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Through this rewarding experience, students learn first-hand about helping visually impaired Israelis gain independence, mobility and freedom through guide dog partnership. It’s typically a two-year program, during which time the student raises $500 to go towards food and care for the future guide dog. The money is typically raised through baby sitting, working odd jobs, doing chores around the house and asking relatives for donations. If in the end they haven’t reached their goal, they may choose to apply a portion of their gifts to reach the goal. In the process, the students develop a meaningful tie with Israel. Guide dogs are becoming a more familiar sight in cities and towns throughout Israel thanks to the efforts of The Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. The dogs move alertly through sidewalk traffic, guide their owners to work, to the bank, to the market—even for a walk on the beach. They squeeze into revolving doors without complaint, walk around obstacles at street corners and are virtually invisible as they lay beneath restaurant tables, waiting for their next command. They even warn their human partners about cutout curbs that are so helpful for wheelchairs but so lethal for the blind, who count on curbs as street alarms. The guide dog process begins with a new litter of puppies who stay with their mother for 2 months and are then placed in the homes of puppy-raising families where they learn socialization and other skills to help assure that they will be acceptable for guide dog training. The goal of these foster families is to lavish love and teach the puppies how to learn. They romp and play and sleep by the bed. They learn right from left and right from wrong. No begging at the table, no sleeping on couches and no chasing cats. These dogs must learn discipline, but also lead happy, active lives. It all looks easy, but getting there takes a lot of work and training. It involves hundreds of miles of walking, a lot of perseverance, a ton of patience, a dose of fear and even a few tears, but the puppy-raisers say it’s all worth it. When guide dog owner Moti Barzilai was asked how his dog changed his life, he commented that his Chocolate Lab guide dog, Charlie, did more than change his life, “he revolutionized it”. Moti travels by bus from Zefat to the guide dog center in Beit Oved, making one change at the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. Of the three methods of mobility—a human guide, a long cane and a guide dog—guide dog users like Moti agree: guide dogs enable them to achieve a whole new level of empowerment. As Puppy Sponsors, students learn about the vital relationship between a guide dog and a blind Israeli. Everything from companionship to the new-found active and independent lifestyle made possible through the pairing. Then, at the end of their Bar and Bat Mitzvah studies, the student sponsors share their project experiences with their congregation, explaining how they have grown through this process and what they have learned about assisting the Jewish community. It’s quite a rewarding and emotional project for all involved, as well as a wonderful introduction for these young adults to feel a part of the Jewish community both at home and in the State of Israel. The Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind is in Beit Oved, just a twenty-minute drive south of Tel Aviv near Rehovot. For further information about this Mitzvah Project, call 267-927-0205, E-mail igdcb@nni.com, visit their website: www.israelguidedog.org or write to Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, 732 S. Settlers Circle, Warrington, PA 18976.
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