Newton's Young Philanthropists

The school’s modern manifestation is slightly different. In its version the school raises money and invites five child-centered charity organizations to tell the school what they do. The organizations can be nominated by anyone in the community, and a group of teachers and parents winnows down the list to the final five. The money raised by the school is then divided evenly among the 300 students, kindergarten through eighth grade, in the form of poker chips. After spending a week learning about each group, culminating in a day of assemblies and meetings with representatives from the organizations, the students decide which organization they want to donate their money.

Last year the school raised $8,401 (about $5.60 per poker chip). This year the organizations are Seeds of Peace, a program dedicated to bringing young Palestinians and Israelis together to achieve coexistence; Camp!, a nonprofit that provides a week of free summer camp in Vermont for children with limited means; The Kids Campaign Against Child Labor, a Quincy organization run by middle school students; Big Apple Circus Clown Care, which utilizes the healing power of humor at the Children’s Hospital in Boston; and Operation Security Blanket.

The idea for Tamchui first came to Stephanie Rotsky, the school’s social justice educator, 12 years ago at a Jewish education conference.

“When I registered for this conference they handed me a name tag and plastic chips,” Rotsky said. “They said they’d deducted five dollars from your registration, and that I was going to be learning about all these different organizations that are helping others and donating my chips to them. It was so simple, yet so powerful. Not only were we learning about these important programs, but it brought all of us together as a group. I knew it would be perfect for a school.”

Many members of the Rashi School believe that Tamchui represents what makes the place special.

“When I describe this school to people all over the world the first thing that comes to my mind is the social justice component,” said Glenda Speyer an English teacher in her eighth year. “There’s something truly beautiful about Tamchui that is so idealistic and yet so practical. We are always striving for an ideal, in teaching and learning, it's the nature of a teacher’s work, but this particular piece is so grounded in the needs of others that we can step out of ourselves and turn our teaching into tangible good.”

For, Ellen Pildis, the school’s rabbi, Tamchui is a perfect example of how to implement Jewish principals effectively in a school setting.

“On the one hand, it’s an important way to recognize a holiday,” she said.
“But we have larger goal outside of Purim. We want them to look at the world and try and fix what is broken. It is our Torah obligation to try and mend the world.”

The Tamchui project isn’t just about giving. By learning about different places and organizations, and by calculating and graphing the donations, Tamchui is a pure form of integrated learning that teaches kids how to become responsible human beings. It’s a lesson that is not lost of them.

“If I just asked my mom to give a check to an organization I would not really be doing anything, I would just be asking my parents to give,” said
Eli Korin who is 8 and in the second grade. “You want to have fun doing it, you don’t want to just give a check and it’s over.”

Vicky Grinberg who is 11 and in the sixth grade had this to say about the experience:

“All my life people are saying just a kid. Now people are giving us that trust. They are coming here to tell us about their organizations and they trust us to give our own chips and make own decisions. It feels really good to not just be little kids anymore.”