Making a Difference

Rabbi Bernie King watched the rioting sparked by the Rodney King verdict, but what he saw was gam zo l’tovah, the Jewish notion that also, this is for good.

Although the violent aftermath gave him the sense that “society was falling apart around us,” the spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine also “realized that we needed to build bridges between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots.'”

Putting his social conscience to work, Rabbi King constructed a plan for the temple to partner with the Santa Ana school system. His own partner, wife Barbara, then a teacher at Willard Middle School in Santa Ana (now she teaches at Century High), was ideally suited to implement – and enhance – the plan.”The key has been Barbara, who teaches in the school. She’s already developed relationships with gang kids and the poor. And being my wife with her connection to the temple, she is involved deeply on both ends,” explains Bernie King.

The partnership between Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot and three schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District, where students are mainly Hispanic and primarily Catholic, is comprised of: programs (essay contests, writing contests, tutoring, “adopting” students); services (free services from temple members who are eye surgeons, orthopedists, optometrists, psychologists, social workers, heart valve specialists, oral surgeons, and veterinarians); tzedakah, scholarships (Dollars for Scholars, rabbi’s discretionary fund, camp scholarships and giving Tzedakah box to schools for distribution to needy families), and donations (“adopting” families for Thanksgiving and Christmas, ongoing clothing drive).

Bernie and Barbara King, who share two cars with the customized license plates “B AMensch” and “U2RHoly,” agree that the partnership has provided the students with a very positive image of Jews. This is especially significant because the student population at the three partner schools – Franklin Elementary, Willard Middle and Century High – is estimated at 70 percent Hispanic, 10-15 percent Asian, and 3 percent African American, with the remaining percentage white and others. Virtually no Jewish students attend these schools.

“It’s brought an understanding and acceptance of Judaism. Many of these students didn’t know anything about Judaism or Jews. Those who were exposed to Catholicism sometimes had a negative view of Jews as the killer of Christ,” explains Barbara King. “Now they’re able to see Jews as caring and giving. There’s definitely an acceptance – not just of Jews, but of others.”

A case in point: During one of Rabbi King’s weekly visits to Willard, the students welcomed him with “shalom,” grabbed their heads and said, “oy vey.” “They did it with perfect intonation. It was great,” says Barbara King.

TThe partnership began in 1992 at Willard, where Barbara King was teaching; in 1995, it followed her to Century High. In 1998, the partnership expanded to Franklin Elementary, primarily because temple member Marsha Bisheff, who helps coordinate the program, teaches there.”We get back much more than we give,” says Barbara King. “We gain an appreciation of what we have and become more aware of Baruch Hashems in life.”

To that end, L’Chaim Chavurah, a temple group of 9-10 couples comprised of adultswith grown children, has adopted an extended family of 21 representing three generations. Several have graduated from Century High. Jean and Daniel Marcus coordinate the effort.

At Thanksgiving, the adopted family received enough food for one week. At Easter, each family member received a basket with age-appropriate goodies – candy and toys for the children, fruit, flowers, shampoo and shaving lotion in a reusable container for the adults. And at Christmas, each family member got a complete outfit of clothing with shoes.”We explained that this was a present from your Jewish friends,” said Jean Marcus. “Their eyes were really happy when they saw the presents. It was wonderful. They were absolutely thrilled.”In addition to the holiday giving, each month Daniel and Jean – representing L’Chaim Chavurah – shop for and deliver food to the family whom Jean Marcus describes as “a very nice group of people who are trying to make a new life.”

On one occasion, when the mother, who didn’t know whether there was enough to feed her family, saw the Marcuses arrive with donated food, she threw her arms around Jean, exclaiming, “Gracias. Madre de dios.” “Now she says thank you in English,” Jean Marcus says. “She was so delighted.”Jean Marcus adds, “I’m so happy that we can give something back, that we can help give someone a hand who needs it. It’s wonderful.”

Another temple member, a heart-valve specialist who grew up in poverty, lent a hand when he spoke at a Willard class assembly about his profession. He gave each of the students $1 and told them to invest in themselves. He also encouraged them to take $1 each week and put it in the bank.”A lot of these students think day-to-day. They don’t make grandiose plans for the future. They’re surviving. Most come from gang-infested neighborhoods. There’s lots of drug use, lots of violence – and they survive.

“This speaker gives them hope. It crosses over ethnic bounds, economic bounds. It gives the students a commonality they can relate to,” explains Barbara King, who, among her extensive array of good deeds, paired a child survivor of the Holocaust with an abused student to give the latter hope and support.Reflecting upon the eight years since the looting and rioting following the Rodney King verdicts served as the impetus for the temple-school partnership, Rabbi King is “really pleased” with the results.

“This is the one project in my 30 years here that continuously bears fruit. We’ve touched a lot of lives – and had our lives touched, too.”