We are proud to be partnering with Chani Pinson and the Jewish Senior Center on a project that connects area seniors with Weizmann Middle School students. Last week our students met their senior partner and spent time getting to know one another and learning about each other's hobbies and interests.  The students returned to school thrilled about these shiddukhim, "matches" and happy with these budding new friendships.

Throughout the course of this year, as the Middle School Mitzvah Project, our students will fulfill nine mitzvah missions and at the end of each month will complete a reflection highlighting the significance of the month's activity.

The first of the nine missions includes calling the seniors to check in and see how they are doing, wishing them a Shabbat Shalom. In November the pairs will bake hallah together with Chani, hallah baker par excellence, and in December our students will hand deliver homemade Hanukkah presents. Home visits will take place in December with the students delivering a Shabbat kit consisting of tea lights, matches, hallah (provided by the school) and a handmade hallah cover (made in art class with Ms. Dinerman) and in March our students will deliver mishloah manot (Purim food baskets).  During the alternating months poems and Passover and Mother's Day holiday cards will be shared. The program will culminate in June with our students composing essays conveying the significance of each experience.

Our tradition teaches, Kibbud Z'kaynim, "Love and Honor our Elders".   We are so proud of our Middle School students who embrace this value and put into action the teaching of our mission:  "Weizmann Day School ....students are members of a caring community in which they learn to ask questions, engage with others, and participate in tikkun olam -- making the world a better place."  Thanks, too, to Chani for planning such an amazing program and for working so closely with our teachers.