Dear Yiddish Farm Supporters,
Summer is around the corner and we are happy to say that we have received dozens of applications to our various programs, including our premier 6-week immersion course. Unfortunately, we have already turned away more than 10 students, not because they weren’t serious, committed, individuals, but simply because they could not afford to pay.
In fact, we have had to turn away so many people this year that we have decided to dedicate our latest fundraiser to the creation of a scholarship fund. With the proper funding, we will never have to turn away another student for lack of funds. For many of our students and potential students, Yiddish was something forcibly removed from their family, together with the way of life their grandparents and great grandparents led in Europe.
Seeking to reconnect, I can’t but be reminded of the line from Eicha, the book of Lamentations: “We pay to drink our own water, and obtain our own firewood for a price,” paying for something that was at one time a simple inheritance. It is all the more humiliating when a student not only must pay for his or her inheritance, but can’t even afford to pay for it, and thus will remain cut off from both their past and potential future.
Yet, education does come at a cost. Yiddish Farm cannot give away free Yiddish classes. It takes money to keep our doors open, and to pay our teachers and our bills. Yiddish Farm does not have an endowment or existing scholarship fund. If we want toexpand our reach and keep our doors open for all who want to come and learn we will need your help.
In the world of Jewish education and programming, so many organizations benefit from scholarship funds and endowments, that it has become an expectation among our many applicants that we have one.
In the past, we dipped into our own scarce resources to award interested students scholarships despite the fact that we truly couldn’t afford to do so. Our intentions were good: fulfilling our mission is important to us; however, the means were unsustainable.
Please click the link, share our appeal and our video. Your donation will help bring eager students to the farm this summer and in summers to come. You can make a big difference in their lives.
Sincerely,
Yisroel Bass
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