B’nai Tzedek is enrolling new participants for the teen philanthropy program, which aims empowers teens to improve the world by launching them on a personal and engaged relationship to life-long Jewish giving. 

B’nai Tzedek will hold an introductory program, B’nai Tzedek — The Choices Are Yours! From 2:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 11 at the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive. RSVPs requested (see contact information below). Participants of the B’nai Tzedek program will talk about what is important to them when they choose the charities they allocate their money to from their philanthropic foundations.

Participants typically enter B’nai Tzedek during the year of their bar/bat mitzvah, although it is not unusual for them to enter the year before or within a few years after. Each teen starts with a $200 contribution to their fund.  The Kranzberg Family Foundation contributes an additional $300 to achieve an opening balance of $500.  Each year the teens allocate 5 percent of their fund to the Jewish charity of their choice.  The lessons of giving and the philanthropy continue every year until they are at least 25 years old.

The program works to cultivate the next generation of leadership for our congregations and community agencies and empowers Jewish teens to change the world through Jewish philanthropy.

Applications can be found at most congregations or www.cajestl.org.   For more information or to RSVP for the March 11 event, contact B’nai Tzedek Director Beth Koritz at 314-442-3776 or [email protected].

B’nai Tzedek is funded by a grant from the Kranzberg Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis.