Manhattan High School has been selected to participate in the Better Together Program. The Better Together Program is a program designed to encourage meaningful interactions between young and old and is sponsored by a national fund.
Grades eleven and twelve, under the direction of Mrs. Miri Cohen and supported by Dr. Shaina Trapedo, will be participating in the program with JASA 76. MHS is grateful for having been chosen to participate in the Better Together Program and looks forward to sharing with our community how the program positively influences our students.
We intend to integrate this program into the twelfth grade's year long genealogy program, strengthening their bond with the senior generation.
Grades eleven and twelve, under the direction of Mrs. Miri Cohen and supported by Dr. Shaina Trapedo, will be participating in the program with JASA 76. MHS is grateful for having been chosen to participate in the Better Together Program and looks forward to sharing with our community how the program positively influences our students.
We intend to integrate this program into the twelfth grade's year long genealogy program, strengthening their bond with the senior generation.
Reflecting on our visits
As I stood with my friends on the pavement facing the Senior Center, I was nothing short of apprehensive. I remained anxious as we silently climbed the staircase, and entered a large, populated room. It was uncomfortable to be placed in such stark contrast before a group of people. As compared to the people in the room I felt young and childish, and placed next to us, they felt worn out. Although we mingled, there was a certain tension in the room. At the start of each conversation I relived the struggle to find common ground. It felt immensely difficult to find conversation topics that spanned more than one generation. One woman sang beautifully, but none of us recognized the music. Another man spoke of events that I could hardly remember hearing about. We spoke and smiled politely, but we didn’t feel like we belonged.
About a half hour into our visit, an art teacher arrived carrying a large case of patterned paper and tempera sticks. As she laid out her supplies on a table, center members began to crowd around her station. A couple of my peers went to join in on the activity, and awkwardly took seats around the table. At first we adhered rigidly to the project guidelines. We had a great time thinking of inspirational quotes and decorating them. I have always been artistically inclined, and later began to draw the woman sitting opposite me. Her clothing fascinated me. I had truly never seen anything like them; tinted glasses, a knit beret, and various patterns on her skirt and top. The small, round table was much more conducive to conversation than wandering along the large room had been. I discussed complimentary colors with the woman sitting beside me, who had been reluctant to use both blue and orange in her drawing. A man passing by asked me what my parents did, and we spoke about the current teaching styles, as opposed to what they used to be. I asked the woman I was drawing about her clothing, and she spoke to me about styles I had never before encountered, and made jokes that had me laughing far louder than I had expected to. Participating together in an art activity had accomplished what we had had difficulty with before. The conversation flowed between members of different generations. The years between us seemed to be bridged smoothly and effortlessly by comfortable conversation. When I had finished my drawing, I held it up to show the model. She laughed in delight at how I had blocked out her eyes with her pink glasses, and then spelled her name out clearly so that I could write it above her portrait. I began to stand up and say goodbye to everybody sitting at the table, but a friend of mine called for me to stay put. I looked around confusedly, and she nodded toward another man sitting at the table. He was holding a brown tempera stick in his hand, and concentrating hard upon me as he slowly moved it up and down the paper. Having had plenty of experience drawing people, I immediately froze, so as not to confuse his drawing. It felt as though everybody at the table held their breath, not wanting to disrupt his unwavering concentration. As I sat there, immobile, my eyes scanned the room around me. Each of the ten girls who had come with me that afternoon was immersed in conversation. Throughout the room I saw examples of the young interacting with the elderly. A small group of about four seniors were huddled by a map, pointing out their homelands to one of my peers. Two tables over, a friend of mine was roaring with laughter at something that a center member had said. I looked back at my table, and saw the woman sitting across from me admiring the drawing I had made her. The man beside her was still focused intently upon capturing the angle of my nose. It was nearly time to leave the center when the portrait of me was complete. The seniors and young women alike gathered to see the drawing. It was beautifully done, and as I looked at it, I thought about how little the differences in style, taste, and age, meant to me now. I might not recognize the music the seniors sang, or the clothing they wore, or even the different techniques they used while drawing. But by the time I left the center, they had become familiar and beautiful. While I may not view things from behind a pair of pink tinted glasses, bonding with people who are at a vastly different stage of life than my own has certainly my world a brighter place. -- Serene Klapper |
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I knock gently, but with enough force for my grandfather to hear. I wait until I hear the slow shuffle, shuffle pause for his cane to catch up with him and he opens the door. As he approaches the door I hear his reassuring “coming, coming, coming” notifying me that although it takes time he is on his way.
