The Jewish concept of tikkun olam refers to performing acts of kindness and charity to help create a more perfect world. Sinai Akiba Academy, a Jewish day school located in Los Angeles on the border of Westwood and Beverly Hills, teaches the concept of tikkun olam to children as an integral part of their curriculum, where students at each grade level engage in acts of gemilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness), and tzedakah (charitable giving).
Current and future students at Sinai Akiba were on the receiving end of an incredible act of loving kindness this week, with the Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Foundation giving what is one of the single largest gifts to an independent ECC, elementary, or middle school in all of Los Angeles and is among the largest donations ever given to a Jewish educational institution.
As Dr. Sarah Shulkind, Head of School, said in April 2015, “There is one overarching challenge that faces Sinai Akiba and the Jewish community as a whole: making sure that our School remains accessible to every Jewish family that wants their children to have a Jewish education.” Alice and Nahum Lainer’s endowment gift answers that challenge. Their gift ensures that more Jewish families have access to the exceptional education Sinai Akiba provides. “This not just a gift today, this is a gift for the future.”
The Lainers’ gift will ensure that Sinai Akiba can substantially invest in growing the school’s faculty, programs, and facilities. The gift is transformative, and will benefit thousands of children for generations to come. But most importantly, the gift is inspirational.
Some of the most successful campaigns ever have succeeded because each gift inspires others to participate. Most notably, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was very public. Besides a fun and frivolous aspect, the Ice Bucket Challenge made the campaign much more interactive, and became viral very quickly as it inspired each participant’s circle of friends to take up the challenge as well.
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This is a gift for children; it is also a gift to inspire.
That inspiration to give may come from a social media network, a silly challenge, or simply by one generous person setting an example for others to follow. When you inspire others, your gift is multiplied many times over.
The Lainers are a truly inspirational couple. They have been important leaders at Sinai Akiba for nearly 50 years. In the founding years in what was then Akiba Academy, Nahum served as the School’s fourth Board Chair and was deeply involved in the business and financial structure of the School. He was also instrumental in hiring the past two Heads of School and he currently serves on the Sinai Temple Board. To this day, Alice and Nahum continue to serve on committees and work tirelessly for Sinai Akiba Academy.
Alice and Nahum Lainer hold Sinai Akiba Academy close to their hearts. It is a place that has served the Los Angeles Jewish community for the past half century, and with more support from the local community, will ensure it continues to be a leader in Jewish education in the future.
It is important to Alice and Nahum Lainer that they inspire others to give. As Alice and Nahum Lainer said, “It is our hope that our gift will inspire others to join us in investing in this remarkable School’s future.”
Give – It Feels Good and it Makes a Difference
Want to really feel the rush? Follow the example set by Alice and Nahum. Of course not everybody can make a gift of this size, it’s the act of giving back to others that matters. What’s even more interesting is that, while benefiting others, the mere act of giving helps the giver in very discernible ways. Stony Brook University noted what researchers called “giver’s glow,” when the chemistry of the brain is actually altered in a positive way, generating “happiness chemicals” such as dopamine and endorphins which trigger a sense of tranquility. Giving of one’s time also has a positive personal effect, with a Carnegie Mellon study showing that those who volunteer four hours per week are less likely to develop high blood pressure.
Gifts like that do more than provide funding for programs. They provide inspiration for all of us to be better people.
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