by Pamela Deutsch

Ido was born in 1968 inTel-Aviv-Jaffa and grew up in Bat Yam.  It was only at the age of two and a half, that it was discovered that he was hard of hearing.  As he was a premature baby, the doctors and nurses kept telling his parents, who already had twin girls, that he wasn’t talking because his development was delayed.   Ido was close to three when he received his first hearing aids.  He was sent to a nursery program run by Micha where the first goal was to teach him how to read.  By the age of three and a half he was reading fluently and soon after learned to speak.  Ido was mainstreamed into theBat Yam school system from the beginning.  However, hearing aids then were not what they are today.  The hearing aids themselves, which were large and drew attention were connected to a box that rested on his chest in a special undershirt.  He was the only hard of hearing child in his elementary and high school and he was not acquainted with others who were hard of hearing.

As a teenager, Shema invited him to activities, however most of the kids were deaf and spoke sign language which Ido did not.  His high school years were particularly isolating, as he was not one of the hearing and not one of the deaf.  Having attained a full matriculation certificate, Ido volunteered for the army, because as someone with a disability he was not drafted, and served in the intelligence corp.  The army opened up new worlds for Ido and was a wonderful place to meet new people.  Having grown up in a very homogenous atmosphere, this was Ido’s first opportunity to meet a greater variety of people; people from different places, backgrounds, levels of religious observance, etc.

After he finished his service, Ido began to explore what to study.  Ido’s father, after having met Prof Jerry Reichstein, who was then the head of the program for special education for hearing impaired children at TelAvivUniversity, suggested that Ido meet with him.  It was Prof. Reichstein who sent Ido to talk with an organization called Keshev, an Israeli organization for the hard of hearing which existed for 10 years between 1982 and 1992. It was at Keshev, where Ido met for the first time, other people who were like him.  But not right away of course.  Ido, having remembered what it was like to go to Shema activities was reluctant to attend social activities at Keshev.   However, one day he received an invitation for folk dancing which was something he really liked and for the first time he met people like himself… people who are hard of hearing, who use hearing aids, and speak orally.  Ido was sure he was going to meet and marry someone who was hard of hearing.

At Keshev, Ido learned that he was eligible for all kinds of services from the National Insurance Institute.  The NII’s first suggestion was that he undergo vocational testing. The testing agency made two suggestions, accounting or warehouse logistics, both of which require very little interpersonal communication.  Ido’s stab at learning bookkeeping lasted for all of three months and his study of architecture, met a similar fate.  However, private career counseling was more successful and through that process he decided to study cinema and television atTelHaiCollege.  It was at Tel Hai when Ido asked the head of the department about whether as someone who was hard of hearing he could study cinema – he was told that this was not the air force and his medical condition was not a basis for acceptance or rejection.  In fact, the head of the department used to send students to Ido saying that he could be there sound man – he did not relate to Ido as being disabled at all.

Ido completed his degree program and began working for the Israel Association of Community Centers as a coordinator for community television in Kohav Yair and Ramat Eliyahu. It was during this period that the Beit Berl College opened a Bachelors in Education program in Informal Education particularly for community center workers.  Ido attended the program and attained his BEd.

During this time Ido was busy not only with work and school.  When he returned from Tel Hai, Keshev had folded and Ido decided there was a need to provide information for the hard of hearing.  Ido began producing a newspaper the “Faxiton” which was distributed by a number of organizations for the deaf and hard of hearing.  This was in the years before the internet became popular and the paper was often passed from hand to hand.  Ido would receive feedback and responses to the articles from all over the country.

In 1997, Ido joined Prof. Reichstein, Avi Blau, Dr. Becky Shocken and Ahiya Kamara in the founding of Bekol – a membership organization for the hard of hearing.  Ido was active as a volunteer in promoting accessibility, and in 2002 began to work for the organization. Three years ago he became the CEO.  Being CEO has been a learning experience and Ido is always learning how to better fulfill this role.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ido is married to a women who is fully hearing whom he met through a mutual friend.  Today they live in Tel Aviv with their daughter and son.

“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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

“I am here because of my wife” declared Shimon “She threatened me with divorce and this time she was serious because she sent me a summons for the rabbinical courts”

Rabbi Eckstein was surprised by the courageous move on the part of this woman.

