By COLlive reporter
This year marks a special milestone in the world of Jewish education. It is 40 years since the Rebbe launched the children’s organization known as Tzivos Hashem.
Based out of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, Tzivos Hashem has worked since 1980 to develop new programming and to change the lives of Jewish children everywhere.
Some may be more familiar with Tzivos Hashem as a kid’s club, with extra-curricular and holiday activities, magazines and birthday treats. But the scope of Tzivos Hashem goes well beyond these projects, says its director Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson.
He explains that the Rebbe founded Tzivos Hashem with a directive that empowering every Jewish child was not just a nice ideal, but a necessity. “No matter how far, no matter how young, Tzivos Hashem is there to let each child know they have a role to play, and that they are an important part of the Jewish nation, and play a critical role in helping to bring Moshiach now,” he says.
Since the early days of its establishment, Tzivos Hashem has reached hundreds of thousands of children across the globe. Within the first year, there were 60,000 children enrolled, and that number has continued to steadily grow.
In the last 40 years, Tzivos Hashem has developed activities, programming and resources for children living in the U.S attending Jewish schools and for children in the former Soviet Union who knew the bare minimum about their heritage – and for everyone else in between.
Its Jewish Children’s Museum on Eastern Parkway welcomed and educated over 3 million visitors on the beauty of Jewish traditions and values. Tzivos Hashem has kept up with rapidly developing technology over the last 40 years, and continues to produce programming that takes advantage of what technology has to offer.
The humanitarian branch of Tzivos Hashem has worked tirelessly to care for the children who are cold, hungry and oftentimes abandoned on the streets of Ukraine. Food, clothing and even medical care has been provided free of charge to families who are struggling.
To mark the milestone, a 40-year celebration booklet has been mailed to homes of Lubavitchers across the United States and they are sharing it with COLlive.com to reach an even broader crowd of members, supporters and friends.
“As we eagerly march towards the completion of our mission – the arrival of Moshiach – we are energetically embarking on new and expanded programs, to continue to help every Jewish child feel that the power to change the world is in their hands,” Rabbi Benjaminson says.
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