Ukrainian students who fled to Israel feel safer there, even during war

This article first appeared in The Jerusalem Post

By SHARON GELBACH

For Sviatoslav, Michael and Maria, the attacks on October 7 were an unimaginable development – but for them the implications carried a different resonance than for their peers at the Kfar Silver Youth Village near Ashkelon.

The trio are part of a group of students who fled the war in Ukraine in March 2022 and came to Israel to study at the village, owned by the World ORT educational network, in what they hoped would be more peaceful surroundings. 

After leaving behind their war-torn home country they immediately set about acclimating to a completely different culture, learning Hebrew and navigating their high-school studies. 

Monique Zahavi, International Relations Coordinator at World ORT Kadima Mada, the network’s operational arm in Israel, describes the students as “incredibly resilient and inspirational”.

She says their challenges have not stopped them from striving to reach their potential. “They contribute to school life at every opportunity. The depth of thought and engagement that they contribute to our young ambassadors sessions is heartwarming.” 

Sviatoslav, 17, described the shock of that fateful morning in October. “I was in Ashkelon with friends and was woken up at 6am by the rocket fire. There were reports that terrorists had infiltrated Israel. I saw pictures of Sderot. Ashkelon is extremely close to Sderot. We closed all the windows and doors and stayed in the safe room for two hours. Yeah, that was scary.” 

Due to its proximity to the Gaza border, Kfar Silver students were among the first to be evacuated, under the watchful eyes of Amos Gofer, the village’s CEO, and other staff.

Sviatoslav moved into his grandmother’s house in Holon, while Michael, Maria and other dorm students were taken to Hadassah Neurim, a verdant youth campus with a view of the sea, just north of Netanya. Some six weeks later, they returned to Kfar Silver, amid frequent rocket fire that forced them to sleep on mattresses in the safety of the bomb shelter.  

In fluent English, the three share what it was like to flee the Russian onslaught on Ukraine. Sviatoslav asserts that the booms of the Iron Dome missile interceptions do not faze him after what he experienced in his hometown of Kharkiv. “I saw Russian soldiers invading my city, I saw dead people lying in the street. At least five times I thought, ‘I’m going to die right now’ because there was constant shelling right next to us and we didn’t have any bomb shelter.”

In the early days of that conflict, the teenager and his parents suffered severe hunger, unable to leave the house due to a curfew, and then forced to wait in line with thousands of other terrified civilians to buy bread. 

Michael, 18, a native of Kyiv, is also no stranger to deadly rocket attacks. The day after the war began in February 2022 he fled with his family to a village on the border of Belarus, where they stayed for six days. From there he made his way to the Polish border where it took 15 hours to cross over, waiting all night in a line with thousands of other people to board one bus that took only about 30 people at a time. Michael describes a scene he will never forget: people forced to leave their belongings behind in the snow, since all the extra space on the bus had to be used to transport people. 

Once in Poland, Michael had to wait for a week, but he had all his needs including food and accommodation taken care of before boarding his long-awaited flight to Israel. Two weeks after arriving he moved to Kfar Silver.

Maria lived with her mother in Kharkiv, close to the frontline, but fortunately was staying with her father in Kyiv. With her brother and father she fled westward to a village where the homes lacked indoor plumbing and she had to take a shower at the neighbors’ home. After a few weeks, they crossed the border to Moldova, and took a taxi to Kishinev. The next day they were already on a flight to Israel. “At 16 I was old enough to travel alone,” Maria relates, “but because my younger brother was underage, he needed a legal guardian to accompany him. Luckily, my father found a volunteer to cross with us and he accompanied us all the way Israel.”

Arriving in Israel with no way to return to Ukraine was not what any of the students had expected. The three had been in the midst of the application process to study at Kfar Silver for the school year of 2022-23 through the Naale program which welcomes students from the former Soviet Union to Israel ahead of their family members joining them in making aliyah. 

They had anticipated arriving in the summer of 2022. Eighteen-year-old Michael said he was “so happy to finally arrive in the land of Israel — and to Kfar Silver, one of the best schools in Israel, although it wasn’t exactly in the way I wanted”.

Maria was able to visit her parents and grandparents in Ukraine last summer, but Sviatoslav and Michael are in a different category. If they travelled home, they would be subject to Ukrainian law that prohibits males, even below conscription age, from leaving the country. 

Sviatoslav admits that he misses his home, his friends and his family. He met his mother and sister during the last two summers when they came to Israel to visit, but has not seen his father in the two years since he has been in Israel. “The situation in Ukraine isn’t any more dangerous now than Israel. Sometimes I dream about receiving an Israeli passport and visiting Ukraine as an Israeli.”

Despite the adversity they have faced, with the help and nurturing of Kfar Silver’s dedicated staff, these students have thrived. “They supported each other through their relocation to Israel, and now, during the war in Israel, they continue to support one another,” Monique Zahavi observes. “It’s a privilege to watch these young people grow in confidence and develop a sense of self-assuredness and self-awareness. They are true heroes.” 

This article was written in cooperation with World ORT.

