As part of my barmitzvah at Temple Isaiah in Los Angeles,
I had to choose a mitzvah project, a commitment to do something
to help society that would be meaningful to me. I found out about
the Books for Israel Project when my mom, Haleila, who is in touch with a lot of people in Israel, asked if they knew about a way to donate to Israel where donations  would go directly to the people who need it. These people told her about Books for Israel and she then suggested the Project to me.

I chose Books for Israel as my mitzvah project because when I
heard about the schools in Israel that didn't have enough books,
I felt so touched and wanted to help the students. I didn't know
that so many kids didn't have the books that they need for English learning at school. I also have a strong love for Israel and wanted
to help my community there. When I found out about B4I, I knew
I had to help out.  I began collecting books.

I chose to divide the collection between the flagships at Hartuv Middle School and at the Bueina-Nujidat School because I wanted to help both Jews and non Jews, and these flagships both represent schools and kids from all different backgrounds. I believe that all kids should get the education they need, no matter what race or religion they are.

In my bar mitzvah invitation, I included a letter telling about the schools I chose and the book drive, and I asked people to bring books to donate to my bar mitzvah service and party. Then we created a big box and decorated it, and then put the box at the door for my bar mitzvah. I was really happy to see the amount of books that people brought. Everyone was really excited about the project.

After my bar mitzvah, my family and I sorted out the books to make sure that each school community got the rights books according to general specifications that the flagship coordinators had sent me. I tried to choose books for the students' reading level, and especially books that I thought they would like.




We also went to a special used bookstore in Los Angeles and bought English workbooks and educational reading books to add
to the packages. I hope they will be helpful.

Then we labelled the books, packed them up, and took them to
the post office to ship via M bags. It was hard to get the
information from the post office about how to ship the books,
but this is the best way.

I want to thank everyone who runs this program for giving me the oportunity to help the children of Israel:
Widad Slieman, the English teacher at Bueina-Nujidat Junior and
Senior High School and head of the Bueina-Nujidat area flagship,
Ron Perrry, English teacher at Hartuv Middle School and head of the
central Israel flagship around Hartuv, Rena Cohen, the international book drive coordinator at the Israel Action Committee, and Jade and Ilan Bar-Shalom, the Coordinators of the Books for Israel Project in Israel.

I feel really proud to donate books to the schools within the Hartuv and Bueina-Nujidat clusters.  I hope that the books I have sent so far will help the students learn to read in English and get a good education.

Everyone has been so friendly and inspiring. I hope to run another book drive in the future. Next time I go to Israel, I'm definitely going to visit the Hartuv and Bueina-Nujidat schools. Until then, I hope for peace in Israel and the best for everyone.

     Sincerely yours,
    Adam Nusinow and Family



 

The front side of the insert to my bar-mitzvah invitation that explains about my mitzvah project and the Books for Israel Project

The back side of the insert to my bar-mitzvah invitation that shares some information about the flagship schools