Dear ORT Friends and Leaders,
I recently went to see Death of a Salesman at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway.
Arthur Miller has long been my favorite playwright. Each time I return to his works, I discover something new. And Death of a Salesman remains one of the most powerful explorations of the American Dream ever written, not because it celebrates success, but because it asks us to consider what happens when we build our lives on the wrong measures of success.
Willy Loman spends his life pursuing status, admiration, and the promise that being “well-liked” will somehow be enough. His tragedy isn’t simply that his dreams go unrealized. It’s that the foundations on which he built those dreams were always fragile. He is, his wife says, a little boat looking for a harbor, a man desperate for love, stability, and success in a harsh environment.
Watching the play again, I found myself reflecting on a very different idea, one deeply rooted in our own Jewish tradition. In his final blessing to the Jewish People, Moses declares: Torah tzivah lanu Moshe, morashah kehillat Yaakov (The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the ‘inheritance’ of the congregation of Jacob). The key here is the Hebrew word morashah, which really means more than an inheritance. It’s more like a living heritage, entrusted to one generation to preserve, enrich and pass on to the next.
For centuries, Jews understood that while wealth could be lost, homes destroyed and fortunes reversed, one inheritance could never truly be taken away: education.
Learning was our greatest investment, our deepest source of resilience, and the foundation of our ability not merely to survive, but to thrive.
That conviction has shaped World ORT since its founding over 145 years ago.
Every day, across the globe, World ORT helps young people acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence to build lives of dignity, purpose and independence.
We believe that education isn’t just about preparing someone for a career. It’s about equipping people to shape their own future and, in turn, strengthen their communities.
Arthur Miller reminds us of the dangers of confusing image with substance. Jewish tradition reminds us that the truest inheritance we can leave the next generation is neither status nor success but learning itself. Because an education is never lost.
We see it, and hear it, throughout our network:
From Kfar Silver in Israel, where 135 students crossed the stage this year after enduring a pandemic and a war: 135 Students One Triumphant Night Kfar Silver’s Graduating Cohort of 2026
In Ukraine, where educators maintain normalcy for students amid ongoing crisis: World ORT rallies to support injured student
From our Ecology Summer School in Panama, where a student said the life-changing experience inspired her to study biology: ‘Ecology Summer School Made Me Want to Study Biology’
That’s an inheritance worth passing on.
Wishing you and your families a peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat shalom,
Dov
Dov Ben-Shimon
Chief Executive Officer, World ORT