For many families, troubled times spells troubled children. But for children fortunate enough to find an anchor in the timeless values of Torah, and the warmth and support of caring teachers, friends and neighbors, life’s challenges can often be met and overcome. By opening these children’s worlds to the light of Torah, Oorah is instrumental in setting many lives on a positive path, leading them from turmoil and confusion to growth, security and a wholesome, happy future.
How Incredible!

Tamar readily admits that if Oorah hadn’t found her and embraced her, her life would be one of chaos. The idealistic young lady attends a Jewish school and was an enthusiastic camper in Oorah’s TeenZone summer camp. She credits her involvement with Torah and observant families with changing her life from one dominated by family fights and tension to one dominated by warmth and nurturing of her special neshama.

“She has many sets of parents,” says one Oorah volunteer. “She has lots of people she talks to, who invite her into their homes and give her advice and support.”

And Tamar gives plenty back with her overflowing gratitude and kind-hearted nature. “How incredible is it!” she says. “People invite you into their homes and their Shabbos tables. They treat you like a part of the family. It’s such a beautiful thing.”

Now Tamar wants to share the gift she’s found. She’s hoping Oorah will help steer her mother and brother into learning programs suited to their current level of knowledge and observance. Nothing would make her happier than to instill into her own family the Jewish values she’s observed in her host families.

Tamar’s achievements in school have inspired her mother, too. She sees the great strides her daughter is making, both academically and in her personal growth and maturity.

Now that Tamar is finishing high school, she plans to apply for admission to a seminary in Eretz Yisrael. Like many Oorah children, she looks forward to the chance to be completely immersed in a Torah environment, and gain a solid, stable foundation for her life as a Jewish wife and mother.

Three Sons
While the rest of the children on the block were boarding buses to begin a new year of school, the three Levi boys were still in their pajamas, looking out the window at the action. Why weren’t they a part of the scene? Simply, their mother hadn’t yet been able to get them into a school in their community.

As a divorced woman with few resources and a tenuous grasp on Torah observance, Mrs. Levi found that few Jewish schools were interested in accepting her children. However, she wanted them in yeshiva. She knew that whatever difficulties they may have growing up in a single-parent home, they would be far less likely to wander into serious trouble if they had the structure of a yeshiva to support their growth. But the boys didn’t focus well in school, and the schools in her area were reluctant to take them in.

Oorah entered the picture when it became clear that the children might have no other recourse than public school. Could three Jewish boys be given up on? Could they be set adrift in the public school system simply because they didn’t fit into the available Jewish schools? The idea of dashing Mrs. Levi’s hopes for her children and dooming the family to a likely future of assimilation and intermarriage was not, for Oorah, an acceptable option.

Yet solutions are not always simple to find. Oorah worked for weeks on the Levi boys’ situation, searching for the right schools and trying to supply the tutoring and support that would allow the boys to succeed. If losing one soul is the equivalent of losing the world, what can one say about three Jewish neshamas denied a place to forge their connection to their Torah and their heritage?

Off the Street
There was nothing left for Aaron Rosenbloom. Orphaned in his teens, he was a boy out of control. His life was on the streets, where he found “family” among his older brother’s crowd of drug abusers and petty thieves. But when Mrs. Flohr observed the young man as he loitered on a corner near her Boro Park home, she didn’t see a dangerous delinquent. She saw the lost, pained look in his empty eyes. Somehow, she knew he was ready to come inside, and so, she offered him a home with her family.

The Flohr home was a special place, a refuge for many travelers and lost souls. Aaron found the succor he needed there – warmth, caring and guidance that let him know he was too valuable to waste himself on the streets. But the boy needed more than a home. The Flohrs knew that only a yeshiva education would help him find and follow a straight path in life. In conjunction with Oorah, they placed Aaron in a local yeshiva where he began to rebuild his identity as a Jew and a worthy human being.

In only a few years, Aaron Rosenbloom was transformed. From a street kid to a ben Torah, from a boy without a future to a young man eager to learn and grow. After high school, he entered a program that would prepare him for a career as well as a life of Torah learning. Today, he is thriving in his new learning environment. The lost, pained eyes are now filled with eagerness and light, and the path that Oorah helped him find lies open and waiting for his next steps forward.

Growing Together
Shelly Knopf is a physical therapist who lives in a sprawling suburban town not far from Lakewood, NJ. When she and her husband divorced, she encouraged her daughter Rebecca to join a local Jewish youth group, where she could find the friendship and support she needed to face the difficult times ahead. But Rebecca found more than friends; she found a connection to her Jewish heritage that lit up her life. She craved a closer connection, and knew she would find it if she could attend a Jewish school.

Seeing clearly the growing devotion and excitement in Rebecca’s heart, Shelly enthusiastically supported her daughter’s goal. Rebecca’s father, however, was ambivalent. He did not object to her transfer to a day school, however, he firmly declared that he would not be responsible for any tuition. Without his financial support, Shelly had no way to make her daughter’s wish come true.

However, she was not ready to give up. She began seeking resources that might be able to provide help with tuition, and her search led her to Oorah. Oorah agreed to help, and Rebecca was enrolled in a local Jewish high school. But that was by no means the end of the story. When Sukkos time approached, Oorah sent a lulav and esrog to the Knopfs. “I unwrapped this gift, which came right after Yom Kippur, right after I had finished praying for a good year for myself and my family. When I saw it, I literally had chills down my spine. I had never held a lulav and esrog before. All I can say is WOW!”

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