by Pamela Deutsch

“I have decided to change my personal narrative.  Most Ethiopians including myself usually start by saying…I was born in a small village, I trekked to Sudan, spent a year in Sudan…what I believe Israelis hear that the Ethiopian community is a deprived community.”

Michal is 38 years old, married and mother of two children ages 6 and 3.  She has a master’s degree in educational counseling from the Univeristy of Haifa, was born in Ethiopia,  and made aliyah at the age of 9.

Michal’s family lives in Kfar Saba and Michal attended Ulpanat Tsfira. As a national service volunteer, she worked in the caravan settlement for Ethiopians at Hatzrat Yasaf, where she led parent groups and worked with young children.  Her motivation for doing so, was that she might be able to prevent these parents and children from making the same mistakes she and her family made during the absorption process.

After completing national service, Michal attended the University of Haifa where she studied education.

During her master’s degree, Michal continued working with children and youth, but also held another er position simultaneously;  through the Israel Institute for Democracy, she worked as a research assistant for the Knesset immigrant and absorption committee under the direction of MK Naomi Blumenthal.  After completing her master’s degree, Michal was chosen by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the staff of the Disney Corporation to work in the Israeli Pavilion at Disney World Orlando for a year.  “ I really enjoyed the experience and was very proud to represent Israel, as a black Jewish Israel woman.”

Upon returning to Israel, Michal was looking for an opportunity to work with the Ethiopian community and at the same time to lead change.  She talked with all kinds of Ethiopian organizations.  At Fidel she was challenged to present her ideas and explain how she would implement them. Michal understood that Fidel was an organization that empowered people to grow.

Fidel has two goals to train Ethiopians to be mediators and to empower them so that they will be able to provide good and professional services to the Ethiopian community.  But, more than that, the training provides the employees with skills and opportunities for life.  And this is what turned Michal on!

Michal began working at Fidel in 2000 as the Professional Training Director and over the years her job description expanded.  From 2006 to 2011 she served as deputy CEO of Fidel before assuming the position of CEO in 2011.

Since Michal began working at Fidel, the Ethiopian community has changed – particularly in terms of leadership.  Today, the young people, particularly those in there early thirties, who completed the majority of their education in Israel, and who have made Israeli culture their own, are now the leaders, and they are well able to express themselves on topics such as absorption, education, where resources are needed and where they should be going.  And they are not afraid to ask hard questions. There is no question that the new leadership at times challenges those who became for them.

Just as Michal has changed her personal narrative, she believes that it is time for the organizations working with Ethiopians to change their narrative as well.  Michal has already begun to take a good hard look with her staff and board, at Fidel’s strategy, whether their programs continue to be effective, whether their resources being used in the most effective manner, and how can they as an organization improve and learn in order to achieve the goals they feel are important for the Ethiopian community.

“Fidel since its establishment, has created very strong infrastructures in the communities where it works; our next step is to figure out how to mobilize the children and youth of these communities to become leaders within their own localities.”

Voice of the Child is the only organization in Israel that specializes in the development and implementation of programs preventing sexual harassment amongst children.

I asked Ayelet, how she became involved with this issue?

“While studying for my Master’s Degree in Educational Sociology, I took a seminar on gender and sexuality, and for my seminar paper I wrote about sexual harassment between hotel guests and employees.  During my research I discovered that there was lots of reading material about sexual harassment of adults, but there was a significant gap in information about sexual harassment among young children from a sociological point of view.”

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Ayelet is an 18^th generation Jerusalemite on her mother’s side and her father was from Afghanistan.  She attended the Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem and served as a teacher-soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.  Ayelet obtained a  BA in Education from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Masters in Educational Sociology from the same institution.

“At that point I decided to drop everything else I was doing, I had been working in at the Hebrew University Research Institute for Innovation in Education, and pursue a doctorate on the this topic.  My next discovery was that there were no sociologists in Israel who specialized in sexual harassment among young children.”  Hebrew University made a few suggestions about institutions where she might pursue a doctorate, but in the end, with three young children in home, she chose the closest option.  In 2004, after 4 years of research and writing, Ayelet received her PhD in Educational Sociology, from Anglia Polytechnic University (APU), England.