These Ukrainian teenagers sought refuge from war in Israel. Then they were caught up in the horrors of Hamas’ attack

This article first appeared in CNN
Ashkelon, Israel — CNN — It was supposed to be a safe haven – a new life for those seeking refuge from the turbulence of war.

But when tens of thousands of Ukrainians fled to Israel in the wake of Russia’s invasion, they had no idea of what the future would hold.

With men aged 18 to 60 forbidden to leave Ukraine, the refugees were mostly women, children and the elderly. Among them, four courageous teenagers who arrived alone in Israel to start a new life as a result of Moscow’s assault on their homeland on February 24, 2022.

Little more than a year and a half later, these young people found themselves immersed in another conflict, as they study at a boarding school just 8 miles from Gaza.

“The day before was very peaceful,” recalled Artem Karpin, 18, of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. “I remember thinking I wasn’t really ready with my homework and wondering how to postpone my deadlines.”

Karpin lives and studies at Kfar Silver, a youth village near Ashkelon, close to where Hamas militants infiltrated the border that Saturday morning. He is one of about 40 Ukrainian refugees to enrol there since Russia invaded his country.

Artem Karpin was visiting family in Israel when Russia invaded Ukraine. His family insisted he remain there.

Run by the global education charity World ORT, the “village” is effectively a sprawling complex for 1,090 children from challenging backgrounds – including 250 boarders.

Originally from the southwestern city of Odesa, Karpin had been visiting relatives in Israel when Russia invaded Ukraine. His father gave him no choice but to stay put.

“I started crying when I began to understand that I’m not going back,” he told CNN at Kfar Silver. “I felt betrayed. I didn’t think it was a wise decision to leave me here.”

Nearly 2,000 miles from his parents, Karpin, then 16, enrolled at Kfar Silver, where he soon began to learn the language, make friends and settle in. That was until life was upended again on October 7.

“That morning we all ran from the dorms to the shelter in the school,” he said. “I was scared but not terrified. I was trying to talk it all through rationally and it really helped.”

Karpin was one of 63 of pupils on site that day, as was 18-year-old Michael Reider.

These four teenagers all moved from wartorn Ukraine to Kfar Silver near Ashkelon in Israel. From left: Michael Reider, Artem Karpin, Maria and Sviatoslav Kulyk.

Originally from Kyiv, Reider arrived in Israel in March 2022 following a gruelling journey from his homeland to Poland, where he spent a week on his own before flying out.

On that “black Shabbat” of October 7, he said: “I woke up and there were a lot of sirens and rockets were flying.

“I had already experienced one invasion and now this was a second one. I don’t know how to explain it – I wasn’t really afraid. I felt kind of angry and like I had the energy to fight.”

Pupils and staff remained in the shelter for hours as the unprecedented terror raged around them.

Amos Gofer, who served in the IDF for 25 years before becoming chief executive of Kfar Silver, told CNN: “During my military service I spent time in Lebanon, Gaza, occupied territories. I saw some stuff but October 7 was the hardest day of my professional life.

“We were terrified. We knew very early that the situation was very bad, that there were a lot of terrorists.”

‘Thousands of rockets’

Friday had marked the end of a week-long religious holiday, so fortunately very few pupils were at school, said Gofer. Most of the Ukrainian students, however, had nowhere else to be.

“I was sure the terrorists were going to come here to kill us,” said Gofer, who keeps the remains of a rocket which exploded on the school grounds on his desk.

“I had three people with personal pistols, which was nothing compared to the heavy ammunition the terrorists had.

“We saw no helicopters, no police, no military – I still don’t understand why it took so long,” said Gofer, referring to widespread reports on October 7 that the army and security forces took hours to react to the incursions.

Amos Gofer, CEO of the Kfar Silver youth village, poses with the gnarled remnants of a Hamas rocket which landed near to the school.

Gofer told CNN that “thousands of rockets” flew over the village, while fires broke out everywhere around them.

With no response to his repeated calls to the army and emergency services, who were dealing with ongoing attacks in multiple locations, Gofer finally called a bus company manager he knew.

“He told me none of his bus drivers were willing to come… everyone was terrified.”

Two drivers from the bus company eventually volunteered to evacuate the children to another village further north, he added. “They told me if they’re not out of here in two, three minutes they would go without the students.”

Karpin recalled: “We had several minutes to pack our clothes and run for the buses. I got the most essential stuff and that’s it. In an hour or two we were in Netanya.”

Four days later, Karpin’s parents, back in Ukraine, insisted that he leave Israel with other relatives for Europe.

“After three weeks I started to feel that I wanted to return (to Israel),” he said of his time in Greece and Germany. “I missed my studies and my friends. It was getting a little safer in Israel, so I convinced my family I needed to get back.”

‘I was scared’

In common with some other foreign boarders, 17-year-old Maria, who asked not to give her surname for privacy reasons, was staying with a nearby “host family” because of the religious holiday when Hamas launched its assault on October 7.

“At six in the morning we were all running to the shelter and you could hear sirens,” she said.

Originally from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Maria and her younger brother had moved to their father’s home in Kyiv following the Russian invasion. Eventually the two siblings left the country via Moldova and flew to Israel.