“Shalom Elisheva!” “Shalom Sabba, how are you?” His voice is soft, smoothed with age like stones in rushing water. I smile at his greeting and follow him to the table where he regales me with his gourmet cooking. He loves playing host despite the fact that he is far past the age when it is expected. He could have shirked off the responsibility years ago, but he is still going strong at 94. I offer to get the plates. He is reluctant at first, although relieved to accept. Armed with his vintage stoneware plates and matching cups I set the table and we dine on his yerushalmi cuisine and his hearty vegetable soup, his specialty and my favorite. As we eat he asks me about school. His questions have the feel of an interrogation. I try to find something worthy enough to relay to him, something sophisticated, that a man who was a principal for over 50 years of his life could appreciate or approve of. I wrack my brains trying to formulate a lesson from a class. We discuss it, me repeating my English phrases and trying to enunciate the words so he can hear them, sometimes pursuing a different method of bilingual mush, in order to get the proper word across. He responds in Hebrew. English is used as well -for the key points- to make sure I truly understand the descriptions and information he is passing on to me. Whenever I ask what a word means he looks at me skeptically, as he has countless times before, and asks if I know Hebrew. I laugh and reassure him. After our plates are scraped clean, I return from the kitchen with the anticipated and traditional cup of Earl Gray tea and a plate of cookies, crucial for the necessary tea drinking experience. “Ahh” he sighs with pleasure. “You added sugar?” “Two spoonfuls, just how you like it” I smile. Over tea and pastries we begin our work. His apartment is filled to the brim with books and paintings. Each one represents a memory, a beacon of the past and he explains each one to me. Today we talk about one picture which depicts a museum exhibit he once saw that fascinated him years earlier; another is a portrait of Sabba presented to him in honor of decades of service as a High School principal, and a third is a two foot tall hand written and illustrated Ethics of the Fathers. Each one is introduced with a rich story, and an even richer expression of ideas and idealism. With every visit new pieces are discovered and discussed, and old ones are revisited. Stories, ideas, and opinions emerge from all these works to create a pulsating undercurrent of history in his hands. He speaks with pride, passion, and humor about each one. He shares with me his accomplishments from the past; often pausing for my look of shock at the circumstances he confronted and endured. I listen, inserting my oohs, aahhs, and accompanying comments if I judge them to be worthy enough. Sometimes the most valuable use of our time is to listen and observe. When I go and visit my grandfather I glean more and more snippets of his life story, his life experience. These continue to blend together to form a tapestry that allows me to understand and respect him more and more with each visit. If we merely took the time to listen to the people in our lives we would be amazed at what they can teach us and what we can discover, through these insights, about ourselves and our surroundings. There are few endeavors as important as forging human relationships, and there is no limit to what we might gain from someone with as much to tell and as much experience to share as the elders of our society whom we are privileged to know. -- Elisheva Rosensweig |
We all know that political views are a dangerous thing in today’s day and age, but despite disagreement amongst the participants, everyone respected each other’s opinions and the discussion was great. It felt nice to share my thoughts without fearing that others might think I’m foolish for feeling this way.
-- Hindi Medalie When the conversation switched to Israeli politics, I could tell how impressed the club members were with the breadth of knowledge the girls presented to them. I felt proud of the girls that I came with and their ability to speak to the seniors in an intellectual manner that truly reflects the standards of our school.
— Chayala Hauptman Aging means learning and understanding the world in deeper, and more complex, ways. It means understanding in a real way why we are created and what we are supposed to do. I know I’m not ‘old’ yet because I’m not independent. I still have people in my life whose main job is to take care of me. Still, I know I’m getting older because I have choices to make that can truly impact my life.
— Ayelet Wein An hour used to seem like an endless amount of time. If I ever had to wait to go somewhere, a whole hour felt endless. Now an hour seems way too short, and there is always more to do.
