Legadel: Making Our Kids Great Again It was the charity’s fifth annual event and it came only one night after a massive asifah in the same venue for a similar purpose. Neither of those factors deterredthe North West London kehillah’s charitable passion last Wednesday night once again as many hundreds gathered in admiration of one its most beloved causes – Legadel, for a memorable evening held at Kinloss Suite. With “early intervention” its raison d’être, Legadel offers learning assistance, six kinds of therapy and extra-curricular activities for children who struggle in school. It now operates in 11 schools in North West London and has positively affected hundreds of Yiddishe neshamos and, by extension, their families too. As in previous years, the guests regaled in Reich’s lavish buffet and the soul stirring melodies sung by Shayele Gluck’s delightful voice-only choir. Throughout the evening, Rabbanim, senior askanim and friends took the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets with fantastic prizes, by committing to make a regular contribution to allow our youth to flourish spiritually, emotionally and academically. The chairman of the trustees, the renowned askan Mr Aryeh Melinek welcomed the gathering and thanked all those who made the event the resounding success it was. He paid tribute to the therapists and keyworkers as well as the dedicated office staff members led by service-manager Mrs Sharonie Melavsky and deputy service manager Mrs Danielle Spector. Effusively praising Reb Yoel Schwartz, the founder of Legadel, Mr Melinek described him as one who, “lives, sleeps and dreams Legadel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” The aim of the organisation he said is “to maximise the potential of every child by supporting chinuch in order to counteract problems”. The chairman reiterated what is unfortunately often only realised in hindsight, that “early intervention is the cure for so many issues that become bigger issues”. The Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Reuben Thompstone whom the chairman described as a “a true friend and supporter of Legadel” was then called upon to address the audience. Describing his close relationship with Legadel since its start, the mayor said how delighted he was to attend and support the “tireless efforts to tear down the barriers to learning” and to give every opportunity to help people grow. When the time came for the highlight of the evening the audience soaked in the important messages contained in the keynote address by world-renowned ba’al eitzah and lecturer, Rabbi Shais Taub. For close to an hour, the guest speaker took the crowd on a virtual journey across the Jewish world and throughout our glorious history, emphasising the crucial point that in every relationship it is not tolerance that is desired, rather it is interdependency – the need to feel needed. In relation to children, this starts by recognising that every child can succeed with the unique traits Hashem has given them to perform their mission in this world. “Every child can excel in something – every child is the Gadol Hador in their mission” he insisted. Rav Taub inimitably demonstrated this with stories of Gedolei Yisrael from Shaarei Chesed to Lakewood, “770” to Bnei Brak, all of whom used creative ways to ensure that people from all parts of the religious and social spectrum were made to feel that they have an exclusive purpose. “Every child can achieve excellence if we judge them by their own criteria”. Too often, Rabbi Taub said, we try to “sell” Yiddishkeit with its many benefits to our children to encourage them to adhere to it. He suggested that we reverse this message and should emphasise what we can do for Yiddishkeit and to bring light to the world at large. The tragedy of a child leaving the fold, R”l, is not only that they’ve lost out on Torah and Yiddishkeit. “We are not losing our kids to the world – we are causing our world to lose the kids.” His final message drew upon lessons from Chazal regarding our matriarch Leah, “Stop breeding shame in our children for being special and start cherishing every child by recognising that they are Hashem’s only one”. The mission of Legadel was so aptly summarised by the event chairman Mr Eli Sternlicht, who described the painful niche that existed before the founding of Legadel and explained that the two chinuch-related events held one night apart both focused on pressing needs: the asifah for the chinuch of the tzibbur and Legadel caring for each individual child. As an example of the great progress that Legadel has made in the past year alone, it was publicised at the event that music lessons will now be offered to any child who is need of that outlet. This is alongside the various means of professional help that is offered to hundreds of children in need, all in fulfilment of Legadel’s holy motto that, “No child will be left behind”.