26 COMMUNITY10 Iyar 5776 // May 18, 2016Baltimore

DEVORAH KLEIN

“It is something special when we come together for a united cause. With a partnership with our schools, shuls and home, we are taking a pro-active approach to keep our children safe.”

This was the message of Rabbi Yitzchok Sanders, assistant principal of Bais Yaakov Elementary School, at the parents’ informational meet-ing for Magen Yeladim International, which was held on Sunday evening, May 8.

Magen Yeladim Child Safety Institute is a non-profit organization whose goal is to create communities that are safe for every child. Using the Safety Kid program, this goal is achieved through education and hands-on training that empowers children and adults with the knowl-edge and skills to be safe at every turn.

The program has been created under the guidance of the Nation-al Center for Missing and Exploited Children, bears the approval of Harav Shmuel Kamenetsky, shlita, and many Rabbanim in the Baltimore commu-nity.

Sunday evening’s event was just the beginning of a packed week, which included three separate parent ses-sions, attended by a total of close to 700 parents; meetings and training sessions with school administration, staff and local mental healthcare pro-fessionals; and presentations to close to 960 children in individual classes within the schools.

Mr. Shmuel Fischler, director of Outreach and Advocacy for CHANA, the main sponsor of the program in Baltimore, remarked, “This week is about educating, empowering and protecting our children, our schools and our community. All we want for our children are healthy lives and healthy relationships.”

He thanked the local Rabbanim for their collaboration and support, as well as the school administrations; Larry Ziffer, executive vice president of the Center for Jewish Education; and the Crane Foundation, for bring-ing the program to fruition.

Dr. Nancy F. Aiken, Ph.D., execu-tive director of CHANA, expressed that, “In keeping with the values of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, CHANA is committed to keeping all in the Jew-ish community safe from harm. The best way to do that is to teach our children about respect and healthy relationships. Working together with our community schools and the Macks Center for Jewish Education, using the Magen Yeladim curriculum, demonstrates the strong partnership between CHANA and the Jewish community.”

At Sunday evening’s session, Mrs.

Debbie Fox, director and founder of Magen Yeladim, explained the Safety Kid approach as a tried and true meth-od that is able to work with various sensitivities while maintaining the underlying message. In this program, schools are empowered to take an active leadership role, prioritize child safety and have a clear conduct policy and behavioral and hiring standards.

Parents gain awareness and learn about prevention, how to advocate within the schools and openly com-municate with their children. Once this is accomplished, children par-ticipate in workshops in which they receive four basic rules of safety. All information is presented in an engag-ing, interactive, and age-appropriate fashion, and can be adapted to meet the sensitivities of any institution.

Six schools collaborated togeth-er this week, including Bais Yaakov, Bnos Yisroel, Cheder Chabad, Ohr Chodosh, Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim/Talmudical Academy and Yeshivas Kochav Yitzchok/Torah Institute.

Kindergarten through fifth-grade classes at the host schools, YCC/TA and Bnos Yisroel, participated in a Safety Kid workshop during the week. In addition, local volunteers received

intensive training, and will be pre-senting the workshop to the other schools in coming weeks.

Mrs. Ahuva Heyman, school director of Bnos Yisroel, comment-ed, “We are thrilled and honored to be a host school for Magen Yeladim. The program has had a great impact and shows the strength of our com-munity, and we have received excel-lent feedback from staff and parents alike. Magen Yeladim has put tremen-dous chochmah into addressing this sensitive topic in an organized and thoughtful manner and has succeeded in getting this vital message across in a most effective way. It is critical that all children receive this training.”

Mrs. Fox was effusive in her praise for the Baltimore community. “It is really wonderful to see all six schools working together, developing the same language to promote child safe-ty. The receptivity and enthusiasm have been simply incredible.

“When we have Rabbanim, school administration, teachers, parents and children from across the community all working with the same language and the saaame understanding, this is the key to creating a safe community, with Hashem’s help.”

COVERAGE BY DEVORAH KLEIN

Agudath Israel Of Baltimore Premieres

Yoreh Deah Shiur

When Harav Moshe Heine-mann, Rav of Agudath Israel of Park Heights, was recently approached by a Baltimore resi-dent, one who is not even a mem-ber of the shul, with a request for an additional shiur on basar v’chalav, Harav Heinemann did not hesitate for even a moment before agreeing.

The Agudah has a policy of offering all shiurim and lectures free of charge to the general pub-lic, in line with its constitution and its credo of offering learning opportunities for all.

This new shiur now takes place on Thursday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m., in the third-f loor beis medrash, with an opportuni-ty for questions at the conclusion of the shiur. The shiur takes place immediately before the Rav’s Maharal shiur. The first session was held on Thursday, May 5, with a standing-room-only crowd in attendance.

This is just one of the many shiurim offered at the Agudah of Park Heights, which range from a shiur on the Rambam, now start-ing its second cycle after 35 years; shiurim on Maharal; Choshen Mishpat for business issues; con-temporary halachic she’eilos; and much more.

For information on any of these learning opportunities, please contact the shul president, Reb Moshe Fulda, at 410-935-7633.

Community Safety And Service Award

On May 22, The Chesed Fund and Project Ezra of Greater Bal-timore will present The Philip Kaufman and Rosalie Zwagil Community Safety and Service Award Ceremony. Communi-ty members are invited to once again nominate youth or adults who have gone above and beyond to help ensure the safety and security of our community. The awards will be presented to the winners at the special award cer-emony.

All are invited to attend to rec-ognize and honor those who have contributed outstandingly to our community. This event will be held at 3209 Fallstaff Road, rear building, at 1:00 p.m.

To submit nominations, please send a fax to 410-358-7373 or email chesedfund@gmail.com.

Jeff Cohn Photography

Mr. Larry Ziffer, executive vice president of the Center for Jewish Education, addressing the Magen Yeladim parent meeting.

Jeff Cohn Photography

Mr. Shmuel Fischler, director of Outreach and Advocacy for CHANA, addressing the Magen Yeladim parent meeting.

Magen Yeladim Comes to Baltimore