Making a difference

LIEL Rapke is starting his philanthropy journey early. As a young member of the community, Liel wanted to give back, not only with a donation of “chai” from his bar mitzvah, but he also wanted to volunteer his time.

Rapke took the opportunity to see where some of the funds donated to JCA make a difference. He volunteered at JewishCare’s Our Kitchen Hand/JDay program and spent time helping participants as well as staff members running the program with set-up and implementation. This also helped him understand the challenges of people living with a disability and the opportunity to build relationships.

His dad, Tal, said that he hoped that his son’s generosity would spark a movement among other young bar/bat mitzvah children to do the same. He said that together with his son, they would be encouraging this message (give chai) amongst his peers, friends and family.

JCA CEO Alain Hasson expressed his gratitude to Rapke and his family.

“Liel’s generosity should be inspiring to people of all ages in our community and beyond to support our local Jewish community and the organisations that provide programs and services. Liel’s donation is testament to the fact that tzedakah can start at a young age and is alive and well, and starts in the home. Thank you again.”