Shimon has worked for years as a Bible teacher and is an ordained Rabbi. He is a kind man and learned torah scholar. His heavy aftershave and the mint he sucks on do not hide the fact that this happy, good-hearted Jewish man is absolutely inebriated, as we say during Purim, “ad d’lo yada” (So drunk that he is unable to differentiate between Mordechai and Haman).

Two months later, when he was already 30 days off the bottle, he sat with Rabbi Eckstein and spoke to him seriously about his situation. “How will the rest of the program help me?” He asked, “What can I learn from it?”

Shimon continued, “The counselor that runs our sessions reminds me of students that I taught when I just started teaching at the Yeshiva. They all of a sudden have discovered God. I lived with God for 50 years, I prayed to Him, screamed at Him, laughed at Him and He guided me wherever I went. I was so close to Him that I would even drink at his house…the synagogue where I would recite a hundred blessings just so I could get more shots of vodka…”

The people of Israel, while on the amazing journey through the desert to the Promised Land had all they needed. A cloud protected them during the day and a pillar of fire made light for them during the night. The Mana, the Godly food, nourished them unendingly. All of a sudden, “… the mixed multitude that was among them felt a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept on their part, and said: ‘Would that we were given flesh to eat! We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for free; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all; we have nothing save this manna to look to.” (Numbers 11:4-6)

A person, who is a guest at the Hilton Hotel and has all he needs, craves a falafel from the stand in the old neighborhood. There is no explanation for the power of this yearning. Only an addict lusts after these things in an illogical, addictive and negative way. The addict paints everything pink “and the food was consumed for free” (Who gave them food for free?) They want to eat meat and they remember their yearning for onions and garlic- total insanity!

It could be said that a sinner is one who is still in control, he still knows the difference between good and evil, he is still sane, despite the fact that at this or that moment in time, he chooses evil. An addict on the other hand has lost control; he will do anything to get his fix, which for him is a solution to his deep emotional pain. This is not a sin, it is a disease. A sin is a controlled, conscious act, addiction is an unruly illness.

If once we believed that addiction to psychoactive drugs was more common in disadvantaged neighborhoods, it is now known that there is no difference between a poor neighborhood and a wealthy suburb, when it comes to addiction to drugs. The difference will only be in the quality and price of the drug.

(-excerpts from Rabbi Eckstein, Director of Retorno)

Retorno is the International Jewish Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Addictions based in Beit Shemesh. Since 1990, hundreds of addicts have been treated at Retorno, more than half of whom are from the religious community. Individuals with drug, alcohol, sex and gambling addictions have sought help from Retorno’s treatment program. 70 % of Retorno alumnae continue to lead successful, healthy lives. Using a new Jewish spiritual path that integrates the well known 12 step program for addiction, participants fight addiction and seek to get well.

Memizrach Shemesh’s Rabbinic Program for Social Leadership (Merhav) visited Retorno recently. The 12 Merhav participants, many of them community Rabbis, learned about different aspects of addiction. They had sessions that discussed the difference between good and evil in relation to addiction, and they participated in a seminar to give them tools to grapple with these challenges of addiction within their communities.

The group also learned about the 12 step program where the individual is led through a spiritual process of introspection and self understanding. The rabbis also heard some ex-addicts speak about the processes they went through as part of their recovery.

It was emphasized to the group that addiction is not a disease but instead a medicine; a medicine for a deeper problem that the addict is trying to solve in the wrong way. The process of searching for the root of the pain and distress is how they begin to solve the problem of addiction. The Merhav rabbis learned about this deep emotional misery that can sometimes go unseen by rabbis and community leaders. Through discussion and learning, the rabbis understood the important role they can play by being sensitive about such personal challenges before they develop into an addiction.

The visit to Retorno touched our Merhav participant rabbis. The sessions they experienced discussed sensitivity, pain, successes and failures during work with addicts and their families. This gave Merhav rabbis the opportunity to look at those around them, their community members, through a different prism.

This process that deals with a person’s midot (attributes) and moral-spiritual work is part of several seminars that Memizrach Shemesh’s Merhav rabbis participate in throughout the course of the two year Rabbinic Leadership for Social Change program. The rabbis also participated in training on the topic of couples counseling. The aim is to expand the horizons of these rabbis and to improve their practice as a way of strengthening them as both religious and social activists within their communities.