“When war broke out in Ukraine it was like life fell apart and this time it was very similar – I had flashbacks,” she said. “I was scared but also thought if I tried to distance myself as much as possible everything would be OK.”

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from Ashkelon in southern Israel October 8, 2023.

She remained with the family, who live in Ashkelon, for several days before heading north to join the evacuees, including her brother. There they remained until last month when they returned to the school.

“My mum was worried about us,” she said, adding that their mother suggested they return home to Ukraine.

“I told myself I could go back but that I’d be going back to war and I couldn’t possibly know if it’s safer. At the same time, I didn’t want to leave Israel. I thought ‘do I need to flee again to start life again once more?’”

After lengthy family discussions, the siblings decided to stay.

“In some ways I’d rather be here,” said Maria. “I just wish for my family to be brought together again in peace.”

Fellow Ukrainian Sviatoslave Kulyk, 17, told CNN he had “not been afraid at all” about leaving his family for Israel back in 2022.

“I understood that it was better to live in a country with no war,” he said.

That all changed when he woke up at his friend’s house in Ashkelon on October 7.

“I had flashbacks to Ukraine, especially when we watched TV about what was happening,” said Kulyk, who told CNN he had witnessed Russian forces roll into his street from his home in Kharkiv.

“My mum was really afraid of me being in Ashkelon but I was trying to explain that I had a bomb shelter here,” he said, adding that Ukrainian homes are not equipped with so-called safe rooms. All Israeli homes built after 1993 must have such a shelter, designed to protect residents from rocket attacks.

Pupils at the Kfar Silver “youth village” near Ashkelon have come under fire from Hamas rocket attacks. Among them are a number of Ukrainian teenagers who fled their homeland for refuge in Israel.

World ORT schools in Mexico, Bulgaria offer education and empathy for Israelis traumatized by war

This article first appeared in the Times of Israel

The month-long program at Colegio Olamí, geared for students aged 12-16, provided teens with plenty of opportunities for learning and socializing

Colegio Olamí ORT in Mexico City has introduced a transformative program for 25 Israeli high school students who were evacuated from their communities near Gaza, in the wake of the war in Israel.  The initiative, the brainchild of Olamí school principal Avi Meir, is part of global Jewish education network World ORT’s broader mission to support Jewish students, providing stable educational environments during challenging times.

The month-long program at Colegio Olamí, geared for students aged 12-16, provided teens with plenty of opportunities for learning and socializing, in both formal classes as well as extracurricular activities and trips. None of the guests knew Spanish, but as Orly Picker, the academic director at Olami, explained, “Kids manage! Between Hebrew and English, they were able to communicate beautifully with their host families and the other students.”

The Israeli students were matched in advance with families with a boy or girl of a similar age, giving parents and teens from both sides of the globe the opportunity to become acquainted over the phone. The Israelis joined their Mexican peers for many of the classes and after-school activities. Spanish classes, activities at the local Jewish sports center, and Mexican cooking classes were big favorites.

 

Some programs, though, were geared to the Israeli guests only, such as the group sessions led by a Hebrew-speaking psychologist, designed to give the teens space to express themselves freely. “Sometimes they wanted to talk, and other times they sang or wanted to just hang out,” said Picker.

There were a few cases of children who were still traumatized by the events of Oct. 7. “We had one girl who had trouble sleeping; and she didn’t have much of an appetite. We arranged professional, one-on-one help with an Israeli psychologist. By the following week, she was feeling better.”


It wasn’t always easy for the teens, accustomed to the relative freedom they enjoyed as Israelis and as kibbutzniks, to adjust to the life in Mexico. “At first, they couldn’t believe that we wouldn’t allow them to go out alone.” said Picker. “We had to explain to them very clearly, ‘No, you cannot travel on your own. This is Mexico City, and you are our responsibility.’”

One of the highlights was the visit to the synagogue on Friday night for Shabbat services, followed by a beautifully catered meal. “They were especially moved by the prayer for the soldiers, and four students asked to stay overnight at the home of the rabbi so that they could attend services the following day.”

Picker points out the generosity of the Mexican community, who picked up the tab for all outings and meals, and particularly the host families, who treated the teens as if they were their own children. The entire program was free of charge.

In January, Colegio Olamí will be welcoming another delegation of students from World ORT Kadima Mada’sKfar Silver Youth Village near Ashkelon, Israel, for a two-week program.

The school has also absorbed a group of 22 students from Israel on full scholarships. According to Amelie Esquenazi, the World ORT representative for Latin America, these are children of Mexican families who had previously made Aliyah, but have now fled war zones and who will be remaining indefinitely in Mexico.

Welcome to Sofia

Mirroring the efforts in Mexico, the ORT school in Sofia, Bulgaria, under the leadership of Director Plamen Petrov and Hebrew Coordinator Stella Dinkova, has also become a haven for children of Israeli families fleeing conflict. Following the outbreak of war, Bulgaria, long a popular destination for Israelis, has seen a significant influx of families, particularly from southern Israel.

