Students of the Department of Counseling and Social Education Visit the "Retorno" Rehab Center

The "Retorno" drug rehab center, located near Beth Shemesh, provides treatment for tens of adolescents (boys and girls) and many adults from the orthodox and ultra-orthodox backgrounds who sought an escape through alcohol, drugs, gambling or other additions.
Accompanied by their teachers Limor Tal and Bella Even-Hen, the Orot students visited the center during a week of practical work to witness the staff's professional work and devotion to their patients. The students heard personal stories of several patients, some of whom themselves became part of Retorno's training staff and administration.
Students absorbed a number of critical messages during their visit. They witnessed the catastrophic results of destructive parental and educational behaviors, including a lack of attention, sensitivity, and a failure to understand the child and teenager's soul. The students learned that drugs and alcohol represent an attempt at a permanent escape for pain. Often, teens mask this deeply hidden pain because they lacked an outlet to express their feelings in conversations with any meaningful figure in their life. Students were introduced to some of the treatments as well as to the complex challenges that the center addresses, and also learned about various methods of support and reinforcement, such as sentences that express love ("we love you") to someone who addresses the group, or a physical hug (or virtual hug in case there is prohibition of touching between man and woman).
One of the highlights of the tour was in the quarried cave of the Retorno site where meetings are held at candlelight, in group dynamics style. These experiential and powerful meetings enable both individuals and the whole group the ability to develop trust, support, acceptance, belonging, identification, intimacy and development of self-awareness and awareness to others.
The students left the center with tears in their eyes and a heart full of excitement and gratefulness for "a most instructive experience and memorable lesson for life".

Teaching the Value of Freedom at the Seder

An Article By Rabbi Reuven Spolter
Director of Recruiting and Special Projects

Should we cause our children to suffer in order to help them fully appreciate the Redemption we're supposed to relive on the night of the Seder? Maybe we should. After all, as parents, we cause our kids to suffer all the time.
You can download this article in pdf format by clicking here.

Along the same lines, my wife Rena shared with me this story of parents outraged an an educational attempt to help kids appreciate the suffering of the Holocaust. Do you agree with the incensed mother at the end of the story? I'm not sure.

Becoming Better Teachers at the Sands of Nitzan

Orot has always considered field trips an integral part of teacher training, founded upon the basis of "ארץ ישראל על פי תורת ישראל" - “Eretz Yisrael in accordance with Torat Yisrael”. Orot realizes that for graduates to effectively communicate a love of the Land to their own students, they must invest their time and energy acquiring knowledge of the Land and appreciation for it.
We believe that a student that experiences preparation and guidance of a field trip will regard the issue of field trips as a school teacher in a different way from a teacher who didn't have the same experience. For this reason, as part of their educational program, all Orot students participate in a number of yearly tiyulim, giving them a deeper and broader appreciation for the Land of Israel.
These college-wide field trips represent a unique phenomenon in the world of teacher training in Israel and are led by first-year students (with the help of 2nd and 3rd year students) in the Department of Eretz Yisrael Studies, who invest great effort preparing to guide their fellow students during the tiyul. Watching students integrate with each-other and their instructors while travelling the land and learning from fellow students brings Orot’s administration great pride.

Trip to the Sands of Nitzanim
A month ago, about 350 students of Orot visited the sands of Nitzanim, located along Israel’s coastal plain along the Mediterranean between Ashkelon and Ashdod. Nitzanim is close to Nitzan, a town where some of the former Gush-Katif families reside following their uprooting four years ago.
The tour began with a history of Nitzanim during the War of Independence, when it served as a critical strategic Israeli stronghold. Although ultimately abandoned, Israeli forces at Nitzan succeeded in stopping the Egyptian troops advance to the North, preventing them from conquering the coastal plain and the Tel-Aviv area. The students then visited the residents of the nearby Yishuv Nitzan, hearing the sad and moving story of the uprooting of Gush Katif.
After the stop at Nitzan, the students proceeded to the sands of Nitzanim, beginning with its fascinating and historical cemetery. They continued to the west to the sand dunes, one of the last and largest remnants of Israel's coastal sand dunes with its attendant animal and plant life. They then enjoyed a two-hour hike through the sands to the sea-shore.
This trip to a site close to the center of Israel, combined history related to the founding of the State of Israel, the story of the Gush Katif expulsion and physical exercise through the sand dunes, to produce a wonderful, educational experience that not only enhanced our students’ year, but will make them better teachers as well.

