” Girls over the age of 18 were invited to submit a “bone marrow sample” (a painless swab in the inside of the cheek). If they chose to do so, their information will be sent to the Gift of Life registry which matches potential donors and ill patients who might benefit from a bone marrow transplant.

Our campaign was run by SFW students in conjunction with Kedma, Gift of Life’s Israel agent for registering overseas students in the international bone marrow registry.

To date, more than 210,000 people are registered with Gift of Life and more than 9,000 matches have been found!

For more information about Kedma, please click here.

For more information about Gift of Life, please click here. 

SFW Volunteers for the I.D.F.

On Monday, the students of SFW were “called to duty” by the I.D.F. to contribute of their time and energy to help our soldiers. 

SFW answered the call…. and then some!

The I.D.F. "Sar El" Division, responsible for organizing I.D.F. volunteers, contacted SFW and asked if we could help pack field rations to replenish those used during Operation Pillar of Cloud. We were told that the work was incredibly essential, very timely but also quite strenuous. 

We were not daunted!

After more than 7 hours of tough work (and much laughter), we produced many, many boxes (the army asked us not to reveal the exact amount!) to be used, G-d forbid, in a time of crisis. 

Please click here for more pictures of this incredible experience!

Colonel Tiran, the commander of the base, praised our girls and their selfless efforts for the men and women of the I.D.F. He thanked the girls and said that SFW "has much to be proud of these lovely girls! They worked hard and responsibly. I cannot remember a more productive day since the Operation began." 

The work was indeed hard and strenuous (and, admittedly, fun). Yet it was unforgettable as well! We thank our Director of Student Programming, Elisheva Frist, for coordinating the day. And, most important, we thank our students for their kindness!

Kol Hakavod!

SFW Students React to the Situation in the South

The SFW students have been responding to the situation in the south in the most beautiful, supportive and productive ways.

Some examples.......

- Tefilla: The girls are engaged in special tefillot and special Tehillim sessions which have naturally been focused on the soldiers in the I.D.F. and the people in the towns of the south who live under the constant threat of missilie attacks. 

- Round-the-Clock Learning: Many of the girls have signed up voluntarily to learn in the Beit Midrash for an hour at a time throughout the night. During the day, of course, the learning never stops at SFW. But our students wanted to ensure that the learning never stops overnight as well. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of the wonderful girls at SFW, the lights - and the learning - never turn off in the Beit Midrash. In their merit - and in the merit of all of the learning throughout Israel and the world - we daven for a quick return of the soldiers to their homes and a safe return to normalcy for the people living in the endangered regions of the south.

- Donations for the South - Girls have been donating toys, books, etc. that will supplied to certain families and to certain bomb shelters in the south. Unfortunately, these shelters are getting a lot of use these past few weeks and children - who are especially traumatized by the missile threats, have unique needs: these donations will go a long way in making their stays there (G-d willing there will be no more), much more bearable.

- Tzedakah: money is being raised via a "goods and services" auction to be sent to neighborhoods in the south to help them fix up bomb shelters and buy new toys and supplies for the shelters. 

There is much to be proud of in the way Klal Yisrael is banding together in such wonderful ways!

G-d willing, these measures will not be needed in the very near future! 

SFW at the Jerusalem Marathon!

Many of our students took part in Jerusalem’s 2^nd Annual Marathon this past Friday. Some ran 5K, some 10K and some a full marathon - but all were winners in our eyes!

They braved the difficult weather to raise money and awareness for various tzedaka and chessed organizations such as Team Yachad and Team Butterfly.

In addition, some girls ran with - not just for - children of Zichron Menachem and Chai Lifeline. 

Kol Hakavod! 

Annual Pink Day Worldwide

Many Sha'alvim students wore pink today - together with thousands of other people worldwide - to show support for, and learn about, young women and their families, of all Jewish backgrounds, facing breast cancer.

SFW joined Jews from a variety of communities, ages, etc. around the world - including many other seminaries in Israel - on Annual Pink Day (click here) organized by Sharsheret (click here). 

We are proud to be a part of this incredibly important cause and to support this wonderful organization!

Magen David Adom Blood Drive at SFW

On Tuesday, SFW and Magen David Adom held a Blood Drive for the Malcha community in Yerushalayim. Many, many girls took the time and made the effort to donate blood to MDA's National Blood Services Division responsible for the collection, processing, testing and distribution of blood units and blood products throughout Israel. 90% of all blood collected by MDA in Israel is collected by Mobil Units like the one that came to SFW.

Kol Hakavod to all the SFW girls for donating blood and for organizing this great chessed!

SFW Carnival in the Recreation Center in Sderot

Sha’alvim for Women went to Sederot on Thursday to bring the simcha of Chanukah to the children and families there!


Please click below to read more......!

Scenes from SFW: Chesed

SFW and Hatzalah’s “Race To Save Lives”

Many of our students participated in Hatzalah’s “Race to Save Lives” 5K team run this past Friday. 

They had a great time, saw Yerushalayim in a completely new light and, most importantly, helped raise money for a great cause: all funds raised went directly towards United Hatzalah of Israel to help them purchase four fully equipped “ambucycles.”

United Hatzalah of Israel is the only free ambulatory service in the Israel the motorbikes are crucial in rescuing countless people here. Iy”H they will never be needed!

For more information about the run, click here. For more information about United Hatzalah of Israel, click here.

For other chessed posts at SFW please click here.