Parents are From Mars and Children from Venus - An article from Rav Yona Goodman

As the long summer vacation continues, we as parents struggle to both entertain our children and also give them meaningful and productive activities. Rav Yona Good gives some powerful suggestions to parents to help make the summer not just a time of rest and relaxation, but also of growth and development.
Click here to download the article.

Rabbi Yona Goodman, Director of the Advanced Institute for Contemporary Education and Religion, publishes in Hebrew an educational newsletter geared towards teachers (and future teachers) called "Be'ayin Chinuchit".

The "Or Hanna" Summer Program at Orot

When thousands of students throughout the Ukraine are leaving school for the summer vacation, an elite group of girls from the Bet Hanna Seminar in Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine are coming to Orot for a special summer program of experiential studies. The success of this unique program should be attributed to the president of the college, Rabbi Prof. Neriah Guttel, Dr. Shraga Fisherman and the support of the Teacher Training Dept. of the Ministry of Education, the Claims Conference, the Jewish community in Dnepropetrovsk and others.

This is the twelfth consecutive year that the students of the Bet Hanna Seminar are coming to Orot. The goal of the program is to enhance their level of Jewish studies and Hebrew language, to get acquainted with the Land of Israel, and thus developing their relationship to Zionism and love of Eretz Yisrael as well as their connection to the Torah and Jewish Law.
The six weeks program consists of studies on a large variety of subjects given in Hebrew and in Russian by the best lecturers. Of course, the main emphasis is on the enhancement of their Hebrew language skills. 30 weekly hours are devoted to this purpose. The students are also learning methods of teaching the Holocaust in Jewish schools in the former Soviet Union.
In addition, the students are introduced to updated methodologies of teaching Jewish subjects and Hebrew. They also participate in experiential educational creativity in the well-equipped modern resource center of Orot. Furthermore, the students contribute the knowledge and the tools that they have acquired to groups of new immigrant children (girls) in Israel.
The teachers are partly from the Orot staff as well as from other places all over Israel and have been chosen scrupulously by the program administration.
The need for teachers in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in the former Soviet Union is clear and many efforts are invested in this program. The only college for teacher training in the former Soviet Union is the "Bet Hanna" Seminary. The Ministry of Education is well aware of the importance to increase the bond to Israel and its heritage in the Jewish schools of the Former Soviet Union, and therefore invests special efforts in this unique program.
In order to reach utmost success and efficiency from the program, the heads of Orot and the staff of Bet Hanna have meetings months before the program starts and together they crystallize the goals of the program, choosing scrupulously the suitable students for this program.
"Until now the program has proven itself to be extremely successful" says Rabbi Moshe Weber, Head of this year's program. "The knowledge that the students acquire here in the summer program in the fields of Hebrew, methodology and Jewish tradition, and especially the Israeli way of life, is equivalent to a few years of studies in Ukraine".
This year, one of the students will get married during the program – another proof of the program's success!

Summer Program – "Or Hanna"

Joint Program between "Bet Hanna Seminary" and "Orot Israel College" Elkana

When thousands of students throughout the Ukraine are leaving school for the summer vacation, an elite group of girls from the Bet Hanna Seminar in Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine are coming to Orot for a special summer program of experiential studies. The success of this unique program should be attributed to the president of the college, Rabbi Prof. Neriah Guttel, Dr. Shraga Fisherman and the support of the Teacher Training Dept. of the Ministry of Education, the Claims Conference, the Jewish community in Dnepropetrovsk and others.

This is the twelfth consecutive year that the students of the Bet Hanna Seminar are coming to Orot. The goal of the program is to enhance their level of Jewish studies and Hebrew language, to get acquainted with the Land of Israel, and thus developing their relationship to Zionism and love of Eretz Yisrael as well as their connection to the Torah and Jewish Law.
The six weeks program consists of studies on a large variety of subjects given in Hebrew and in Russian by the best lecturers. Of course, the main emphasis is on the enhancement of their Hebrew language skills. 30 weekly hours are devoted to this purpose. The students are also learning methods of teaching the Holocaust in Jewish schools in the former Soviet Union.
In addition, the students are introduced to updated methodologies of teaching Jewish subjects and Hebrew. They also participate in experiential educational creativity in the well-equipped modern resource center of Orot. Furthermore, the students contribute the knowledge and the tools that they have acquired to groups of new immigrant children (girls) in Israel.
The teachers are partly from the Orot staff as well as from other places all over Israel and have been chosen scrupulously by the program administration.
The need for teachers in Hebrew and Jewish Studies in the former Soviet Union is clear and many efforts are invested in this program. The only college for teacher training in the former Soviet Union is the "Bet Hanna" Seminary. The Ministry of Education is well aware of the importance to increase the bond to Israel and its heritage in the Jewish schools of the Former Soviet Union, and therefore invests special efforts in this unique program.
In order to reach utmost success and efficiency from the program, the heads of Orot and the staff of Bet Hanna have meetings months before the program starts and together they crystallize the goals of the program, choosing scrupulously the suitable students for this program.
"Until now the program has proven itself to be extremely successful" says Rabbi Moshe Weber, Head of this year's program. "The knowledge that the students acquire here in the summer program in the fields of Hebrew, methodology and Jewish tradition, and especially the Israeli way of life, is equivalent to a few years of studies in Ukraine".