“The local community in Sofia has provided families with an outpouring of essential support including food, clothing, toys, and housewares,” said Dinkova. As part of those efforts, ten children, aged 6-13, have been integrated into the ORT school, and have started to learn Bulgarian while continuing their Hebrew education and Jewish cultural studies.

This is a similar arrangement to one put in place by Dr. Petrov and his team after the outbreak of war in Ukraine last year. ORT students from that country were also absorbed into the Sofia school after being displaced by the violence.

Both the Mexican and Bulgarian schools highlight World ORT’s focus on education as a means of stability, growth, and healing for young individuals and families facing adversity. The network’s commitment to global solidarity and empathy across its schools, universities and extra-curricular programs in over 40 countries, stands as a beacon of hope and collaboration in challenging times.

 

Israel is a nation in trauma, but our children are resilient – opinion

This article first appeared in The Jerusalem Post

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Despite the complexity of “the situation,” I’m optimistic. I trust in our students’ resilience and their ability to overcome this trauma.

Having started my career as a teacher, and then gone on to become a “teacher of teachers,” student mental health has always been at the forefront of my mind.

Since assuming my position at World ORT Kadima Mada just prior to the onset of COVID-19 and now with the war in Gaza and its ripple effects, it seems I was destined to work in a state of perpetual crisis management. But while the pandemic brought challenges of loneliness and social anxiety, the war has introduced more profound and pervasive trauma-related issues.

On October 7, our sense of security, as a nation, was shattered. Terrorist incursions suddenly felt dangerously close. We no longer feel safe in our own homes.

Children absorb unspoken messages from their parents and are far more vulnerable. In the first weeks of the war, a video circulated showing how to fashion an apparatus to lock the mamad (safe room) from the inside; it was national hysteria. Parents must realize that they pass on their own fear and anxiety to their children, who don’t have the emotional and cognitive tools to process it. Not surprisingly, my colleagues and I have been seeing children experiencing existential terror, refusing to exit the mamad for any length of time.

Social media is another factor that plays a major role in exacerbating the trauma, as from the first week of the war children were exposed to graphic content, dubbed “war porn.” It’s incumbent on parents and educators to take a more proactive approach in shielding children from triggering images and educating them about responsible media consumption.

1 in 20 students were in the ‘first circle’ of those affected on Oct 7

World ORT Kadima Mada runs the southern youth village of Kfar Silver, located some 8 km. from the Gaza border. Just days after the war broke out, Kfar Silver was evacuated and students were placed with relatives or in hotels and special evacuation centers for displaced residents.

Out of the more than 1,000 students at Kfar Silver, 56 are in the “first circle” of those affected, with people close to them who were murdered, wounded, or abducted. Significant numbers of staff are also in the first circle, having either experienced loss; or having loved ones serving on the front lines. Additionally, we have dozens of students from Ukraine who fled their homes just a year and a half ago, and they are now forced to uproot themselves once again.

In the first weeks of the war, my staff and I were focused on mental health “first aid.” We visited students in 44 evacuation centers throughout Israel, ensuring that they were getting the psychological support they needed, and offering our services as well. Some kids, for example, are eligible for intensive mental health intervention from the government but haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity, for various reasons. One of my biggest responsibilities at this time is making sure no child is left behind.

One of my students from the Gaza border kibbutz of Nir Am knew several people who were murdered and kidnapped. As he and his family were being evacuated on October 7, they witnessed horrific scenes, including bodies strewn on the ground. Since that day, we’ve been in regular contact. His teacher calls him daily, and he receives treatment and support from our educational psychologist and myself.

AS THE conflict wears on, a semblance of normalcy, or what we call “emergency routine” is emerging. Students are starting to return to Kfar Silver and attend in-person classes. Through classroom discussion, one-on-one talks, breathing exercises, mindfulness, and physical activity with an emphasis on self-defense, we’re seeing teens slowly processing what they’ve been through and regaining their sense of empowerment.

Therapeutic workshops, such as robotics and other DIY projects, where students can talk while they build, are also valuable means of getting kids to express themselves. It’s critical that they open up and talk about the events now, during the initial trauma stage, so that there aren’t problems down the line that can turn into post-trauma.

The long-term work is also the most challenging. After weeks of being out of school and away from their regular environment, some displaced youths have begun displaying at-risk behaviors. In Eilat, for example, they were taken to see the sights, to the beach – and that was great for a week or two. But how long can you be on vacation? The boredom, compounded by the trauma and stress, spawned secondary problems, such as vandalism and substance abuse.

Conversely, we have a group of older students who have found jobs. That’s a good thing, but not if it keeps them from returning to school because they want to continue working and earning.

As we progress through the emotionally turbulent period of watching the hostages return, I believe in both a bottom-up and a top-down approach. Not only students but staff, too, should be encouraged to avail themselves of the mental health services we offer. Those who are reluctant should be gently pushed to participate in one or another of the supportive mechanisms designed to help people cope. It’s not only crucial for their personal welfare, it will impact on how they interact with the students.

