Alum Yekarim, Shalom Rav
Some say it’s a nes, a miracle, others say it’s the result of dedication, putting our hearts and souls into the hard work.  The nes I am writing about is NFTY-EIE.  When EIE was remodeled in 1992, there were 40 participants a year.  We reached 162 participants in the 2007-08 academic year, and anticipate over 180 this year.  These numbers are not extraordinary since we have been experiencing a steady and constant growth since 2003, a growth pattern that existed from 1992 to 2000, before the second intifada.  All of this indicates that it would not be a miracle to achieve an enrollment of 250 by 2011, the Jubilee of EIE.
 
I use the word nes in the context of the upcoming holiday, Chag Hanukkah.  There is a tension in rabbinic literature regarding the reason for its celebration.  Are we celebrating the miracle of the legendary jug of oil or that of the strength which God gave to the few to overcome the many (“Al Hanisim,” Mishkan Tfillah p. 556)?  This tension is found in tractate Shabbat 21b, which states that the reason we light the candles for eight days is the miracle of the oil.  Yet in our liturgy, the only prayer recited on Chanukah is “Al Hanisim” which makes no mention whatsoever about the miracle of the oil.  The prayer’s theme is that we became strong through our belief in the strength God gave us to resist and overcome the Greeks and Hellenists.  The origins of this tefillah may be found in tractate Sofrim chapter 20 halacha 5.
 
I believe that EIE is a miracle.  Many believed EIE would never amount to more that a program that would provide education for a small number of the most dedicated teens in the Reform Movement.  It was the few in both Israel and New York who believed and worked with all their heart and soul to bring EIE into the 21st century larger than ever.  The miracle of the nature of the jug of oil require no work, and those, like the splitting of the Reed Sea or the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, though long remembered, are short lived as we read in the Torah.  It is the miracle of the few – who continue to have the strength and vision and put in the hard work – that endures and achieves success.  All of us in the EIE family are the few, especially if you compare the numbers of EIE or NFTY summer program participants with the 140,000 who attend Jewish day schools, the 240,000 who attend afternoon-weekend Jewish schools, and the 55,000 or so benei/benot mitzvah a year.  We must find the strength to continue to increase our numbers and our capacity to provide the highest quality education to those who will go on to become the leaders of the Am Yisrael and Reform Movement.

Please be in touch if you are interested continuing to support EIE and we will be in touch to make your work with us productive.
 
Please get involved in helping to continue the nes.
 
Chag Hanukkah Sameach
Baruch Kraus