Posted on:  January 18 2018

Research has shown that we humans are wired in a wonderful way. When we are involved in acts of kindness we get even more in terms of how we see ourselves, feel about ourselves, and the joy we receive from doing for others.

This year, the Rosenfeld Foundation Program in Jewish Education at the University of Miami will focus on several new initiatives to guide our children/students to recognize that they don’t need a “super power” to make a difference, but with the courage to care, they too can be “super.”

This is the year that we not only imagine a world without prejudice and hate, but become involved in ways in which we can bring people together in mutual understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of one another.

So, welcome to the first installment of our monthly blog series: “Creating a Culture of Kindness”

Each month, we will be collecting and curating a resource roundup to focus on issues dealing with kindness, empathy, social justice, anti-bullying, friendship, and peace framed in the context of Jewish learning, topical issues, and current events. Each resource collection will include various resources to encourage conversations that will support our youth and our community to imagine and implement ways in which each can become a hero of hope and change. Kindness can become a way of life. 

In February our blog will focus on the roles of generosity and giving as we work towards a kinder world, connecting these values to our celebration of Purim. In March we will explore how we can find and explore kindness in the context of our Passover learning.

January 2018—The Great Kindness Challenge

To kick off our new initiative, we would like to suggest you participate in the Great Kindness Challenge in ways that resonate with you and your community, using the resource kits available: family edition or school edition. The following description from their website provides an overview of how the project started, its rational and successes: family edition or school edition

About the project:

The Great Kindness Challenge is proudly presented by Kids for Peace, a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Kids for Peace was co-founded in 2006 by Danielle Gram, a high school honors student and Jill McManigal, a mother and former elementary school teacher. What started organically as a neighborhood group of kids wanting to make our world a better place, has grown into an interconnected network of young peacebuilders worldwide.

In 2011, the elementary school that Jill’s children attended asked Kids for Peace to help create a more positive, unified and respectful school environment. As a result, The Great Kindness Challenge was designed and piloted with three Carlsbad, California schools. Because of our innovative approach and wildly successful results, word spread, and a kindness movement was born!

At the heart of The Great Kindness Challenge is the simple belief that kindness is strength. We also believe that as an action is repeated, a habit is formed. With the Great Kindness Challenge checklist in hand, students have the opportunity to repeat kind act after kind act. As kindness becomes a habit, peace becomes possible.

The Great Kindness Challenge is a grassroots movement that is making our schools, communities, and world a kinder and more compassionate place for all. Working together, we joyfully prove that KINDNESS MATTERS!

Team Kindness
Our team is joyful, tenacious, committed and kind. In true grassroots fashion, our big-hearted team consists of mostly volunteers who work passionately around Jill’s dining room table. We have one simple goal: to create a culture of kindness for all.

As you start to explore the site and practice kindness is new and more conscious ways, consider raising your knowledge about what Jewish text and tradition can teach us about how and why we should be working every day to live a life that models and teaches kindness. Visit our Act with Loving Kindness Resource Page for a complete collection of resources.

What follows are a few of our favorite videos that will bring awareness to the ways in which acts of kindness can affect and even transform lives.

For grown-ups:




To share with kids:







We look forward to learning and growing together on a mission to increase the kindness is our world.

Please share ideas, requests or questions about ways you foster a culture of kindness to [email protected].
Hopefully,
Anita and Emily