Todah Rabah to Shomrei Torah's June Volunteers of the Month! Hannah & Emily  The media has inundated us with much negativity about young people. We at Shomrei Torah are proud that we have much to say about the positive qualities and good deeds of our young members. In particular, Emily Marks, daughter of Arlene and Michael Marks and Hannah Kressel, daughter of Dorit and Neil Kressel, have been volunteering in our Sunday School, assisting the teachers and helping the children with their studies.

Many questions were posed to these 15 year olds who are in 10th grade at Wayne Valley High School to discover who they are and what they think. The following are responses to some of those questions.

Hannah

Hannah believes that she has been influenced by many people and things. She feels she is very independent, but her parents and older brother Sam are so important in giving her guidance and advice. She has also been influenced by authors, teachers and the books she has read.

Speaking about her siblings, Hannah says that she is close with all of them, Sam (almost 20), Noah (11), and Leah (10). They watch movies and relax together. She and Sam share the same interests in movies and music. They all love traveling together.

Hannah's eclectic taste in books leads her to reading history, travel, fantasy and young adult literature.

Volunteering in the Sunday School, "was lots of fun," Hannah said, and made her feel "more a part of the Shomrei Torah and Jewish community in Wayne. I loved spending time with the kids, talking with them and watching them 'grow up' during the year."

In the future, Hannah would love to live in New York City and work in an art museum. She would also love to travel the world.

"I feel really proud of being Jewish. Its history and culture are very important to me and supporting Israel is very important to me," espouses Hannah. Much of what she does and what she is interested in is connected through being Jewish. "I volunteer at Shomrei Torah, I have been attending Camp Veritans since I was four and I will be Junior Counselor there this summer, and I am active in the Wayne chapter of the Bnai Brith Girls youth group, where I am the Shlicha (vice president in charge of Jewish cultural events and community service). My trip to Israel last summer really inspired me and strengthened my connection to Judaism and Israel."

Hannah's hobbies are reading and travel. She loves meeting authors and, whenever she can, tries to go to book signings of favorite authors. She has even traveled to South Carolina to attend a book festival, where she was able to get eight books signed in person by authors.

In describing herself, she thinks that she has a good sense of humor and is very sociable and outgoing. She considers herself responsible, organized and independent. She likes to set goals and works hard to meet them. As an aside, and an interesting fact about her, she has been a vegetarian since she was 12 and enjoys cooking vegetarian food.

Albert Schweitzer said, "Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing."
As we read about Hannah and hear her voice, we can be reassured that her generation will reach high and work to achieve their goals.

Emily

When asked about hobbies or what she does in her spare time, Emily told me that she plays both volleyball and softball for her high school, that she is active in USY, and works at the Boys and Girls Club as a referee.

Math is her favorite subject and she is excited and looking forward to reading Ray Fishler's book, Once We Were Eight.

To quote Emily about the person who influenced her most, "My mom, Arlene Marks, has influenced me most in my life. She is extremely understanding and she always listens to whatever I have to say. My mom also knows what is best for me and while letting me make my own decisions, she looks out for me like a parent should. I would be lucky to be half as great a mom as she is."

Emily has two brothers, Josh, a rising senior at the University of Maryland, and Matt, a rising sophomore at Northeastern University.

While helping the Sunday School children, Emily learned that children have a wonderful outlook on life. They get excited over small things, like losing a tooth and when they get upset they forget about it within a few minutes.

Emily feels that being Jewish has a great deal to do with doing mitzvot. She values giving back to the community in whatever way she can. She likes to help out with the Sunday School because she wants younger students to get a great Jewish education like she did. She also values reading Torah. Aside from Torah reading, she loves participating in services with a lot of people. She loves the feeling of having a Jewish community coming together for a service and no matter where the participants are from, they know the same prayers. "It is kind of like a glue that holds us all together. Personally, I love attending the Havdalah service with a large group of people."

This summer, Emily plans on playing volleyball, volunteering at the Police Academy Camp and Camp Adventure, in addition to visiting Florida and California with her family.

When she is older, she would like to work in the business/law field, probably as an agent.

In describing herself, Emily views herself as determined. When she sets a goal for herself, she works her hardest to attain it. "An outgoing person is what I am," she says.

In selecting a teacher she likes best, Emily looks up to Principal Weiss because she has been a very dedicated principal and has greatly improved our Hebrew School. "She helped me embrace my Judaism and inspired me to get involved and to live up to my full potential."

"Many people in my family are my heroes," Emily proudly states. "Two of them are my late grandfather Murray and my dad. My grandpa fought in the Pacific during World War II and received many awards for his service. He also owned many successful businesses and I respect his bravery and hard work. My dad always knows the right thing to do in any situation. He is extremely smart. He graduated from MIT and has owned a successful engineering company for 10 years. I look up to him because of his kindness and determination."
As we read about Emily and hear her voice, we cannot help but be impressed by this young girl's attitude and insight into life. By her thoughts, her actions, her mitzvot, it is clear that even at her age, she attempts to integrate the goals and values of the Torah into her personality and to acquire them as her own.

I believe that each generation is redeemed by its special women. That being so, the generation of Jewish women like Emily and Hannah will bring a new message to other Jewish women of how to develop their gift of womanly wisdom to the fullest.