After finishing her doctorate, Ayelet did not want her work just to be theoretical but to have practical application, so she approached the Ministry of Education.  In parallel, she formed a nonprofit organization , Kol Hayeled, and developed two educational programs for children from ages 5-8 and 10 -12, that focused on identifying, preventing and coping with bullying and sexual harassment between children and learning to behave with mutual respect towards one another.

The Ministry sent Ayelet to the Department for Gender Equality, where she applied for and won a tender to provide educational programs in secular elementary schools.  This was a four-year contract, and Voice of the Child recently won a second tender for the provision of similar services.

In the meanwhile Kol Hayeled has gone on to develop new programs for children and youth from ages 5-17, which alongside classroom programs that address issues such as safe behavior over the internet, include a play for teenagers that addresses sexual harassment, and which was presented in the Supreme Court last week.

Evaluation of Voice of the Child programs has shown that they reduce the level of violence in the classroom, and raise gender awareness.

I asked Ayelet, what comes next?

“Our next move will include the adaptation of our programs and materials for Arabic speakers and possibly religious populations, and to steadily increase awareness to these issues amongst educators and parents.”

Ayelet is married with 3 children and lives in Mevasseret Zion.

by Pamela Deutsch

Eli Bareket was born inTel Aviv-Jaffa and raised in Bat Yam.  He attended elementary school in Bat Yam, and then continued his education at Boyer in Jerusalem as a boarding student.  He served in the IDF in the Golani Brigade later becoming an officer.

After his military service Eli worked, and eventually began studying Islam and Near Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University.  As a student, he was active in a number of social justice frameworks.  As a member of Students for Social Justice, Eli was involved in efforts to raise awareness develop consciousness to social justice issues.  As a member of the International (Sephardic) Educational Front, he was involved in the creation of a national program called Bridge to College, which worked to assist students not enrolled in academic tracks to improve their matriculation scores and increase their awareness to higher education and the opportunities it could give them. Bridge to College also tried to assist the students in understanding why they were not in academic tracks; exploring issues such as the students’ expectations of themselves and the expectations of those surrounding them. One of the issues that arose from their work is that children are unaware that they are not in academic tracks; they are part of a big push to take and pass matriculation exams but the exams they are taking are not necessarily at the levels that will later allow them to attend university.

Having attained his BA, Eli then continued studying for a Masters, in an individually designed program on Muslim minorities – e.g. Muslims in the Philippine sand Ethiopia.  In parallel, he worked at Beit Hillel at theHebrewUniversity.  During his ten-year tenure at Beit Hillel, he was involved in the evolvement of the organization from an organization that worked almost exclusively with foreign students, to one whose main goal and strategies was to work with mainly Israeli students.  Eli created a working model and was promoted to program director.  Today, Hillel has expanded to 10 campuses in Israel.

At the same time,  Eli was active in Mayan Hachinuch Hademocrati.  This organization, founded in response to the Shas initiative to bring religious education to Jerusalem’s weaker neighborhoods, provided informal education and tutoring in weak neighborhoods in Jerusalemfor both Arab and Jewish populations.  In addition, Mayan Hachinuch Hademocrati, worked to empower children, youth, and their parents.

In 2005 Eli became the director of Memizrach Shemesh.  Founded in 2000, by the Avi Chai Foundation andAlliance“Kol Yisrael Chaverim,  Memizrach Shemesh, is a Beit Midrash (House of Study) and a Center for Jewish Social Activism and Leadership inIsrael. Dedicated to the values of communal responsibility and social action rooted in all Jewish traditions including those of the Sephardi and Mizrachi heritage, the organization cultivates and trains leadership in Israel’s geographic and social periphery, with hundreds of participants every year working towards improvement and change in their communities. Before directing the organization, Eli was part of a group that met to discuss what the Sephardic tradition has to give to Israeli society and its issues and was in that sense one of the founders of the organization.  He participated in one of the first learning groups run by the newly founded organization.

During his tenure, Memizrach Shemesh has grown from working annually with 170 participants to more than600 ayear.  The organization runs programs from Kiryat Shmona toArad, for different age groups from post high school students to parents.  In addition, Memizrach Shemesh works with the Border Patrol.  In this program, officers participate regularly in a Beit Midrash.  Their participation assists the officers in being able to see themselves as educators, aids their ability to deal with issues such as social responsibility within their units, and helps them understand that as officers they can empower their soldiers to dream of greater things when they finish their service such as an academic education.

