Bat Zion-MTA Reunion - May 2014

Over 120 alumnae and staff attended Orot's second Bat Zion- MTA reunion in Elkana. This special event was organized and planned by Nomi Spanglet, the former assistant director of the Bat Zion program. The event was a tribute to the many Bogrot of these 2 programs who have come on Aliyah, and who live the ideals that Orot so strongly believes in: Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. It was Orot's way of saying "we are proud of you and we are still here for you!". The evening started off with a buffet dinner, leaving time for the Bogrot to catch up with many old friends. Following dinner, words of welcome given by Nomi as well as short divrei torah given by Rav Yehuda Felix, the founder of Orot and Rabbis Moshe Rachimi and Rav Avram Weiss, both former directors of the BZ program.


The highlight of the evening was an educational panel with Rav Yona Goodman ( senior staff member at Orot) and Rav Gideon Weitzman (formerly a BZ staff member & presently a lecturer at several Midrashot, as well as serving as a Rav in Modiin). The panel was lead by Rav Reuven Spolter (head of recruitment for the College). The topic of the panel was "how to rekindle the flame". The panel was very inspiring and without any doubt gave food for thought to all those that attended.
I believe that the words of some of our Bogort best sum up this special event:

Thanks for organizing such an amazing reunion last night. It was so nice to see fellow bogrot, rabbanim, staff and madrichot. It just shows what an amazing program Bat Zion was and what an impact it had on all of our lives. It was so nice to be back on the Orot campus, and to see how the michlala is growing, it brought back so many wonderful memories. It is really touching to see that although the Bat Zion program no longer exists the michlala and you personally continues to maintain contact with the bogrot and are interested in what we are doing and where we are at in our lives.

hi nomi. i wanted to thank u so much for organising the amazing reunion. it was so good to see everyone again, you and all the teachers, (and the girls of course although we BH meet up often :) ) and it was so nice to be on the campus again. It really made me realise how much i miss it, and how Orot is such an amazing and special place and I'm so lucky to have been a part of that! Looking forward to the next reunion :)

Enclosed you will also find a slide show presentation of pictures taken at the reunion as well as a slide show of BZ that was prepared by Michal Katz Reinitz and shown at the reunion.



Enjoy the pictures and the memories!!