“How long are we going to stay?” asked Sari.  “Till we win,” replied her father.

by Pamela Deutsch

Sari was born and raised in Brooklyn, attending an all girls yeshiva through 8^th grade, followed by attending the first Solomon Schecter High School ever established.  Her father was a lithograph operator, who was very active in the union and her mother taught in NYC public schools.  Sari’s father was an activist; active in the protest movement and in the civil rights movement.  Once of Sari’s earliest memories is attending regular Friday protests at a local ballpark where they would not allow Afro- American ball players to participate in the game.  Sari would always ask, “How long are we going to stay?”  To which her father would reply, “Till we win.”

It is this kind of devotion to a cause that has driven Sari for the rest of her life.  After 10^th grade, Sari attended camp Ramah in the Berkshires and while there volunteered at a hospital for the mentally ill – it was after that experience she decided to study social work.   The elementary school Sari had attended was very Zionist; it felt that it was the role of the school to instill the Zionist dream in each of its students. As a young child, Sari often dreamed that there was bridge leading right from Brooklyn to Jerusalem.  As a graduation present from 8^th grade in 1968, her parents’ gift was a trip to Israel. This was a very big deal for her family and Sari and her parents (her two older brothers did not accompany them) saw Israel in its most glorified moments. All Sari wanted to do was comeback to Israel.  After 11^th grade, she spent summer on kibbutz and did not want to come home.  Her parents promised her that if she came home and finished high school, they would send her back to Israel for college.  However, Sari’s college experience in Israel did not turn out as expected.  At the time, there was a rule that you had to be 22 in order to study social work, so after a year studying English, Sari returned to the states.  In 1976, she came back to volunteer on a kibbutz , and ended up  practicing her novice skills in psychology  with a kibbutz member suffering  from PTS from the Yom Kippur war.  The intensity of that visit made her believe she had had enough of Israel.

Sari chose to study social work and psychology at UMBC Baltimore County.  Her field placement was in a community mental health clinic in south Baltimore where she worked as a clinical social worker, providing psychotherapy for anxiety and depression.  Through her work, it became clear to her that underlying these conditions was the urban removal/renewal that was going on in south Baltimore in order to build the new Orioles stadium.  These were not personal issues, but rather community issues, and their impact had Sari turning her career towards community organizing and attaining a masters from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.  This time her field placement was at the Baltimore Welfare Rights Organization, where she was mentored by Bob Cheeks, a seasoned civil rights leader in the Baltimore/DC area, and whose picture Sari still has on her office wall.  Sari continued to work at this organization for a number of years after graduation, organizing the first rent strike in public housing and training welfare mothers to represent themselves in appeals  processes

It was during graduate school that Sari met her ex-husband, who, from the beginning was very clear that after graduate school he really wanted to move to Israel.   When they decided to marry, they made a deal; they would spend – 2-5 years in the US, followed by 2-5 years in Israel, and then would decide where to live.

They moved to Israel in 1983; first to kibbutz, and a year later to Jerusalem.  At that point, having only been in the country for a year, but with tremendous experience in grass roots organization, Sari was hired by the New Israel Fund to begin Shatil – Capacity Building for Social Change organizations.  Sari was the CEO of Shatil for fourteen years.  During that time, the organization was able to seed a strong nonprofit sector, ensuring that activists understood that there are professional needs in running nonprofit organizations, and that skills need to be acquired in order to run these organizations. Shatil offered opportunities for those who needed to acquire these skills working both by skill and by sector.

By 1997, Sari was ready to take her experience and skills to a new level.  Most of the Jewish Israeli organizations Shatil was working with were from major cities, and Sari felt that those living in the periphery were lacked the ability to take their life into their own hands.  Yedid was founded in order to empower people living in the periphery and to help low income people understand what is in their  interest and have the ability to apply that interest when they vote or when they put their support  by behind a particular group or particular people – to get people civically involved.

Today, fourteen year later, Yedid’s mandate is threefold:

