Courtesy of Saul Mirowitz Day School, Reform Jewish Academy, St. Louis

RJA is a part of the Kesher B'Kitah project that connect school in the Jewish community of St. Louis and Yokneam, within the framework of Partnership 2000 Yokneam-Megiddo.

"So, too, collectors are appointed who fetch bread and foodstuffs from every courtyard...They distribute the collections among the poor. This is what is called the tamhui."  Maimonities, Yad, Gifts to the Poor, 9:2

At Reform Jewish Academy (RJA), we know that it is the responsibility of everyone — no matter their personal finances — to contribute to the Tamhui, the collective pot of funds. And this week, we've used that Tamhui to partner with God in the repair of the world. We've examined our values each day, individually considering what tugs at our heart strings. We voted with tokens on the organization we would like to receive our share of the school collection. And we added and multiplied and divided to determine how to allocate the $1,087.54 we collected.

Kindergarten and first grade students counted the tokens in each jar... not once... not twice... but three times to ensure accuracy! They did so by grouping the tokens and counting by 10s (some early multiplication for our youngest students).

Our second and third graders counted all of the dollars and coins and checks that families contributed.

 

Fourth graders determined the value of each token and how much money each organization would receive.  Fifth grade translated that total into a fraction of the total Tamhui, and then created charts and graphs. 

And the results:
Casa de Salud will receive $115.20
Bayit Ham, A Warm Home in Yokneam will receive $133.12

The Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry will receive $172.80
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will receive $275.20
Living Lands and Waters will receive $384

(If you'd like to learn more about these organizations, click on the links above.)

Keep your light shining,
Morah Cheryl