A Lasting Legacy - Devar Torah for Parshat Pinchas

By Rabbi Reuven Spolter, Director of Recruiting and Special Projects

To download a pdf version of this devar Torah (for easy Shabbat reading), click here.

This week I officiated at the wedding of an old classmate from grade school. It was great to participate in his wedding, and I enjoyed being a part of their simcha. During the dinner, his mother and I were talking, and she said something that stuck in my mind. She said, "You know, no matter what you do in your profession, no matter how great your accomplishments, the bottom line is that your greatest legacy is your children."
The conversation was about her, so I didn't tell her what I was thinking, but what crossed my mind is, "And that's why I now live in Israel." Twice this week I've seen people from the States, both of whom asked me whether I miss the rabbinate. (I won't answer the question now - that's an entirely different post.) But it was very hard - gut-wrenchingly hard - to leave our shul and congregational life. It was, without a doubt, the hardest decision we ever made, because while we loved leading the membership of the shul and playing a role in our community, we knew that no matter how good Detroit or the rabbinate was for us, Israel would be better for our children.
And we were right on so many different levels. The schools are an order of magnitude higher than comparable schools in the States (at least for us). Life has much greater meaning. Children are freer, and yet given more responsibility. My children already have a sense of devotion to Am Yisrael that it would have been difficult, if not impossible to convey to them in the States.
I thought of this notion of legacy in light of a rather tragic section in Parshat Pinchas. After God instructs Moshe to climb Mount Avarim and gaze upon the Land of Israel before his death, Moshe asks God to appoint a new leader for the Jewish people. Rashi wonders: why does he wait this long? After all, he knew that he was going to die long before, so why does he only ask God to appoint a new leader at this point.
Rashi's answer always makes me a little sad:

כיון ששמע משה שאמר לו המקום תן נחלת צלפחד לבנותיו אמר הגיע שעה שאתבע צרכי שיירשו בני את גדולתי. אמר לו הקב"ה לא כך עלתה במחשבה לפני, כדאי הוא יהושע ליטול שכר שמושו שלא מש מתוך האהל

When Moshe heard God's instructions regarding Tzlafchad's inheritance that went to his daughters he said, "The time has arrived for me to make my own request - that my sons should inherit my greatness. Said God, "That did not enter into consideration before Me. Yehoshua is worthy to receive the reward for his service, for he did not stray from within your tent."

After everything Moshe had done for God and the Jewish people; after all his hard work and dedication; after giving up his nice life in Midyan to save the Jewish nation, separating from his wife, suffering through the forty years in the desert - after everything, all he wants is one thing. הגיע שעה שאתבע צרכי - "the time has come for me to claim my needs." For all that he had done: rescuing a nation, transmitting the Torah to them, remaking world history single-handedly; none of that was enough. He wanted his legacy to be his children. And that he could not have.

I listen regularly to a podcast called "This American Life." A recent episode called "Origin Stories" contained a story about advertising executive Julian Koenig, who made up famous ad campaigns like the "Think Small" campaign for the VW Beetle. Apparently, a former colleague claimed credit for much of his work, and Julian Koenig has spent a ton of time trying to retake credit for his work. But why, his daughter asked him, did he care that much about who got credit? After all, no one really knows about this stuff or cares, and anyone who does care already knows the truth? His daughter Sarah, who narrates the story says,

"He's eighty eight years old now, so his legacy is understandably on his mind. And even though he did famous campaigns: for all sorts of good causes: gun control, nuclear proliferation, Robert Kennedy's senatorial and presidential campaign, my father's not really satisfied with his work."

Said Julian:

Advertising is built on puffery, and on deception, and I don't think that anyone can go proudly into the next world with a career built on deception, no matter how well they do."

On one hand, it's impressive to see a person capable of looking back at his life's work with honesty and candor. But from another perspective, all I can think is: How sad. How many people will look back at a life of work spent sitting at a desk in front of a computer at an office, knowing that they helped corporations grow and prosper, or computers talk to one another, but spent less time on our true legacies - the values and principles they passed to their children; the energy they spent on their people, or their relationship with God?

Alumni Highlight - Fun in Jerusalem

Joanna Shebson attended Orot in 1993-1994. In 2007 she came on aliyah with her husband Jonathan and their two sons, Aryeh and Marko and they settled in Jerusalem. Joanna spent the first year getting her family adjusted and finishing shiputzim on their apt which is a job in itself. With the Israeli gan schedule finishing at 1pm she got used to finding fun activities to do with her kids in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is full of wonderful attractions, special events and even fun parks. In May 2009 Joanna started to collect information about events in Jerusalem for kids and from there her blog was born. Fun in Jerusalem is the source for kids' activities in Jerusalem. It includes an online calendar of events and blog posts about all sorts of topics for locals and tourists including swimming pools in Jerusalem, volunteer opportunities for teens and fun restaurants to take kids to. You can also find information and some fun discussions on the Fun In Jerusalem facebook group. For those who like to twitter you can find her @funinjerusalem.