One, to this day people do not understand how to access their rights vis a vis, the government, municipality and as consumers.   Often, people give up because of the difficulties in pursuing their rights and this is where Yedid is there to assist them.  Two, there is a growing phenomena of increasing individual /family debt in Israel; debt that begins at a young age.  Cell phone bills that run up while young people serve in the army, easy access to lines of credit through credit cards , increasing number of young people taking upon themselves their parents debt – co-signing on loans, parents putting liabilities in their children name, etc.  Many of these people lack economic literacy, have few budget management skills, and are either unemployed or underemployed.  Yedid often sees young people who because of economic distress lose their ability and motivation to cope.  Along these same lines are women who drop out of the workforce when they raise children, and then not only have to deal with the loss of income, but find it difficult to re-enter the work force.  For these populations, Yedid provides assistance in terms of both empowerment and skills for re-entering the job force, in budget management and much more.  The third area were Yedid is active is in Housing.  Yedid focuses on  economic empowerment for those in public housing and those who want public housing.  For those who are unable to pay their mortgages due to sickness or other catastrophe, Yedid provides budgeting skills and negotiates with the bank and for those with no other choice, assists them to come to the realization that if they need to sell they should do it rather than let the bank repossess their property.  Furthermore, on a policy level, Yedid addresses the lack of available affordable housing and works towards instituting reforms that address issues such as what the banks and financial institutions can demand from those whose homes they repossess.

Yedid, which began with one branch in Haifa, today has 16 branches spread throughout the country from Safed/Hatzor in the north to Rahat in the south.  Two of these branches are located in Arab communities – Rahat and Nazareth.  Each center is staffed by volunteers and a paid director who supervises and trains the volunteers.  Volunteers are a mix of ex-clients, professionals – lawyers, accountants, hi tech professionals, social workers, social work and law students, and students on scholarship that require community service. The centers work on three levels – individual assistance,   policy change, a unique response to issues raised by the client base, which includes developing legislation, lobbying and empowering activists, and community based projects – economic empowerment, financial literacy for high school students and adults, helping women rejoin the work force and more.

Yedid’s Legal department is directly involved in cases that determine people’s fate.  For example, the employment practices of temporary employment agencies and their  affects on workers’ pension and severance pay, and a class action for home health care workers, mostly women who are afraid to come forth because they fear losing their jobs.  In the latter, Yedid is the plaintiff being represented by a private lawyer against the nonprofits and for profits which employ the health care workers.  These workers are not compensated for their travel time between clients, yet are expected to travel between multiple clients each day.  Ultimately,  Bituach Leumi (the National Insurance Institute) is responsible for this lack of pay.

Needless to say, Sari’s life is kept very busy, supervising the operation of this organization and ensuring continued funding.  Sari lives in Jerusalem and has two sons.  The oldest, 24 is finishing a degree in Business Management, and the younger is in 12^th grade at the Jerusalem Democratic School.

“For me, receiving the 2011 award for Contribution to the Community at the Sderot Conference for Community service was completing the circle.”

By Pamela Deutsch

Born in 1975, Daniel lived in Jerusalem through 8^th grade, and then moved with his family to Shdemot Meholah in the Jordan Valley.  Daniel attended high school at Hispin on the Golan Heights.

Following graduation, Daniel participated in the inaugural class of the Integrated Army Program sponsored by the Kibbutz Hadatai Movement.  Daniel spent 8 months at Yeshivat Ma’ale Hagilboa followed by a year in half  in army intelligence, a second 8 months at the Yeshiva and then served as a tutor at the Or Etzion Military Academy located at Mercaz Shapira for another year and a half.

Having completed his army service, Daniel spent a year traveling in the Far East, Europe, and Egypt.

In 2000, Daniel began studying film at Sapir College in Sderot.  He completed his BA with high grades and even gave the student address at graduation.   During his college years, Daniel won a competition in still photography,  and volunteered for Ma’apach – a Jewish Arab student organization  which works towards reducing the economic, educational and social gaps of underprivileged populations.

Daniel lived in Sderot itself, and made many friends in the community.  During his last year of studies, Daniel began working in the Sderot community computer center, with at risk youth.  The program he developed and initiated built upon skills that the youth already had and involved the youth teaching computers to a range of population groups; children who needed help with their homework, adults who needed to be able to use computers for their work, and even the elderly.  The highlight of this project was that the youth taught computer skills to their teachers, to Alon Schuster who was then head of the Sha’ar Hangeev Regional Council and to the local director of Project Renewal – who quickly realized that the youth were excellent at building him the PowerPoint presentations he needed for his work.

In 2003, Daniel began to study for a Masters Degree in Culture at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and began working as a research assistant for Dan Porat, an education professor, on the topic of creating national memory.  It was during this time that Daniel met Astorre Modena, a Jewish Italian venture capitalist, who lives in Israel.

Astorre was very interested in finding a way to contribute to the community.  Astorre who was living in the Arnona neighborhood, was very well aware that those living across from him in Talpiot, were far less well off.  Upon hearing about the work Daniel had been doing in Sderot, Astorre was immediately enthusiastic about founding a similar program in Jerusalem.