In addition, Memizrach Shemesh is working with Keren Rashi to open Darka, a new network of junior high and high schools in the periphery, designed to educate for excellence – both academic and social, as currently there is no network whose goal is academic achievement. Finally, the organization has expanded its international reach working with communities in bothNew York City and Budapest.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eli, continues to be active beyond his role as CEO.  He served, as a member of the Kedma committee for the “poel tedek behinuch” (an education prize), is a member of the international council of the New Israel Fund, and served for two years as the chair of the Association for Batei Midrash inIsrael.   Today, Eli chairs the board of Panim, which is now a federated organization, with each member organization having a vote on the board.

In his spare time, Eli has begun to write poetry.  He recently wrote a poem for his son to help him understand when you were a kipa and when you do not; something which is clear for someone who is either religious or not, but less clear when you are traditional.

Eli is divorced and the father of 3 children and lives in Jerusalem.

“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.

“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!

“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 resulting discussions involve complex Jewish and democratic values.  In order to aide these discussions Yesodot has developed materials aimed at high school students to help them understand:

What is the discussion about?

What are the Rabbis talking about?

Is this racism?

Is there a conflict here between Judaism and democracy?

The materials developed to be used in the classroom are designed to help students understand the issues at stake and assist them in forming their own opinions.

From our internet statistics we know that over 200 educators opened all of the materials in a fashion that indicates their intention to use them.  This hit level (over 200 out of 750 subscribers) is considered very high in terms of internet usage.

Please follow the links to the Yesodot website to see examples taken from the educational kit.

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.

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.

Established in 1999, College for All (CFA) is an Israeli non-profit organization that operates unique educational centers throughout Israel’s disadvantaged areas, for children who possess potential for individual and academic excellence. CFA aspires to nurture and promote excellence in children and youth whose social and economic circumstances would otherwise hamper their potential for success, by providing them with a top quality, socially-minded curriculum. Each year, as part of its work plan with the children, CFA’s senior management, lead by Executive Director Dr. Shmuelik Weiss, stage a fun-filled and challenging day event in which CFA pupils of all ages throughout Israel compete as a group in various subjects and fields taught at College for All.

Each center, be it the Sderot center, Akko center or any other of CFA’s 22 centers, chose delegates to participate in the event, who worked together as a team. They were divided into classes and quizzed by the staff on various themes, concepts and subjects from the College for All curriculums, such as mathematical thought and language concepts. The children were also quizzed on general knowledge concepts they had learned throughout the year, and were asked to make connections between them.

In addition, the children were given missions beforehand, to be completed at their centers: for example, as part of their CFA curriculum, the children partake in unique architecture and mathematics course named “Kungulu”. One of this year’s missions was to design and build a miniature structure model (house, building, castle, etc.) and bring it to the event. The judging panel, comprised of men and women from the field of education as well as volunteers from other fields, observed the models, took notes and asked questions. This year, the 1^st prize in the “Kungulu” category went to the Neve Ofer (Southern Tel Aviv) center. In a moving closing ceremony at the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Academic College’s main hall, all participating children received collective and individual prizes and recognition from the senior staff and teachers.

The event was first and foremost constructed as a day of fun for College for All pupils. The senior pedagogical staff walked around dressed in costumes and dispersed soft drinks and hot dogs during breaks from competitions. The event’s formal purpose was to summarize the pupils’ accumulated knowledge in fields such as general knowledge, language skills and mathematical thought, but it was not the only one. The event encouraged camaraderie, cooperation and partnerships as a method of achieving success, as well as advocating the message that winning 1^st prize isn’t everything; it’s the experience and effort that truly matter.

For over a decade, College for All’s mission has been to nurture and cultivate talented students from impoverished neighbourhoods and Israel’s  social and geographic periphery. Each College for All pupil that begins the program stays on board for a period of 10 years, until graduation from high school. Events such as the annual “Peak Day”, as well as CFA’s unique pedagogical and social outlook and work plan, not only consider the children’s path towards academic success and excellence in school, but also their journey towards becoming thoughtful, caring young adults, who have high self esteem and feel they can rely on their peers for support as well as offer it. They are well on their way.