The café was recently renovated and refurnished with the support of the National Insurance Institute and the Ministry of Health. Over the past year, the café has garnered support from its regular clientele who come to meet friends, hold business meetings, conferences, business events, and celebrations.

In addition to the beautiful views and unique atmosphere, the café also serves as a gallery, displaying wall paintings and sculptures created by Gvanim artists who are coping with psychological and emotional illnesses and who possess talents in the arts. In the future, the café hopes to host art exhibitions and cultural evenings in which professional artists, students, and the general public will participate.
Rachel, who has been an employee of the café since its establishment, said, “It is fun to get up in the morning with a purpose, to see friends, to go to work, and to learn new things.” This routine might seem ordinary; but for people coping with psychological and emotional disabilities, there are times when routine can be straining and challenging. Café Galeria enables people to overcome these difficulties, to develop the self-confidence for employment, and to acquire the skills that will help them to build a foundation for future employment, to earn a living, and to contribute to community life.

LOTEM, Integrated Nature Studies has been offering educational activities in nature to children and adults with special needs for almost 18 years. Participants include the blind and visually impaired, deaf and hearing impaired, physically and intellectually challenged, and emotionally disturbed. They also include women and children in threat of physical and/or emotional abuse. LOTEM  presently serves more than 7,000 children and adults with special needs every year. With the opening of its new Jerusalem center, this number will increase greatly over the coming years.

The establishment of a Jerusalem branch of LOTEM had been a longtime dream of Amos Ziv, LOTEM’s founder and director. “A branch of LOTEM in Jerusalem, will allow us to expand our activities tremendously,” Amos said. “Not only will we be able to take people with special needs on accessible tours of Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, we will also be able to take special-needs participants who live in Jerusalem and surrounding areas out into nature.”

Amos now dreams about making the Old City of Jerusalem more accessible. His ideas include the purchase of small electric cars which will be able to carry the elderly and physically-disabled from Jaffe Gate to the Jewish quarter and to the Western Wall. Anyone who has walked this route, knows just how difficult it can be. Another project which he is presently developing  is called  “Touching the Kotel”, a program which will help special-needs participants understand the importance of the Western Wall to Jews throughout the ages. Men, women and children  will be able to feel the stones,  leave personal notes among the cracks, and utter the prayers which are their hearts.

“The opening of the Jerusalem branch will offer LOTEM the opportunity to provide outings in nature for special-needs participants from Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and  the Negev. I have no doubt that the expansion of our services to these areas will be a tremendous success,” said Sorin Hershcu, LOTEM’s chairman of the board, who was seriously wounded during the IDF rescue of hostages in Entebbe in 1976. As a quadripelegic, he became involved with LOTEM in order to help others experience and enjoy the beauty of the Land of Israel.

Jerusalem lies forever in the heart of the Jewish People. It is with great pride that LOTEM has established a center which will serve special-needs populations in the heart of our great nation. With the help of LOTEM’s partners around the world, LOTEM hopes to expand its activities and make Jerusalem more accessible for people of all ages and abilities.

Highlights of their activities include:

For the First Time in Israel: Adapted Community Service Instead of Imprisonment for People with Disabilities

Bizchut has been working for years to promote alternatives to imprisonment appropriate for offenders with disabilities. We are happy to announce a recent breakthrough in this area.

During the past six months, Bizchut together with the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities held two training seminars for all the staff of the Unit for Community Service, part of the Israel Prison Service.

The seminars aimed to make participants aware that people with disabilities can be successfully employed. Together with Elwyn (an organization that runs employment programs for people with special needs) we showed how employers can be recruited to employ offenders with disabilities as part of community service. We presented the concept of supported activity in the mainstream community for a person with a disability, and the adaptations required for different kinds of disability.

The final seminar concluded with a joint declaration by the Director of Community Service, Bizchut and the Equal Rights Commission to implement a pilot project involving 12 people with disabilities who have been sentenced to community service.  Their placement and employment as part of this program will be accompanied by professionals who will advise on how to provide adaptations to meet their special needs.