Israeli Filmmaker Speaks to Orot's Film Students

Director and scriptwriter Shoshi Greenfield recently joined the students and faculty of Orot's Department of Communication Studies for a discussion of her film, "The Rebellious Son."
The well-received film, screened in community centers and theaters across Israel, tells the story of Greenfield's brother, a "hilltop youth" coping with the pulls of Israeli life and family and social pressure, all while trying to integrate these into a religious and Zionistic worldview. In addition to the personal story about her brother and his struggles, the film presents a unique perspective on the nuanced and complex relationships between Jews and Arabs, the settlers and the state, and between the founding generation of the settlements and the generation that grew up there.
After a screening of the film, the director told her personal story upon which she based the script and explained some technical aspects of the film's production. She described some of the challenges of producing a feature film, as well as some of the techniques that would be useful to students creating their own films.
Students currently studying in Orot's Department of Communication Studies found the meeting with the scriptwriter important for their practical training. "She had a lot of courage to do this production, and it was important to hear from her how she overcame the challenges that arose during productions. As someone studying communications she represents a model to emulate."
To learn more about "The Rebellious Son" visit the film's website.

Orot Graduation Celebrates 104 New Teachers

Orot awarded B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) degrees to over one hundred students at a recent graduation ceremony held in mid November. The graduates, who entered the auditorium to the sounds of a Turkish Marsh, were welcomed excitedly by excited parents, husbands, extended families, as well as Orot faculty members who came to honor the graduates.
Guest of honor Prof. Amos Altschuler, chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria, delivered a talk on the subject of "What Can be Done with a Triangle that Doesn't Exist?" Orot President Rabbi Prof. Neria Gutel welcomed the graduates, their guests and families, and congratulated the graduates, wishing them success in the field of teaching.
The graduates also received congratulations from Rabbi Noah Greenfeld, director of the teacher training department in the Ministry of Education, Rabbi Haim Fogel, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Prof. Elazar Tuitou, Vice-Chairman of the Academic Committee.
A graduate representative delivered a dvar Torah and expressed her thanks on behalf of the graduates, after which the graduates received their diplomas.

Growth Through Adversity - Thoughts for Parshat Shemot

Devar Torah by Rabbi Reuven Spolter
Director of Recruiting and Special Projects

Here in Israel, communities tend to segregate themselves voluntarily. Chareidim like to live with fellow Chareidim, Secular Jews live with other Secular Jews, and Religious Zionists build communities with like-minded RZ's. We don't mix very much. We tell ourselves that we do this for our children. After all, what could be bad about living in a community that meticulously adheres to the Shabbat? Why not choose to live in a place without the enticements of the outside world? What's wrong with insularity?

And yet - the facts don't seem to justify our choices. Speaking anecdotally, it's well-known here in Israel that many of the most religious yishuvim struggle with children who question and abandon their religiosity. So is our desire for uniformity and insularity necessarily a good thing? Or are we somehow doing more harm than good?

Click here to read Rav Spolter's full article.

Rav Shvat's Shiur

Every culture has their own children's stories, which not only express their philosophy but also, in turn, influence the next generation, as well. On the one hand, Islamic stories stress how Allah runs the world, with man's free-will relatively limited, while western stories stress man's free will and initiative, but basically eliminate the role of G-d. The stories in the Tanach clearly intend to raise a generation who does not rely on miracles yet prays to Hashem to help man's efforts, initiatives, and free will. To celebrate Chanukah fully, we must recognize and thank Hashem also for the miracle of the oil, yet also for the military victory of Yehudah HaMaccabi and his brothers, who davened before every battle, in addition to developing military strategy of their own. Thus we will BH raise a generation which will revive the ideal Jew and ideal Jewish Nation of old.
Chanukah Same'ach,
Rav Ari Shvat

Click here for the audio link, or listen in the handy audio player supplied below.