Submission #22114 by Shaare Tikvah Men'S Club - Waldorf, MD (1132)

I have read the 2021 Torch Awards Program Guidelines.
Club Name
Shaare Tikvah Men'S Club - Waldorf, MD (1132)
Holiday Family Programming
Club Representative
Person completing form
Keith
Meyers
Club President at time of convention if known at this time
Peter
Halikman
Club President Now
Peter
Halikman
Family and Youth Programming

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The goal of the Virtual Family Holiday Program was to engage and enjoin our quarantined families (young and old) in the joyful celebration of 3 Jewish Holidays during this time of COVID. The programming also focused on youth and adult learning for enjoying the history and traditions of Chanukah, Purim and Pesach holidays during COVID through stories, games, crafts, videos and singing. All of these were amenable to presentation and sharing using a virtual Zoom environment which brought widely dispersed families together in these holiday celebrations.
We researched, assembled and executed 3 varied two-hour holiday programs as described by the attached invitations, itinerary and schedules distributed by our Men’s Club. These creative files were generated using open-source clip art and video files which also became one of our marketing and publicity modes. We even created a new game by combining focused holiday bingo boards with holiday trivia questions. The bingo boards and trivia questions were researched from open-source internet websites like Pinterest and Jewish religious and social organizations. Many of the handouts like crafts, games, song sheets, blessings and stories were distributed to attendees before the event via email attachments and internet links or shared during the Zoom presentation like holiday specific educational and entertaining videos selected for age-appropriate audience (3 years through adult) and group interest by our team of educators and parents. We also identified and screened an excess number of story and music video candidates for length and content diversity before culling, selecting and sequencing them for viewing during each of the limited 5 or 6 program segments during the 2 hours. The segments were kept short and varied to retain the interest of the younger kids with shorter attention spans. I think the volunteers creating and running these programs had as much fun and enjoyment as those participating. The program needs a team of volunteers to execute the various tasks throughout the 2 month schedule of program phases from conceptual advanced planning and definition, material research, compilation, screening and file selection paralleled by game verification, publicity and invitation creation followed by program material distribution, Cyber expertise with the Zoom and YouTube apps, live program execution via Zoom app and lastly documentation for the next Holiday program and these Torch Awards.
Attachments
Self Assessment
For two hours the kids and their parents escaped from the anxiety and quarantine of COVID while they were happy, playing games, making crafts and interacting with other kids some who they knew and others in States far away who they didn’t know through the Zoom App. The animated videos caught their attention, the music had Jewish melodies and told stories of parodies, while parent and child learned much about their Jewish identity and the three joyous holidays of Chanukah, Purim and Passover. They displayed their crafted dreidels, groggers and cups of Elijah and Miriam with pride. The instructions were simple and the craft materials were readily accessible in a home on quarantine. Clip Art was readily accessible online to decorate their groggers and cups as we had hoped.
This brought young Jewish families into our midst virtually, and they were finding that the Men’s Club was not wasted time since it meant something to their children and family. The program also served both a Jewish educational role and observance as the craft items could be used during religious observances to follow shortly. They didn’t have to spend a great deal of time looking for these high quality and popular story and music videos and crafts online as we did it for them. Gleaned from discussions before and after virtual Holiday and Shabbat services, it seemed to help unify the synagogue community during this period of COVID. It gave the Men’s Club visibility with the younger families and hopefully that will payoff in terms of club building and spirit.
Our small synagogue of 22 members is made up of aged and isolated family units, but I thought this program engendered a spirit with the kids, parents and grandparents who recognized that this was a Men’s Club creation worth investing their time. Obviously fathers and grandfathers enjoyed 3 afternoons with their kids/grandkids. It seemed to create positive memories of sharing Jewish culture and life among all their family members of broad ages from Maryland to California. It allowed those attending an opportunity to escape their isolation from COVID and socialize with other families in terms of 3 joyous holidays and culture associated with Chanukah, Purim and Passover. Our club volunteers provided the leadership, the creativity and innovation associated with this novel program. There is no doubt that we left our Jewish community more united and caring for each other than before we started this program.
Shaare Tikvah Men's Club looks forward to helping any other Brotherhood looking to replicate this program, which will still have applicability post-COVID. While remaining focused on preparing these events for children, we lost sight of the value of recording the event; hence, many program artifacts, but very few pictures.

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Original Program
Previous Submission
Yes
Gold