BBYO's J-Serve

This past Sunday our Argentine group of teens participated in J-Serve, an international day of youth service. Through our partnership with BBYO, teens in Argentina took part in J-Serve at the same time teens from all over the world were participating in service projects in their own communities. The day began with a discussion about volunteerism within a Jewish context as our teens discussed questions such as:

• Why are you here today?
• Do you like to take part in service work? Why?
• Is it important to help others? 

We then discussed the following quote that says: 

Kol Yisrael Arevi'im Zeh La Zeh

All of the nation of Israel is responsible for one other

Todo la nación de israel es responsable por el otro

with the following questions created by our group's coordinator Mai:

• Do you think a Jew is responsible for other Jews? Why?
• What does this responsibility reply?
• Do you feel you have a responsibility to help others?
• Within a context of service, is it more important what you receive than what you give or what you give than what you receive?

After this discussion, our group headed to a children's food bank in another neighborhood in Buenos Aires. This food bank operates out of a church and is open each week for children around the neighborhood.  It not only gives the children food but also a place to have activities and play in a safe space each Sunday. We prepared special activities for the kids, brought them food our teens had collected, and all the materials for the activities. The activities included creating maracas to use as musical instruments, decorating notebooks that could be used either for school or to draw/write in, and playing sports. At the end of the day we served the kids snack, taught them one of our favorite songs, and handed out sweets to all of them that had come. All of the kids and our teens left with smiling faces and beautifully decorated notebooks and maracas. This was the first time the Argentine teens participated in BBYO's J-Serve and it was a huge success. I am excited to have them continue this project in the future!

Here more about Melu's experience here.