The serious logistics behind the happy dancing of Purim collectors
It’s an iconic Purim scene in frum communities all over: happy teenaged bochurim, sporting eye-catching costumes and hoisting speakers blaring lively music, merrily dance their way into local houses to collect funds for a worthy cause. While it may seem spontaneous fun, there’s serious logistical work that takes place in the weeks before Purim. Brooklyn-based Aaron Schilit, who has been involved in managing the back end of Keren Yitzchok Tzvi’s collector crews since high school, shares how he ensures a smooth operation — and that no boy gets stumped when a well-meaning philanthropist asks for a devar Torah.
Thirty-eight years ago, Rav Avraham Pam ztz”l, rosh yeshivah of Torah Vodaath, founded Keren Yitzchok Tzvi — or as we refer to it, “KYT” — l’ilui nishmas Yitzchok Tzvi Perlman a”h, a talmid of the yeshivah who was niftar at a young age. Rav Pam encouraged talmidim of the yeshivah to go around on Purim and collect for KYT. The money was designated for kiruv-related projects, and every year, a different kiruv institution would be the beneficiary of the funds raised.
One year the funds went toward the renovation of a beis medrash in a kiruv school in Ashkelon, another year it was an elementary school classroom in Hadera. Many of the schools receiving our funds have memorialized our contributions with a plaque recognizing the “KYT Purim Campaign.” One plaque even lists the names of the bochurim who were in the group that brought in the highest total from that year’s campaign.
When the bochurim knew they had a specific project they were aiming to cover, and that the money they raised wasn’t just getting absorbed into an operating budget somewhere, it really motivated them, because they knew every dollar was going toward actualizing something specific.
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