Bat Mitzvah Helps Israeli Special-Needs Center

When 12-year-old Tomomi Shaw was trying to come up with a mitzvah project for her bat mitzvah, her father suggested she consider ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran.
After watching a video about the state-of-the-art rehabilitative village in Southern Israel that serves disabled and special needs children and adults, Tomomi knew she’d found her project. She then went about raising $10,058 for the organization.
“I thought it was really cool what they did and how they started,” Tomomi said in an interview at her home in the Pico-Robertson area. She said she especially liked the fact that there were “people of different ages hanging out” at ALEH Negev.
Her project connected with donors, too.
“It was amazing to see how many people came together to help donate and support the organization,” she said. “I feel like it’s a big accomplishment for me to achieve. I wanted to do something for my bat mitzvah to help people. It was really nice seeing what happened, seeing that I could do this even though I’m really young.”
And even though she has an additional challenge: Tomomi has unilateral deafness, meaning she is deaf in one ear.
“Tomomi has an affinity for and likes to speak for those who have more difficulty in life,” said her father, Dr. Robin Shaw, a cardiologist.
“Tomomi has an affinity for and likes to speak for those who have more difficulty in life.”
– Dr. Robin Shaw
“That’s her orientation,” added her mother, Dr. Julie Higashi, a public health physician. “She knows what it’s like to live with a disability and be different. She wears a hearing aid.”
To kick off her fundraising, Tomomi baked cookies and sold them at her school, Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, once a week for several weeks. She also worked closely with the Jewish National Fund, a partner of ALEH Negev, which helped set up a fundraising page on Facebook. The page features a photo of Tomomi holding a drawing she made, as well as a brief note she penned, which reads, in part, “When I see people struggle with daily activities such as eating breakfast, brushing their teeth and hair, or picking up a pencil, it helps me understand the power of healing and also makes me appreciate how much I take for granted.”
A link to the Facebook page was sent along with the Paperless Post evite to her 2018 bat mitzvah at B’nai David-Judea.
Tomomi said she enjoyed checking the page every night, seeing that day’s donations, and watching the notch on the progress thermometer gradually rise to and surpass her goal of $10,000. She hopes one day to visit ALEH Negev, which opened its doors in 2006. Major General Doron Almog, whose son Eran was born with severe autism and developmental disabilities, founded the village. Eran lived at the village for several years until he died at the age of 23.
Today, more than 150 people live at ALEH Negev. The center also provides close to 20,000 outpatient treatments each year to children and young adults at no charge. Currently, the ALEH Negev has an ambitious building project underway, adding a rehabilitative hospital to its 25-acre site, which is slated to be completed by 2021.
“Tomomi is supporting the first and only world-class rehabilitative village in the Negev that is a major part of JNF’s vision to bring 500,000 people to live in the Negev, the future of Israel,” said Neuriel Shore, JNF’s associate director for West Los Angeles. “Through her bat mitzvah, Tomomi has become a true champion for Israel.”
JJ Inside The Print
One of the cool and fashionable expressions in modern Jewish life is to say you’re “post-denominational” — that is, you’re a Jew who doesn’t fit...
An old friend recently sent me a music video of the song “Thunder” by the pop-rock group Imagine Dragons, with the note: “This is you,...
As a workaholic, the last thing I think about before I go to sleep and the first thing I think about when I wake up...
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart...
Last week, the media fell hard for the story of Jussie Smollett. Smollett, a gay, black actor on the TV show “Empire,” falsely claimed that...
This article contains spoilers from the Netflix series “Russian Doll.” The new Netflix series “Russian Doll” is so splendidly Jewish. The eight 30-minute episodes in...
Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, author of “Modern Conservative Judaism: Evolving Thought and Practice,” is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and earned a doctorate...
“You know what I just realized? ‘Oy’ is the funniest word in the entire world.” Thus spake Lorelai Gilmore, the older of the two eponymous...
The Fyre Festival and the “Palestinian cause” have a lot in common. In 2017, the Fyre Festival was promoted to the American public on social...
