David Harris
How You Help: Meet Bryce: Jewishly Included and Fiercely Loved
I was on the community mission this summer and although I did not know them, I saw Bryce with his dad several times—in Netanya, Tsfat, and Jerusalem. I remember thinking how sweet and special their bond was. While we as a Jewish community have grown in our acceptance and understanding of people who are different learners, and our inclusion programming has grown, we need to put even more resources here. Advocates like the ones Bryce has to help him succeed are essential and costly. We have to be prepared to help. —Suzette Fisher, Past President, Jewish Federation Board
An Excluded Father and an Included Son
“What I love about my son is that he’s more like my twin than my son. We have a lot of similar challenges,” says Zach Green, entrepreneur and CEO of award-winning startup MN8, and father of almost-13-year-old Bryce. He’s sitting next to his wife Jennifer at the family’s home in Wyoming, with Bryce downstairs playing games.
What challenges? “Bryce is a smart kid,” says Jennifer, “But he struggles with writing, he struggles with articulating himself in words that other people find easy to use, he struggles with homework that is easy for other kids—and yet he can think outside the box and do whatever he wants.”
“They call it ADHD, but when you get out of school they actually call it multitasking and it becomes this great thing,” says Zach. “But the problem is when you are in school it’s very difficult to stay focused and stay on task, and that’s a challenge that Bryce has.”
Zach’s relationship with Judaism had been fraught due to the same challenges Bryce inherited. He felt excluded: “When I was going through religious school I spent a lot of time in trouble and I didn’t get a chance to really get a positive experience from my bar mitzvah. And as a result in high school I wasn’t that engaged with my faith.”
Both parents feel strongly about the importance of raising their son as part of the Jewish community. They took Bryce on the Cincinnati Congregation & Community Israel Mission trip last summer, and are members of Isaac M. Wise Temple. But they didn’t want a repeat of Zach’s difficult experience.
Why Inclusion is Vital: Camp at the J
With funding in part from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and the Milton and Frances Schloss Special Needs and Services Department, the Mayerson JCC’s inclusion programs have changed the world for kids like Bryce.
Bryce has gone to Camp at the J, including the school break camps, since 2010, and has had an advocate there to help him since 2014.
“Bryce loves the JCC camp,” says his mom. “But Bryce has a hard time staying focused. And the JCC’s advocate, Collin, has given him the opportunity to be able to interact with the other kids, he can swim with the other kids. And when he decides to go off on a tangent, his advocate allows him to stay safe.”
“Collin is cool, funny, a good friend, and has a cool phone,” says Bryce. “He helps me with everything, just about—if I need help, he’ll help me. And he swims with me at camp, all the time.”
Bryce mentions a Camp at the J trip where campers stock shelves and help out at the Heldman Family Food Pantry at Jewish Family Service Barbash Family Vital Support Center in Clifton, saying, “I always like helping out at the [Heldman Family] food pantry, ’cause that’s me, I like helping people.”
“Collin and Bryce have a special bond,” says Jennifer. “Collin is just the right amount of strict that keeps Bryce on task and keeps him in tune with the other kids. And yet there is a gentle, loving side to Collin that gives Bryce such self-confidence and reassurance.”
Bryce was awarded Camper of the Week last summer for helping another camper with challenges. “He asks to come back year after year,” she says, nodding for emphasis.
Serving Help and Bagels at Wise Temple
Bryce also has an advocate, Matthew, who attended religious school at Wise Temple with him. The school is academically oriented with many goals, and mandatory for preparation for the bar and bat mitzvah. Before he had an advocate, says Jennifer, “Bryce had a really challenging time and didn’t get a lot out of that classroom experience. But now with his advocate, who really understands Bryce, Bryce has the opportunity to have a great Jewish experience.”
Bryce has a different take on the biggest perk of Matthew’s friendship: “Usually when I’m only allowed to have one bagel at Bagel Break, he allows me to go to the office and have another.” He grins.
Zach returns to the question of religion. “Bryce doesn’t have that problem [of exclusion] because Bryce has an advocate, because Bryce is part of the community. Instead of being thrown out of the class or disciplined, Bryce is now being redirected and he’s able to still be engaged. As a result of that I feel his experience with Judaism is so much richer.”
“Now, as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten a chance to reconnect with my faith and it’s been a real blessing,” Zach comments. “But Bryce is never going to have to go through that up and down that I went through, and it’s because of the Jewish Federation giving the resources to allow that extra help that Bryce and people like myself need to have a wonderful experience.”
“The advocate program that has been such a gift to our family has given Bryce the opportunity to spread his wings and soar,” Jennifer concludes.
A Joyful Bar Mitzvah for the Entire Community
It can’t hurt that Bryce is so fiercely loved. It’s clear in everything they do that Zach and Jennifer love their son and want to make the world a welcoming place for him.
“What I love about Bryce,” says Zach, “is the ability for him to be really in tune to other people’s emotions and feelings. He really has almost a sixth sense.” Jennifer agrees, and adds, “Bryce is an extraordinary individual and I am so proud to be his mom.”
How about the bar mitzvah itself? “The bar mitzvah for Bryce is a huge deal,” said Jennifer. “Because of the positive Jewish experience that he’s getting from all angles, he really wanted this. Through everybody embracing him for who he is, and being able to let him take his path to make his bar mitzvah successful. He learned Hebrew. I am so proud of that kid—he deserves it, he’s earned it.”
Bryce’s take? “What I am looking forward to most about the bar mitzvah is the party! How can you not like parties?” He acknowledged that he was proud of reading from the Torah because “it’s what all our ancestors read out of. I’m proud of reading the Torah, but I more like parties.”
He grins again. “I’m just like my dad, but crazier.”
The Mayerson JCC and the Heldman Family Food Pantry are two of over fifty programs and agencies funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. The Jewish Federation secured the endowment for the JCC’s Milton & Frances Schloss Special Need & Services Department and allocates funds to support inclusion at the JCC. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati secured the endowment for the Heldman Family Food Pantry, part of the Jewish Family Service Barbash Family Vital Support Center, and allocates additional funding to support Barbash and the food pantry. The Federation also funds the JCC’s inclusion programs through supplemental fundraising. Through the SEED program, the Federation helps fund religious education across our community.
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati: We look at the whole picture, taking into account the diverse needs of the entire community. Together we can do almost anything.
Thanks to you and the help of our partner agencies, Bryce is living a richer, fuller Jewish life.