With the war ongoing, and the ripple effects that we will be seeing as time goes on, my plan at this time is to integrate emotional and mental health content into the fabric of the curriculum and services World ORT Kadima Mada provides.

Despite the complexity of “the situation,” I’m optimistic. I trust in our students’ resilience and their ability to overcome this trauma. We work with them, we foster their sense of belonging, we tell them: “We’re in this together.” And those aren’t empty words; that is truly our strength.

By Moshe Leiba

The writer is head of pedagogy at World ORT Kadima Mada in Israel.

Restoring safety and trust: How educational specialists are supporting traumatized students in Israel

This article first appeared in the JNS

Royi Yablochnik emphasizes talking with them, and being open and honest in an age-appropriate way.

(November 20, 2023 / JNS) By Joanne Newman

In normal times, Royi Yablochnik runs One Team Camp, a summer event bringing together Jewish and Bedouin Israeli teenage girls for cross-cultural sports activities organized by World ORT Kadima Mada. The camps foster a sense of belonging and promote values, including equality, inclusion and mutual respect.

But these are not normal times. Since Hamas’s devastating attacks on Oct. 7, the educational psychologist and sports consultant has been providing therapeutic support to World ORT Kadima Mada students aged between 12 and 16, as well as to staff, instructors and educators.

Over the past month, Kadima Mada—World ORT’s operational arm in Israel—has delivered hundreds of activities to more than 3,500 students, mainly covering psychological needs. From World ORT’s Kfar Silver Youth Village near Ashkelon alone, more than 100 children are receiving urgent mental health support.

Yablochnik has been displaced from southern Israel and is now based in Tel Aviv. His role is threefold: the first is to reduce the anxiety of his colleagues and students; the second is to equip teachers and parents with tools to support the children; and the third is to provide one-to-one or group therapy, either face-to-face or via Zoom.

 

A student in Dimona, Israel, takes part in a puppet-making class. Credit: World ORT.

“In Israel now, there is a lot of anxiety,” he says. “And in times of stress, we can lose the ability to control our thinking, so we need to find a way to calm the mind. I give the students and staff exercises on how to do this. If they need follow-up sessions, I can do that myself or refer them to psychologists near where they are.”

Students, teachers and other staff were evacuated from their base in Kfar Silver, which is only eight miles from Gaza. Many of them have friends or family members who lost their lives in the Hamas attacks and the proximity to Gaza means residents have very little time to find shelter in the event of rocket fire.

Yablochnik, who is also serving in the army reserves, describes how in stressful situations there are three responses: fight, flight or freeze. But now there is another response, he notes, and that is fear. “The sense of security in one’s home is damaged,” he says.

The psychological impact of Hamas’s barbaric attacks cannot be overestimated.

“As children, you are led to believe that there will always be an adult to take care of you,” he says. “In the beginning, it’s your mother and father, and when you grow up, it’s the commander or the army, police and government. But that idea was quashed on Oct. 7 because people’s first questions were ‘Where’s the army? Where is the government?’ because many were waiting almost eight hours in the shelter.”

He explains that “the first thing I’m dealing with is to restore the feeling of safety and trust. From a psychological point of view, if you don’t build your ‘story,’ your mind will keep questioning things and will suggest its own answer, which is not good because it will continue in survival mode and not let us move on.”

Royi Yablochnik.

‘Bring back a sense of control’

Part of his efforts are aimed at reconciling civilians with the fact their lives are not continuing as usual.

“They need to deal with a new situation; they must stop trying to go back to the routine they had on Oct. 6. What we tend to tell them is that we will try to keep as much of a schedule as we can, to keep things as similar as possible to what life was like before. For example, sleep, exercise—things we know will help to bring back a sense of control.

“I bring tools from the world of sports psychology because we know athletes deal with stress all the time. Obviously, the stress is different now and people are in survival mode, but there are things we can do that are very similar to what we can do in times of normal stress—for example, focus on how to breathe and take part in physical activity.”

Some Israeli schools are operational, but teachers understand that students will be distracted and unfocused. Additionally, parents fear their children may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from their experiences, but he is reassuring. “Most of the people, almost 80%, will heal by themselves,” but he emphasizes that the way parents handle the situation will influence the way their children do.

“If you are very anxious and afraid, or you’re very mad all the time because you’re not sleeping, it will affect the children. Conversely, if you see your children laugh and be happy, it will make you stronger and reduce your anxiety.”

He emphasizes talking with them, and being open and honest in an age-appropriate way. “Children notice things. It’s hard to tell children about the situation, and many parents think it might be best to hide it from them, but children don’t live in isolation; they talk with friends.”

He praises World ORT, the Jewish education network working across more than 40 countries, and Kadima Mada for the support provided straight after the attacks. “It is very important to provide therapy straight away, as well as in the months afterwards, particularly to prevent PTSD. They encouraged us to contact people immediately to see whether they needed our help, rather than waiting for them to contact us.”

 

Students in Dimona, Israel, take part in a puppet-making class.

He hopes to be able to provide more face-to-face therapy and physical activity sessions, especially as he foresees a rise in PTSD cases in the country given the unprecedented numbers of people who were involved in the terror attacks.

