Stuffed Bears Teach Lessons in Giving

Call him a bear on a mission. Tzedakah Bear has arrived in the Valley to teach young Jewish children the concept of tzedakah--giving to people in need.

About 300 of the cuddly bears will be distributed to Jewish preschools, day schools and religious programs that serve an estimated 5,000 Jewish children ages 2 to 7 in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Antelope, Simi and Conejo valleys.

Each Tzedakah Bear, all of which wear a purple yarmulke, totes a backpack containing a journal for families to document their history, as well as a pledge card for children to sign promising they will try to remember to bring tzedakah money to school each week. Children will also take turns having the bears stay overnight with them.

Money collected from a tzedakah box that accompanies the bear will go to the Jewish Federation/Valley Alliance, which provided an $11,500 grant for the program.

Cheri DeKofsky already had the idea for the Tzedakah bears when four years ago, while sitting in her daughter’s gymnastic class, she committed a story about the bears to paper. As founder of Temple Etz Chaim’s preschool in Thousand Oaks, she realized there was an opportunity to teach about tzedakah that wasn’t being tapped.

Each child gets to keep a storybook that tells the story of Tzedakah Bear, which is actually the story of DeKofsky’s grandmother, who came to America from Russia at age 16 to start a new life with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

“It not only works for educating young children, but it’s a way of educating young families as to what tzedakah means to us as a community,” said DeKofsky, of Agoura Hills.

This week, West Valley Jewish Community Center’s preschool was the first in the Valley to begin the program. Some preschools in Thousand Oaks have already received their Tzedakah bears, and officials from the Jewish Federation/Valley Alliance hope to have the bears in all Jewish schools by January.

“Any time we can instill values and reach out to the Jewish community, it benefits everyone,” said Marla Landis, Women’s Department director for the Valley Alliance, who explained the program to teachers at the West Valley Jewish Community Center. “The response has been so positive. Anyone who reads the book and sees the bear falls in love with it.”