By MIKE CAPUTO
But these 13-year-old boys were not raving about the latest video game or arguing over which girl down the hall was the best looking. Instead, they looked to decide on which community service project to take on next.
"The more they do, the more hungry they are to do more," said David Goldstein, their teacher at I.L. Peretz Jewish School of Nassau, a Workmen's Circle shule.
The boys, who hail from East Meadow and nearby towns, are in the midst of a cultural Bar Mitzvah initiative that focuses on community service rather than intense religious study. They are first group to go through the community-service based Bar Mitzvah through the progressive Jewish school at the Nassau Cultural Center on 574 East Meadow Avenue.
Within six weeks, the boys have already raised money for several projects, one of which was featured on the Web site of "Jewish World Watch." The cause was aimed at raising money to purchase and donate solar cookers to refugees in war-ravaged Darfur.
According to Steve Rossman and Eric Ravenef, the solar cookers offer the refugees a safer cooking option because it does not require them to search for firewood.
"They can cook food and don't have to leave the camp," Rossman said.
The group also asked members of the Nassau Cultural Center to sign pre-made letters that urge politicians to help stop the violence in Darfur.
In addition to their nationally recognized Darfur initiative, the "graduate students" of I.L Peretz recently began participating in Remember Us, a program where the boys light a candle in memory of a child who died during the Holocaust.
"The kids who were killed during the Holocaust really deserved more," Harrison Price said. "They deserve to be remembered because they didn't get to live their life."
Price, Rossman and Ravenef are joined in the group by Ethan Barkin, Dylan Davis, Justin Gambino and Jeremy Roller. The Bar Mitzvah-hopefuls talked about their plans for a mock birthday party in the coming weeks. Instead of a present, partygoers would be encouraged to bring $5. That is because it costs $36 to send a birthday party to underprivileged children in Israel through the Birthday Angels program. The boys have already sponsored four parties that were expected to take place this month.
Finally, as a tribute to the holiday season, the boys led a food and toy drive for two brothers in Commack. One of the brothers suffers from a serious disease, and is the focus of a foundation in his name that raises money for the struggling family. The I.L. Peretz boys presented a check and several bags of groceries to go to the family.
"The nice part is that what takes little effort as a group can make an enormous difference in someone else's life," said Staci Davis, Dylan's mother who helps out. She noted that the program is not a typical bar mitzvah, but the boys' volunteerism is what helps them grow toward adulthood.
"As you become an adult it is not something that just happens, it is something you become," she said.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
Photos by Mike Caputo/Herald