— Rivka Lax Today I bonded with Otelia from Romania. She came to America around 40 years ago and went back to Romania twice since. She speaks five languages. I also spoke with Ed. Ed is from Manhattan, speaks English and Spanish and encouraged me to brush up on my Spanish before my next visit. I had a wonderful experience and really looking forward to my next visit.
-- Rena Brody Watching the seniors perform monologues made me realize that the performers’ age added meaning to their recitations. Their lives are filled with so many more experiences. This was especially true for Leah Silverman who delivered a piece on finding her true self as she discovered her real talent. As she recited it, it seemed so real to her and to the audience. She could very well have been speaking about herself and her experience over her 94 years.
— Leora Lehrfield Yesterday at Jasa's Club 76, I was privileged to meet with some extraordinary seniors. When I was asked to go, I was excited yet nervous; I didn't know if we would find common ground. On the way there, we discussed topics of conversation, but once we arrived, we saw we didn't need the prep. They welcomed us and invited us to join their conversation. They told us we were there just in time for current events and they were so interested in what we had to say. I thought I would be going over there to give them a good time but in the end they also gave us one!
-- Leora Mause On Sunday, I had the priveledge to have a long discussion with Shula. She was born in Israel and worked for the Massad, so she travelled all over from Brazil to Argentina. She enjoyed her position and her love for Israel, and specifically her love for Yerushalayim was apparent. She repeated, "Israel is beautiful," and was delighted when I told her I will be in Israel next year. I truly enjoyed talking to Shula.
-- Esther Butler |
When I found out Steve was a baseball fanatic like myself, we reminisced about the times when the Mets were actually good. At times I felt like I was talking to a person my age rather than someone who was 5 times my age.
-- Elisheva Hoffman "אל תשליכני לעת זקנה" — Phyllis explained to me that Ruthy had dementia, and this encounter left me shaken. I kept thinking about the lifetime of memories that Ruthy must have had, and yet they were all meaningless to her now. The hundreds of people she probably met in her life didn’t exist to her anymore; even the ones who made incredible impacts and changed her life. And it made me think about all the people I am exposed to now, all my teachers, friends, and even family that I don’t want to forget, and all the memories I have and will continue, IY”H, to make. It made me realize how strongly I want to be grounded in and aware of my reality. And it made me sad that Ruthy was one day a sixteen-year-old girl just like me, with dreams and plans for her future, and now she couldn’t even remember her greatest accomplishments.
-- Avigail P. Deutsch Steven, one of the seniors that I met from the first trip, remembered who I was and seemed happy to see all of us again. That fact not only made me very happy during the trip, but it also left a joy within me throughout the rest of the day. At some point, one of the seniors starting coughing, so I got her a drink of water. The appreciative look that I got after doing this made my day probably more than it made hers.
-- Chavi Zelefsky During our last visit we went around the room and each person said what we are thankful for. I realized a similar pattern in the responses of the seniors.They all responded with something small, but at the same time, so important. We always take for granted the biggest things in life which we think are so minor. For example, waking up in the morning or feeling healthy. After going to JASA this past week, I have a different perspective on everything I have, tangible and not.
-- Shayna Eisenberg Something special I noticed during our last visit was the camaraderie among the seniors. While I was speaking to one man he began praising another woman in the group and encouraging us to go talk to her and hear about the amazing things she’s accomplished. We learned she was the secretary for Abba Eban, an Israeli diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs. The encounter was so special for all of us. As we were parting from her she gave both Rivka and I a kiss on the cheek and called to us saying, “Continue the work that I have done.”
-- Rivka Sabel I met a few people today at the center. I specifically spent some time with Ruthie who loves music. She sang us her favorite song several times. I think interacting with seniors is important because we are bridging the generation gap. The members there were so happy when we came to visit. Their eyes lit up as soon as we walked in. As young adults, I think we can gain so much from their many life experiences and lessons.
-- Rachel Klamen Manhattan High School understands that high school is a crucial time in developing and refining our characters. A few months ago we took time out of our school schedule to visit an elderly activity center. This visit left an indelible mark on my life and taught me many valuable lessons. After interacting with many of the women there, it was immediately clear that they had a deep breadth of knowledge. They knew so much about life and imparted many life lessons in the short time we spent together. While I went there, ready to give, I in fact was the one on the receiving end! They taught me the importance of seizing the moment and making the most of my life!
-- Nina Melohn |