Machsava Tova was founded in 2004 in the Talpiot neighborhood in Jerusalem.  It began as one center, and ran mostly programs for youth at risk.  The demand for activities by children of other ages grew quickly; they were literally banging on the door.  Beginning with small groups of children Machshav Tova  worked to find appropriate content for younger children and the youth who were already involved became tutors for these children.  The demand continued to grow with parents also wanting to learn more about computer use, in order to improve their ability to find work or advance in their current positions.

Today Machshava Tova has five centers in west Jerusalem, three centers in East Jerusalem, one in Lod, and are in the process of developing two new centers one in the north in Afula and one in the south, most likely in Beersheva.

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In 2007, Machshava Tova initiated the first MCU – a mobile computer unit, which brings equipment and teachers to kindergartens, community centers, schools and other facilities and provides computer training to populations that would otherwise not have this opportunity.    For example, the three MCUs work in Charedi communities, reach out to the disabled and provide opportunities for job seekers at job fairs to prepare and submit resumes on the spot.

In addition, Machshava Tova runs an exciting recycling project.  Initiated by Daniel and Astorre, the program takes used computers and computing components and recycles them, and then donates them to underprivileged populations; individuals, organizations or students.  All of the work on the computers is performed by youth at risk and IT volunteers, who rebuild the computers and load them with software.  Machshava Tova is the only Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher in the country.

Daniel has grown the organization for one person to 60 and now has both managerial and administrative assistance.  Furthermore, he has put together a range of partners who include municipalities, government agencies, businesses, foundation, private donors and fee for service clients.

Daniel is a permanent member of the Knesset Committee for Science and participated in the Ministry of Finance Committee for Reducing the Digital Divide.

Daniel loves to hike, is still a photographer, and spends much of his free time with his family and in his carpentry workshop.  He built a deck and pergola for his new home, a composter, and is now in the middle of planning bookshelves and media center for his living room.  His newest interest is in being a mentor for new social entrepreneurs; already he has worked on a project for social entrepreneurs at the Ein Gedi Pre-Army Mechina, and participated in ROI.

Machashava Tova was recently awarded the 2011 award for Contribution to the Community at the Sderot Conference for Community Service.  For Daniel, accepting the award in Sderot was the completion of a circle started 9 years ago.

Daniel is married and the father of two children and lives in the Dead Sea area.

“My own children may currently be out of the country, but I am fortunate as I have 400 children to love.”

Ilana Tischler, knows the name of almost every child in the village.  The names she doesn’t know belong to children who have been in the Village for less than a month.   When children of all ages see her, many coming running to her for a hug and a kiss. The children are not just files which cross her desk,  Ilana knows the story of each child who lives here.

The Ben Shemen Youth Village includes a residential framework for children ages 6-12, a boarding school for youth ages 12-18, an elementary school, a junior high and high school, and an agricultural farm.  The Children’s Home, Hevrat Hayeladim, is home to 45 normative children who have been removed from their homes by the welfare authorities for a variety of reasons.  The children live in groups of up to 15 children with each group being staffed by a house mother and counselor.  The children attend the Hevel Modi’in Elementary School also located on the Ben Shemen campus.

The boarding school is home to 350 youths between the ages of 12-18 who attend the 6 year high school located on the campus along with 100 day students.  All of the children attending the school take a 5 point matriculation exam in agriculture concentrating either on livestock or on vegetation,  and all of the students are responsible for 7 hours a week of practical work every week–  in the stable, hen house, cow shed, zoo, fields, plant nursery, kitchen,  or in the garage for agricultural equipment.

Currently 60% of the children in each graduating class attain a matriculation certificate, an additional 12% are missing minimal points to receive their certificate.  “There are 25 students in each class and lots of support. Many of our students do not believe in their own abilities.  The school offers individualized instruction to anyone who asks for it throughout the afternoon and evening.   We are working on improving the childen’s self-esteem and their belief in themselves.”

Ilana, born and raised in Netanya, holds a PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership from Ohio State University.  Before taking the position of CEO in the Village, she held the position of Director General of the Tarbut Jewish Day School in Mexico City for 3 years, the largest Jewish Day School in the city.  This was not Ilana’s first overseas position, Ilana also taught in Jewish schools in Orange County, California, and in Boston, Massachusetts and was a community shlicha in Columbus, Ohio for three years.  In between these posting, Ilana served as the principal of a Tali school in Netanya for 11 years.

This is Ilana’s fourth year as CEO of the Ben Shemen Youth Village.  When I asked Ilana about the village she told about what a special place Ben Shemen is: “I have a good team – 30% of the people who work here are graduates of Ben Shemen…the deputy director who is responsible for logistics and more has been here for 30 years.  I am blessed with an excellent administration, maintenance people, chefs, you name it.  The village is like a big kibbutz, hundreds of people live here.  We have two nurses on staff, our own mail delivery, even our own cemetery.

