Scarsdale Synagogue Launches Bone Marrow Registration Drive

Based on the concept of "We Care 'Cause You Care," Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El, s launching agrass-roots social action program.The first activity is focused on an initiative spearheaded by several of its members to encourage fellow congregants and the wider Scarsdale community to register as possible bone marrow donors. Bone marrow and blood from matching donors are used as a treatment for leukemia and other life-threatening blood diseases.

The Synagogue's initiative is being conducted in cooperation with the Gift of Life Foundation, a leading bone marrow and blood stem cell donor registry. Gift of Life has also partnered with the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) to run bone marrow recruitment drives. The drive is scheduled in connection with Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) observances. On that Friday, October 3rd, and Saturday, October 4th, people who volunteered for the bone marrow registry will be asked to provide a tissue sample that will be easily and painlessly obtained by simply touching a sterile cotton swab to the inside of the person's cheek. Potential donors must be between the ages of 18-60 and in general good health. The bone marrow drive's slogan is: "Swab a Cheek, Inscribed for Life."

DNA information from that sample will then be preserved in the Gift of Life bone marrow registry. A registrant whose DNA matches a patient's need can then be asked to make the donation of either marrow or blood, with the decision to do so being completely voluntary.

Scarsdale Synagogue's grass-roots program is designed to enable members, who feel passionately about a worthy cause not yet embraced by the Congregation, to find and connect with other members with a similar interest. This group of committed individuals will then be better able to pool their energies, and gain the active support of the Synagogue, to pursue the Jewish ideal of tikkun olam (repairing the world).

"Our members already engage in a variety of charitable and similar activities we support," said Jeffrey C. Brown, Scarsdale Synagogue's Senior Rabbi. "These include a food bank addressing hunger in Westchester and the North Bronx, along with our Mitzvah Day outreach program that this November will benefit the Westchester Diaper Drive, Midnight Run and many others. The cool thing about the grass-roots program is how it enables our families to more readily find like-minded fellow congregants to enhance individual efforts on behalf of other worthy causes, with the scale and impact that group activities can bring to bear."

Commenting on behalf of the membership, Synagogue President Donna Vitale Ruskin said: "With the support we get from our clergy and including selected resources available from our broad-based funds reserved for tzedakah (charitable giving), our congregants will be better able to help others through activities supported by the Synagogue. We expect that this new approach will further engage our community, as we continue to reach out and live our ideals through supporting both Jewish and secular humanitarian causes."

About Scarsdale Synagogue
Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish congregation committed to creating, with and for its 450 member families, a covenant community of shared lives and real relationships. Founded in 1961, the Synagogue was joined by the memberships of Tremont Temple of the Bronx in 1976 and Temple Emanu-El of Southern Westchester in 2008. For further information, contact: Roberta Aronovitch, Executive Director at (914) 725-5175 or by email at roberta@sstte.org.