February 2024

Community Meet & Greet with Denver DA Candidate

This month, Agudah of Colorado held a Meet & Greet for the community with Leora Joseph, one of the Denver District Attorney candidates up for election in June. Hosted at the Katz residence, a crowd of interested community members attended to engage with Leora.

The District Attorney oversees law enforcement and criminal action throughout the city, issues that greatly affect and concern the Jewish community. Strengthening the relationship between candidates for influential positions and the local Jewish community is a key element of having a voice in government.

Mrs. Aliza Bulow, founding Director of CORE and acclaimed speaker, appreciated meeting Leora. "When you speak to a candidate in person," she says, "the breadth of their experience, their passion for their work, and their integrity are so much more palpable than when reading a brochure, seeing a video, or even talking with someone who knows them."

School Choice Advocacy: Meeting with Colorado Senate Minority Leader Lundeen and Senator Kirkmeyer

In a direct follow-up to last month's School Choice Awareness Event at the Colorado Capitol, Agudah met with Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen along with Mr. Mordechai Hoffman, Executive Director of Hillel Academy of Denver. At the meeting, Senator Lundeen expressed his strong support for School Choice and committed to working with the community to further School Choice and other important issues.

That same day, a hearing took place in the Senate Education Committee to address HB24-122, the proposed Empowerment Scholarship Accounts bill for students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or other specific educational needs, to use in private schools. In other words, if this bill passed, students with an IEP would have vouchers for private school tuition. At the hearing, Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, who sponsored the bill, spoke powerfully about the massive impact such a bill would have on IEP students. A spirited debate followed her speech, and ultimately the bill fell through with a close vote of 4-3. Agudah of Colorado director Rabbi Yossi Kaplan had the opportunity to thank Senator Kirkmeyer in person for her efforts. "Although the bill didn't pass," says Rabbi Kaplan, "this was another step in the right direction towards granting Colorado parents the right to choose the educational environment best suited for their kids."

Agudah of Colorado commends Senator Kirkmeyer and Senator Lundeen for their efforts on behalf of Colorado's parents and children. Agudah continues to work closely with legislators and partners toward the goal of school choice and better education options in Colorado.

Rabbi Kaplan and Mr. Hoffman with Senator Lundeen

Voting Centers in Shul Increase Engagement Across Denver

During the weeks leading up to the March 5th Presidential Primary Election, Agudah of Colorado has been working to expand its voter engagement campaign across the community. For the first time, Voting Centers were scheduled in three different shuls to increase awareness and interest in the upcoming election.

At the Voting Centers, community members were invited to register to vote on the spot, bring their ballot and vote, drop off their ballot to be taken to a nearby ballot drop-box, or to learn more about the election and voting in general.

The first Voting Center took place at Ohr Avner, followed the next day by a Voting Center at the West Side Kollel. This coming Sunday, March 3rd, the final Voting Center will be held at Aish of the Rockies between Mincha and Maariv.

Voting Center at Ohr Avner

Voting Center at Denver Community Kollel

Caring-for-the-Klal Education Series in Yeshiva Toras Chaim

In a series of classes for the bochurim at Yeshiva Toras Chaim, Rabbi Yossi Kaplan, Director of Agudah of Colorado, spoke to the boys about working on behalf of the klal. They discussed how one person can only achieve so much by themselves, but by working together, a group has endless potential. The idea of Agudah, which means a group, is that when multiple individuals in the community come together to work as one group, utilizing multiple talents and resources under one banner and one address, exponentially more can be accomplished in the realm of community building and askanus.

During the class, Rabbi Kaplan shared personal anecdotes about relationships formed through Agudah's Get Out The Vote efforts to highlight the importance of voting and having a voice in government; that elected officials look at which communities are voting and choose to listen to the ones that vote most regularly. In an engaging and interactive discussion across multiple days and four grades which included questions and answers, the bochurim left the classes with a new appreciation and perspective on working for the klal.

Denver Pirchei NIBS Prizewinners Announced

Agudas Yisroel’s Colorado office is thrilled to announce the winners of the Pirchei NIBS program.

NIBS is a learning program that incentivizes boys in grades 3-8 to learn during their spare time and school vacation. Boys who participated last year logged their time spent learning and received points, which were exchanged for prizes.

Fourteen boys chose to spend their out-of-school time learning Mishnayos or Gemara, time they could have spent playing ball or enjoying their vacations. Their hasmadah awarded them the opportunity to choose from a variety of amazing prizes, such as scooters, sports equipment, games, toys, or a cash incentive.

Pirchei of Denver wishes a special yasher koach to the eight boys who learned 25 blatt of Gemara over just two weeks of vacation! Pirchei would also like to thank our generous donors, who made the NIBS program possible.

"NIBS sparks a genuine excitement for learning among the boys, creating an amazing and positive atmosphere and energy towards learning,” says Rabbi Yosef Melamed, Director of Pirchei Denver. “The boys deserve a lot of credit for taking the program seriously and coming together to encourage each other. Aside from the program itself, its participants brought a real sense of achdus and added hasmadah which ultimately resulted in a big kiddush Hashem."

Congratulations to the winners of the NIBS program!

This month, three more local businesses joined the LinkedUp network, bringing the total of current businesses to twenty-six.

Stay tuned for upcoming events!

Election Updates

On March 5th, Colorado is joining fifteen other states in holding the Primary Presidential Election, when voters choose which presidential candidates will be ultimately running for president in November.

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