Ben Shemen operates on a 12 days on 2 days off schedule.  When the children go home for the weekend, 9 buses drop children off all over the country from Metulla to Eilat.  About 10% of the children, who are unable to go home, spend these weekends with host families.  In addition, Ilana has raised the funds for a “Beit Bogrim”.  This double size caravan is home to 7 graduates of the village currently serving in the IDF.

As I was sitting in Ilana’s office in walked Daniel, a soldier who was drafted only a few weeks ago. Daniel, a handsome Ethiopian young man has lived in Ben Shemen since the age of 8. He requested a copy of his rental agreement, and then when asked about his service he remarked that it was cold where he was serving and that Shabbat in the army is just not like Shabbat in the village.  Ilana immediately offered to go up to her attic and dig out the long sleeve undershirts from her own son’s military service and set a date with Daniel to pick them up.  “The army gives Lone Soldiers a small sum to cover rent. We provide them with everything else…laundry service, meals, we even fill their fridge so that they don’t have to come home to an empty kitchen.”

Ben Shemen’s annual budget is about $7 million, 10% of which has to be raised each year.  “However, this does not include capital improvements.  The village was built many years ago, beginning in 1927 and there is a constant need to renovate and upgrade all of our facilities, beginning with the infrastructure.”  As Ilana and I walked around the village, it was obvious that Ilana is constantly trying to upgrade the living conditions of all of the children.  Even more impressive was the pride the children take in their surroundings.  This is their home and it shows!

We celebrated the end of the school year in June, with our traditional “trip to the theater” when all the MAKSAM pupils enjoyed a performance by the Orna Porat Children and Youth Theater, at Hadera’s Rene Shani Auditorium.  Every year, thanks to a donation from one of our many friends and supporters, the theater company travels to Hadera specially to perform for MAKSAM’s pupils.  Our pupils eagerly look forward to this treat every year.   This year over 200 pupils (accompanied in some cases by family members) enjoyed “Adventure at the Circus”, the pupils were greeted before the performance by the Director General of the Hadera Municipality.

To date Israel has not had a general immigration law. The Law of Return relates only to people who are Jewish, or are of Jewish descent, and leaves the question of immigration of non-Jews as a lacuna, which is covered by a plethora of sometimes conflicting administrative and judicial decisions. This leads both to confusion, bureaucratic arbitrariness as well as infringements of human rights.  The current state of affairs is detrimental to Israel’s vital interests, a situation which is intolerable for Israel as a state and as a nation. Israel needs an immigration policy. In this Position Paper, the authors, for the first time in Israel, propose a strategy for thought and action ahead of the formulation of an immigration policy that promotes Israel’s interests as a Jewish and democratic state.

Metzilah’s publications – mostly position papers – serve to explore the legitimacy and implications of Jewish national self-determination in the State of Israel, as well as of Jewish self-fulfillment around the world. Moreover our publications seek to shed light onto the compatibility of Zionism and Judaism with Human Rights and Liberalism in the context of a Jewish and democratic State of Israel.  The goal is to create a platform for ideological clarification of the presuppositions and validity of Zionism as well for informed public discourse and decision-making.

The papers are meant to serve as a basis of support for decision makers by framing complex issues and providing policy recommendations that will ensure a Jewish and democratic State of Israel, as well as the welfare of the Jewish people. They also seek to deepen the public discourse and sharpen its understanding on issues that are on the State of Israel’s agenda.

The combination of these two rationales contributes to consolidating a consensus among the public and decision makers, which calls for action on these issues.

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In Ethiopia, the Sigd was marked with a half-day fast and a pilgrimage to the top of the nearest high mountain. There, the community’s religious leaders would chant from the Torah and lead the community in prayer, praying for the restoration of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Holy Temple and for their dream of making aliyah to Israel to come true.  The day would end with a festive meal.

Since 2009 the Sigd has been incorporated into the Israeli calendar as a National Holiday for the Ethiopian community, many of whom travel to Jerusalem where they gather on the Talpiot Promenade, overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem for a day of prayer and festivities.

The Ethiopian pupils of the MAKSAM Network of After School Study and Enrichment Centers in Hadera celebrated the Sigd with a modest ceremony, including readings, songs and dancing, in the delighted presence of their parents and invited guests.

The pupils were excited by their awesome task, and their parents were overjoyed to watch their Israeli born “Ethiopian Sabras” celebrating the Ethiopian community’s most holy day with such reverance.