But, he adds, offering a note of optimism: “The solidarity in the country now means I don’t think it will be as bad as it could have been. As human beings, we love to be in groups, and groups make us strong. The [political] situation we had in Israel in the past year was very bad. People are now more united.”

ORT’s emergency global campaign is working to provide urgent educational and psychological support for students, teachers and their families across Israel.

DONATE TO THE EMERGENCY CAMPAIGN

Nurturing Hearts and Minds in Troubled Times

This article first appeared in the Times of Israel 

These are dark days for all of us across Israel. Tragically, children have been terribly affected by the atrocities, displacement and learning loss of the past weeks.

In response, in the earliest hours and days of the war, World ORT Kadima Mada – the operational arm in Israel of World ORT’s global Jewish education network – initiated efforts to provide urgent educational and psychological support.

World ORT has provided dignity and hope to displaced people since the Holocaust. We had assumed that the type of work characterized by our support for Jewish refugees in DP camps between 1945 and 1948 was something relegated to the history books. But here we are, nearly 80 years later, continuing our mission with the same commitment and passion.

Israel is currently a hotbed of NGOs and civic society organizations carrying out remarkable work across diverse areas. Our contribution is focused on two key areas.

One of the most significant needs right now is to support the emotional and mental health of our nearly 10,000 students and teachers and their families, as well as others in communities across the country.

Our comprehensive psychological support packages include running one-on-one and group sessions with psychologists trained in mental first-aid. We have been systematically mapping and evaluating the emotional needs of our beneficiaries, particularly in the mild-to-severe ranges and providing dedicated, tailored support to individuals.

We’d like to start online classes for all our student diaspora, but for many children, their heads are just not in it right now. They are not ready for Maths or English classes. It is one step at a time. All they can currently manage are educational distraction online programs – taking their minds off things for a short time while they are trying to process everything that has happened.

Examples of this are seen most clearly with our students from the Kfar Silver Youth Village at Ashkelon, just a few kilometers from the Gaza border. Although the village was thankfully safely evacuated on the day of the attacks, tragically a significant number of students and teachers have lost family members and friends. Dozens of people with links to our organization have been killed or kidnapped by terrorists. A number of Kfar Silver graduates have been killed serving in the IDF.

The bespoke work with counsellors or social workers can be a lifeline for teenagers grappling with these heartbreaking scenarios. Many have been taking part in therapeutic workshops in subjects including science, robotics, coding and virtual reality. We have already reached almost 2,000 children, helping kids from grades one to eight in both the southern and northern peripheries of Israel. The daily sessions give them some semblance of normalcy – beacons of hope during this turbulent time.

In parallel we are training teachers and instructors in effective online teaching methodology so that we can continue to provide education for the duration of the crisis, however long it might be. Distributing laptops and assisting educators in integrating their curricula into online activities ensures a comprehensive approach. We will not leave any student or teacher behind in this work.

One of the most heart-warming aspects of this dreadful time is seeing our friends and colleagues in Israel, and across World ORT’s global network spanning more than 40 countries, offering to volunteer their time and resources to support us. We have been inspired by the commitment of Jewish students worldwide to reach out to their peers here, exemplifying World ORT’s values of co-operation and Tikkun Am – Jews investing in our own identity, culture, religion, rituals and state to ensure a meaningful Jewish future with young people who are able to engage in the world with pride and knowledge.

This is a devastating moment in our history, but this compassion and kindness gives us hope that better times lie ahead – they have to, and we will work night and day to ensure they do.

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Kfar Silver: Israeli youth village beset by Gaza rockets – Opinion

This article first appeared in the The Jerusalem Post.

Just days after Israel celebrated 75 years, we were flung headfirst into Operation Shield and Arrow. This latest round of missile attacks from Gaza – and sadly, it won’t be the last – gave the world a glimpse into the reality that civilians in southern towns near the Gaza Strip border deal with on a regular basis.

It’s a reality where a siren sounds its blast at any time of day or night – and no, it’s not something you get used to, ever. A stray rocket or two fired toward Israel “just because” won’t always make the news but it will never fail to sow terror in the hearts of the men, women and children for whom having to scurry to safety has become a part of life.

Welcome to Kfar Silver, a verdant, blooming youth village just eight miles from the Gaza Strip, spread out over 74 acres of beautiful grounds. The village caters to over 1,400 children, ages 6-19; as well as hundreds of dedicated staff and volunteers.

Under the auspices of World ORT Kadima Mada, the schools, catering to young students through high school age, offer advanced academics, with particular emphasis on STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art and math), in addition to rich and varied extracurricular programs.

In my four wonderful years serving here as the director, the student body has doubled and many facilities have undergone extensive renovations. From a small community in Israel’s underdeveloped periphery, Kfar Silver has grown into a modern center where youth are empowered and encouraged to develop their potential and become productive members of Israeli society.

Over 90% take matriculation exams and go on to serve in elite IDF units. Following their army service, the majority pursue an academic education.

