Keystones: Making a Tangible Connection to Israel with Elianna Perez

Elianna Perez, Volunteer, ACHI613

Please note that this podcast was recorded before the events of October 7th, and therefore may not completely reflect the current reality in Israel. See updates about ACHI613's response to the war at the end of the episode's transcript.

Sharon Freundel:

I’m Sharon Freundel, Managing Director of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC). Welcome to JEIC’s Keystones Podcast Series. The keystone is the central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together. We believe that a strong Jewish Day School education is what holds the Jewish people together as we look towards the next generation.

In today’s episode, we will hear from Elianna Perez from ACHI613 on using a tangible, physical item to get kids involved in keeping Israel at the top of minds.

Elianna Perez:

Our thing that we would love for schools to incorporate this year and then future years is what we're calling “Year of the Klee.” A klee is an item; it could be either a dish or bowl or plate, like any vessel that you can put stuff in. And to fill it only with items from Israel, Israel-based items. It could be candy from Israel. It could be Ahava lotion. It could be whatever it is that you have that you buy from Israel; it's just an easy way to have a constant reminder in your home of ways to support Israel.

Why we think this is relevant for schools is because we are encouraging klee-making events. That can be either by getting a potter's wheel, or by getting a bowl and getting acrylic paint or Sharpie markers and decorating it so each kid can get their own bowl that they decorate and bring home, and they have it as their way to support Israel.

Basically, what we wanted was something that was tangible, something a little bit more hands-on, so it's engaging. And this is for students and for adults; anyone can do it. The idea was, we want to kind of make a Judaica item of this century. Like, you know, you don't have any new Judaic items out there. We're not changing anything; we're not wanting to add to our tradition in any way. But this will be a new item you have, so everyone should have this klee in their home.

You can buy it by going to an Israeli vendor and buying a beautiful dish and filling it with Israeli products. Or you can make it more fun and have this hands-on approach for kids to do when they're in their school; this is your art project. So you're not only making art in your art class, which is obviously so important for kids to express themselves and show their beauty, but you're also connecting it to Israel, and especially because of Israel's 75th birthday this year, it's a great way to celebrate. You have this art project in school.

We had one of these events in a school in Florida where I'm from, and one of the kids turned to me, and said, “Wow, I never knew supporting Israel was so much fun.” And that's what we're hoping, that it's an engaging way for kids to be involved, to have these art projects, but then also have something they can bring home and continue to support Israel with this art project and then to serve as a reminder to others that when they see this klee, when they see this item filled with Israeli stuff, their friends are like, “Oh, I should get one or I need to refill this. I need to go and buy something else from Israel.” And it's just a constant reminder to support Israel.

We want it to, like, foster these conversations where people look at it and they say, “Oh!” I personally have my klee in the entrance to my home. So when people come in, they see it, and they're like, “Oh, cool, like, let me grab a candy,” because I keep candy in there. I'm a candy girl. I love candy. So I have candy from Israel there. So when my nephew comes in, he right away grabs from there, and he looks at it. He's like, “Oh, this is the klee, right?” And he's like, “I know about the klee.” So it fosters that conversation. So it's not just happening, but it's bringing it to us.

We also have our social media team. So we try to encourage people when they have it to post on social media with #myklee and tag us so that we're not only having it in our home and then spreading it to people who see it in their homes, but then all through the virtual world, they are able to see it.

And it starts that conversation of how to support Israel, right. It's about supporting Israel financially. During the pandemic, we were worried about the vendors in Israel who didn't have any tourists coming there, and they saw their sales drop tremendously. So one of the things we did at ACHI was we started an online market (ACHI613.org). Anyone can go and reach and access those Israeli vendors through our website. You're still able to do that today, but, thankfully, now Israel doesn't have any issues with tourists, like their tourism is at utmost high, like people are going like crazy now. So you know, that's not as relevant now, but it's still relevant to remind our kids, remind everyone of the way to support Israel, and we're doing that by having this small item in your home that will foster that conversation.

Just trying to support Israel. It's a way to counter the BDS movement, and then it’s our Jewish culture and our identity to have Israel in our hearts and our minds, and we're doing that through this klee.

I've been in touch with heads of school; they connect me with a specific class. I go in the classroom. We do the fun with like a gift bag, so it's like a gift that they bring home with their klee, with their beautiful bowl that they decorated. And then a flier for the parents – this is what your child made in school today, and this klee is meant to be filled with Israeli goods. This is a way for your kids to show their creativity through this item. So that's kind of how we've been doing it.

We want people to look at Israel. We want to associate it with something fun, pleasurable, like an art project, and ways to support Israel. That's our goal, is to make people love Israel.

An example here, someone came to my table, and they said, “Oh, klee. I know about a klee.” Because we're such a small organization, our seven volunteers plus our two social media associates, it's great to hear other people knowing the klee before I even had a chance to give them my pitch. They already knew about it. So I think that's it, like hearing when people are like, “Oh, klee, of course I know about a klee.” When someone comes to my home and sees the klee, “Oh, that's a klee. I know about that.”

By getting your second graders, your third graders, even your high school involved in it, I think by having them see that this is a fun way to support Israel that, to me, is the most exciting part of it. So we want people to start talking about Israel and learning about it more. I think what we're doing with this first, just the first stage of starting by having people make their klee and that's going to help them support Israel by putting items in it, but then what's leading to the learning is that once the kids are now thinking about Israel and supporting Israel, then they're going to be much more, hopefully, likely to listen to that Israel in their curriculum.

Sharon Freundel:

To find out more about this topic and other ways to catalyze radical improvement in Jewish Day Schools, please visit our website at JewishChallenge.org.

Post-Script

Since October 7, ACHI has grown tremendously and has been working hard to help those in Israel. We have raised more than $45,000 that has gone directly to those affected by the war. ACHI has made donations to Lone Soldiers; evacuees; “The Next Step," which assists amputees; “Standing Together,” which provides necessities for IDF soldiers; and “One Family,” which empowers victims of terror and bereaved families—to name a few. We have also provided more than 800 meals to those in Israel through a new campaign to sell "Shabbat Shalom Cards." Featuring beautiful designs by Israeli artists, these eye-catching cards may be used as hostess gifts, to mark an occasion, or as artwork to hang on the wall. Most importantly, each card funds the cost of a Shabbat/Chag meal donated to those impacted by the Gaza war. ACHI has partnered with Lema’an Achai, an Israeli non-profit, to provide Shabbat/Chag meals to families of soldiers and evacuees, and to bereaved families of soldiers and others who lost their lives on Oct. 7.