The Struggle to Save the Accessibility Law Regulation

In July, the drafting of the statutory regulations governing access to existing public buildings was finally completed and they were brought before the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee for approval.

The Interior Minister Eli Yishai, made his approval of the regulations conditional on over a 100 weaker local authorities being excluded from the regulations, in effect giving them an exemption from dealing with this accessibility, even though it had been agreed in the Knesset Committee that the local authorities would only be obliged to implement the regulations in 2021, 11 years from now.

While some stakeholders yielded to the request concerning exemption of the weaker authorities in order to ensure the regulations would be approved before the recess and subsequently come into force, Bizchut thought otherwise. Together with other organizations and under the uncompromising and strong leadership of MK Ilan Ghilon, chairperson of the sub-committee for the accessibility regulations, we worked to prevent the suggested discrimination. The amendment was rejected and the regulations approved by the Committee. They are now waiting for the Minister’s signature before they can come into force.

Class action against Egged and Dan Accepted

In June the Jerusalem District Court accepted a class action brought by Advs. Kadari, Aharonsohn and Levi on behalf of Reuven Baron, Michelle Lustigman and Bizchut against Egged and Dan companies, in light of violation of their obligation to ensure that local public transportation is accessible to sight impaired and blind people. In its decision, the court ruled that the defendants only partly meet their obligations to install warning lines at the entrance to buses and at the top of stairs and operate internal and external public announcement systems, and do not at all meet their obligations to have accessible signs that show the bus number or indicate stop buttons or straps. In accepting the class action, the court made a precedent setting ruling that enables people with disabilities to bring a wide range of claims in relation to the implementation of the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law and its statutory regulations.

More updates can be found in our Activity Report 2009-2010.

LOTEM, Integrated Nature Studies is a not-for-profit organization which offers educational activities in nature to people with special needs. LOTEM’s target population includes children and adults who are visually and hearing impaired, physically and intellectually challenged, and emotionally disturbed. It also includes women and children in danger of physical and emotional abuse.

Ruach Tova, or the Good Spirit Organization, was responsible for sending the volunteers to the farm as part of an initiative called Good Deeds Day. During the day, 70,000 participants took part in 1,000 different projects throughout the country. The 18 people working at LOTEM’s ecological farm consisted of a group of 9 special needs teenagers, 6 volunteers from QualiTest and 3 volunteers from Marvell Semiconductor Israel Ltd., which is located in Yokneam. In addition to its volunteer work, Marvell has been funding programs at LOTEM for the past three years.

Remaining in good spirits throughout the day, the volunteers planted flowers, painted buildings and helped to clean out hidden corners of the farm. All the necessary equipment was generously donated by Ruach Tova.

This was truly a day of special deeds – carried out by 18 very special people – for the benefit of thousands of children and adults with special needs.

Our thanks to all those who helped to make this day possible.

Normally, a week’s notice is required to find an interpreter. In this case, Chaim worked wonders – he managed to find an appropriate, available, local interpreter who could do the job and she too sprang into action. She went immediately to meet with the Deaf man and accompanied him in the ambulance from the city he lives in to the hospital in another city. From 8:00 pm until 2:00 am she stayed by his side, enabling him to receive all the information about the transplant and the risks involved, to answer his questions and concerns which ultimately allowed the operation to take place. Later that morning she was back – from 7:00 am to noon continuing to interpret for him and for his deaf wife as well.

For this Deaf man, who had waited over two years for an appropriate kidney to be available, this service meant the difference, literally, between life and death. His situation had deteriorated to a critical point, and the transplant, which was successful, came just in time.

Events like this are just one facet of the institute’s government awarded mission to provide support services for all Deaf and hard of hearing Israelis.  Services facilitated include Israeli Sign Language interpreting, computer assisted note-taking and reimbursement for the purchase of vital equipment. Practically speaking, this means that all Deaf or hard of hearing Israelis who need (and are entitled to) interpreters for any purpose, contact Chaim and he matches them up with an interpreter. The volume of requests is staggering – in 2009 there were over seven thousand requests. Interestingly, about a third of these interpreting assignments met needs in the field of access to health care. From 2008 to 2009 there was a 40% increase in the number of interpretations. There was also an increase in the number of requests for equipment.

* A capital D for Deaf indicates that the man is culturally Deaf and is a sign language user.