“Marcus, you are an idiot. I told you three times to stop doing that.” My teacher had repeatedly told me not to pronounce the four-letter...
When she was 14, Danielle Bukra made a list of things she wanted to accomplish by the age of 30, including living on a desert...
The State of Israel has done a few successful things since its establishment, but in one mission it certainly has failed. If the leaders of...
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform embrace the fundamental principle that Judaism is a work in progress. All three movements originated in Germany in the early 19th...
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist. “And you, speak to the children of Israel and say: ‘Only keep My Sabbaths! For it...
The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Frank Sinatra, the Rockettes, Broadway, Times Square, hot dogs, the Yankees, bagels and a New York slice...
On March 8, dozens of high schools across Los Angeles, including several Jewish ones, will send out notices of admission. It’s a stressful time for...
Seated between Rabbi Sharon Brous and author Jonathan Neumann, Rabbi David Wolpe said, “My chair is exactly equidistant between our two participants.” Wolpe was referring...
For nearly two decades, a San Diego-based family has been trying to retrieve a valuable painting relinquished under duress to the Nazis during the Holocaust. ...
After conducting more than 50,000 interviews with world leaders, dignitaries and celebrities, Larry King may have met his match last month in Marthe Cohn, a...
“Tuesdays With Morrie,” Mitch Albom’s memoir about his relationship with his college professor Morrie Schwartz, was published in 1997 and became a worldwide best-seller. Two...
This is how I’d kill my father: Take him out for yogurt at the mall near the dementia place, order him a chocolate cone, slide...
A decade ago, during his first crack at the musical “Ragtime,” Benjamin Schrader was a member of the ensemble and an understudy in the show’s...
Comedian Judy Gold emerged on stage at an Upper West Side theater on Feb. 11 and screeched, “Oh my God, I’m so excited,” as she...
Among the remarkable individuals whose names are recorded as signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush has been mostly overlooked. Of course, he was...
Rishel Alpert died Jan. 17 at 93. Survived by daughter Gaby (Ramon) Galindo; son David; 4 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; brother Iz (Nadine) Levy. Mount Sinai ...
Al Vorspan, a leader of the group that eventually became the Union for Reform Judaism and was lauded as the “personification of Reform Judaism’s social-justice...
According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States, and with February being...
The nominees for Best Way to Present Wine as a Hostess Gift are: the paper or plastic bag it came in; a gift bag from...
NewGround: A Muslim and Jewish Partnership for Change honored recipients of its Trailblazer and Change-maker awards at a luncheon at the Skirball Cultural Center on...
FRI FEB 22 Mental Awareness Shabbat Hoping to normalize and de-stigmatize mental health issues, Temple Ahavat Shalom holds a Mental Health Awareness Shabbat. The evening...
Eli Beer was just 7 years old when a bus exploded in front of him as he was walking home from school in Jerusalem. A...
BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee’s 1970s-set film about a black police detective who poses as a white man to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, is nominated for...
When he was 3 years old, Rodney Rothman made his parents drive by the local movie theater so he could find out what was playing....
When directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West watched the Academy Awards nomination announcements on Jan. 22, they were surprised and thrilled to hear that their...
On Feb. 28, 1939, 20,000 people filled an arena for a political rally. Before an enormous portrait of George Washington, they pledged allegiance to the...
Composer Marc Shaiman has Tony and Grammy awards for the Broadway musical “Hairspray” and its cast album. He earned an Emmy for his contribution to...
Oscar-nominated for best documentary short subject, “End Game” follows patients with terminal illnesses, their families and the palliative care professionals making them comfortable. Filmmakers Rob...
The Annexation Issue The exercise of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is the correct and logical continuation of Zionism (“Annexation Is a Pernicious Issue...
By Tzachi Yaffe “Agamon Hula: Light,” 2015 Cranes at the Hula Nature Reserve in Upper Galilee, Israel. “Agamon Hula: Light” was part of...
For more of Greenberg's artwork, visit his website.
We call this format a Timesaver Guide to Israel’s Coming Elections. This will be a usual feature on Rosner’s Domain until April 9. We hope...