An Israeli school evacuated due to Gaza rockets

But there’s no escaping that each round of intensive fighting in Gaza leaves its mark. Our location, so close to Gaza, gives us just 25-30 seconds to find shelter. That means that as soon as you hear the siren, no matter where you are or what you were in the middle of doing, you run for your life.

As soon as it became clear that we were in the midst of another war, Kfar Silver evacuated all students who have families. We were left with 60 students who had nowhere to go. For those kids – some of whom are refugees from Ukraine – the sounds of the sirens, the explosions and the raw fear brought back the trauma and terror they’d escaped from.

In recent years, with the help of the Education Ministry, the regional council and generous donors worldwide, we’ve built shelters throughout the village so that students and staff don’t have to run too far to safety. Nevertheless, the need is greater than the resources that are available and so we launched a campaign to build safe rooms adjoining the homes of families living here.

Unfortunately, we still have a number of families without safe rooms. After being forced to spend the night with their children in the bomb shelters at the beginning of the recent spate of rocket fire, they could hardly be blamed for leaving the village to stay with friends and family who have adequate safety accommodations.

For the kids who were forced to stay at Kfar Silver, though, it meant removing their one major source of stability. Many exhibited severe symptoms of PTSD and one child needed hospitalization.

The current ceasefire appears to be holding and for that, we’re all grateful. Our students, staff and volunteers are all back and we’re continuing full steam ahead, evaluating and reevaluating safety and security protocols, and planning safe rooms and shelters for our growing population.

Our social workers and counselors are constantly working to reassure every single student and to reestablish their sense of security. Our message to our students is one of optimism mixed with realism.

While we cannot take anything for granted, we continue our focus on quality education and providing every student with a path to a safe and successful future.

Amos Gofer is CEO of World ORT’s Kfar Silver Youth Village

ORT Leaders Join Thousands in Israel to Celebrate 75 Years of Statehood

ORT leaders gathered in Israel to celebrate the country’s 75th anniversary, joining thousands of participants for this important milestone.

Dr. Conrad Giles, World ORT President; Dan Green, World ORT Director General and CEO; and Barbara Birch, President and CEO of ORT America, took part in meetings and activities organized by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) for a special General Assembly held in conjunction with Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Dan Green said: “To be in Israel for Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom HaZikaron is always an honor – and even more so this year. It has been particularly special to be back in Israel with the JFNA for the first time in five years and to be able to celebrate in person with so many friends from across the Federation system.

“It was extremely moving to attend Yom HaZikaron memorials to remember those killed while serving in Israel’s armed forces and in acts of terror. We remember Keren Tendler z”l, an ORT graduate who was the first woman to serve in an IDF helicopter squadron. She gave her life at just 27 years old when her helicopter was shot down during the second Lebanon War in 2006.”

The JFNA four-day assembly included sessions at Tel Aviv’s Expo Center and site visits to join local Yom HaZikaron memorial services at schools, community centers and non-profit organizations across Israel.

At an opening ceremony on Sunday, the GA heard from Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, who praised the work of the JFNA and the organizations it supports and works with. He called for more extensive dialogue between Israel and the Diaspora, at a time when there are distinct differences of opinion both in the country and abroad on Israeli government policies.

ORT leaders at the JFNA Opening Ceremony

On Monday, the first full day of programming, delegates had the opportunity to meet Sivan Mekonen, a World ORT Kadima Mada graduate from Kiryat Yam, a coastal town in Israel’s northern periphery, who explained the impact robotics classes at a Kadima Mada-affiliated school had on her education and career.

Sivan, whose parents made Aliyah to Israel from Ethiopia in the 1990s before she was born, described how she had become one of the first girls at Levinson High School to study electronics. After developing her interest in the topic at 15, she went on to finish school with qualifications in robotics and other technology-based subjects and now studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

She told conference-goers that she wanted to give something back, and now works part-time as an instructor, leading robotics classes for young students.


ORT Graduate and STEM instructor Sivan with Mirav Shaines

Also joining was Mirav Shaines, who manages formal and informal STEAM education programs  in World ORT Kadima Mada’s YOUniversity program – mainly in the Northern region. “I see my mission in the field of technology education to make every student believe in their ability to develop and succeed,” she said.

Barbara Birch participated in a series of GA sessions related to ORT’s focus areas, such as supporting vulnerable communities in Israel’s periphery, extending educational opportunities to young people, and encouraging skills development and career preparation for students in under-resourced communities.

She said: “There is so much incredible work being done in Israel to bridge the gap between the center and Israel’s marginalized populations including Arab Israelis, Charedi communities, new immigrants from Ukraine and Ethiopia and those who are in lower socio-economic communities.

“World ORT Kadima Mada is addressing those issues by providing educational opportunities to students beginning as young as kindergarten so they will have the best chance to compete and succeed in Israel’s economy.”

Dr. Giles and Mr. Green accompanied the Jewish Federation of Cleveland Mission to the Kfar Silver Youth Village, close to the Gaza border, where the group met students and saw the impact of the support of donations from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The most moving moment of the trip came with the annual Yom HaZikaron service at Latrun, Israel’s military memorial site. Mr. Green and Ms. Birch were among 7,000 people in attendance.

 

Dan Green and Barbara Birch at Latrun

On Yom HaZikaron, participants fanned out across Israel to join communities at their memorial services. The evening transition to Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations was lively with Israeli food and dancing that lasted late into the night. The GA concluded with a trip to Neot Kedumim Biblical Park for a day of Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations including music, Israeli barbecue and dancing.

Dr. Giles said: “To be here in Israel with our friends and partners from across the Federation system has been a wonderful way to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary. We should all be proud of the contribution World ORT has made towards the building of the modern state.

“By training and educating tens of thousands of Israelis and giving them every opportunity to succeed in their lives and careers, we have also helped Israel itself to flourish.”

 

‘Education is the key to everything’ – Robert Singer

This article first appeared in the Jerusalem Post. You can read it on their website here, or below. 

In an interview at the Jerusalem Post’s virtual conference, ‘COVID-19 and the Jews: Challenges and Opportunities’, Robert Singer, Chair of the Board of Trustees of World ORT explained the significance of the organization’s credo.

Speaking with Maayan Hoffman, Jerusalem Post News Editor, Singer said that World ORT, which is celebrating its 140th anniversary, is a big family, and as in any family, “education is key even through crisis periods.”

Parents want to provide their children with the very best education, and children look to education as a social outlet for friends and for climbing the ladder of success in life.

WATCH: Robert Singer in conversation with Maayan Hoffman

Singer said that World ORT, one of the oldest Jewish organizations in the world, has faced challenging situations throughout its long history, including two world wars, and difficulties with Communist regimes. “For us, COVID-19 is another challenge.”

To illustrate the organization’s long history, he showed a letter from Nazi Adolf Eichmann, written in March 1941, granting the Jews permission to continue operating the ORT school in Berlin.

He added that World ORT has thousands of volunteers helping its students continue their education online throughout the world during COVID-19, in different languages.

Responding to a query about the spike in antisemitism during the pandemic, Singer said that while the increase is worrisome, there is some reason for optimism.

Dozens of countries have adopted the official IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism, and most governments and legislations understand its significance. COVID-19 has brought back the resurgence of a new-old phenomena, said Singer, and “we have to fight back.”

Dan Green: ‘Jewish charities must rethink their approach’

This article first appeared in the Times of Israel blog and the Jewish News print edition in the UK. You can read it on their site here. It is based on Dan Green’s address at our 2020 General Assembly, which you can read or watch here.

A crisis, even one as substantial as the coronavirus pandemic, can also be an opportunity. In Hebrew, the term for a birthing stool is an even mashber – a crisis stone. The rabbis linked the danger of birth to the opportunities created by new life.

This is the approach we have tried to take over the past three months at ORT – the global education network driven by Jewish values. We reach 300,000 people a year in more than 30 countries, so the impact of Covid-19 on our global operations has been huge. All our schools, universities and institutions closed their doors in March, with classes and courses moving online with remote learning initiatives practically overnight.

But as the world begins to recover and reset itself, it will be big charities with a large reach that have the capacity to enforce the changes that are required. This is not a moment for timidity of vision, strategy or programme.

We are not alone among Jewish organisations in rethinking our approach. The virus is likely to accelerate momentum that has been building for some time, owing to the generational transition of wealth and the social impact focus of a new generation of donors.

We must combine creativity with bravery and hard work to reach new donors and alternative sources of funding while the philanthropic world is in a state of flux.

Our fundraising partners around the globe are all redefining how to raise money as events are cancelled, how to engage with donors online and how to effectively communicate the new needs of our organisation.

For ORT, this has included supporting distance learning measures to ensure no student goes without a computer or laptop to study at home, and supporting families struggling to pay school tuition fees after being impacted economically by the virus.

So many charities in the Jewish community have been severely tested in so many ways. I am so proud of how our network has come together, adapted into new realities and ensured no student is left behind.

Our students have shown innovation and ingenuity, alongside compassion and selflessness, in countless examples of helping their peers and the wider world.

As our former and much-missed late World ORT president, Sir Maurice Hatter, used to say, we are helping to prepare mensches.

Our pride in these actions taken during Covid-19 epitomises the spirit of ORT and shows the essence of our organisation: a clear example of resilience and Jewish continuity formed over 140 years of poverty, pogroms and persecution.

The coronavirus is a new challenge, for us all, but we have the fortitude – built on our experience, our expertise and our global support – to succeed and also to light the way, and lead the way, for other Jewish charities.

Today, after health, education is the most fundamental requirement to free ourselves of the blights of poverty, ignorance and hate. This is why ORT will always be relevant.

As we celebrate 140 years since our foundation in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1880, it is worth considering the gematriaof that number. The number 100 corresponds to the Hebrew letter kuf, and the number 40 to the Hebrew letter mem. Together those two letters make the word kum – meaning ‘to arise, to get up, to awaken’.

On ORT’s 140th anniversary, along with other Jewish organisations around the world, we should be striving to pick ourselves up to face this challenge, to rise up and to seize the day with an exciting and dynamic future ahead for us all.

Dan Green is Acting Director General and CEO of World ORT