אתר כיח
A Secured Future is an intensive program by The Division of Welfare & Social Resilience in partnership with Israel’s National Insurance Institute, empowering youth by providing them with life skills and preparing them for their future employment world. A Secured Future program aims to expand the 'toolbox' of Youth at-Risk, based on the understanding that preparation for employment is a key tool for taking youth out of the poverty cycle and from living on the margins of society.
Youth Mentors are the most important asset when working with youth. They serve as "meaningful adults" and are the direct address for youth when feeling distressed or in need of assistance. Research indicates that significant mentors represent the main criterion in motivating youth to advance to a better place.
Kiah’s School for the Deaf (KSD) serves a broad population of deaf children and children hard of hearing from across different sectors. KSD was established by Kiah in 1930 and in the aftermath of the establishment of the State of Israel, KSD became the education ministry’s official school for educating children that are deaf and hard of hearing. In 2018, KSD won Israel’s Ministry of Education Award for Excellence.
KSD is the only school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Jerusalem and is among two of such special schools in the whole of Israel that accommodates both Jewish and Arab children between the ages of 6 and 21. As a result, KSD serves as a unique model of tolerance and coexistence offering hope for tomorrow.
“In our image and in our likeness”
Recognizing these children’s importance and uniqueness, together with the children we mold, develop and support the Jewish and Muslim pupils ’image’ and ‘likeness of God ’ in this school as it states in Genesis 1:26, ‘G-D said, let us make man in our image after our likeness.’
KSD educates 90 Jewish and Arab children from across the spectrum who suffer from mild or severe difficulties of hearing to children that are completely deaf or are severely challenged with learning difficulties. Other children suffer from cognitive deficiency and have various syndromes such as Aspergers or even brain damage. Each pupil is treated in accordance to their personal needs, abilities and potential. The range of pupils’ special needs creates a challenge for KSD’s staff who must continuously come up with creative solutions to effectively address every essential requirement of the children.
The complexity of the needs of the pupils establishes dilemmas and challenges for the staff along with the pupils and parents. We aim to find a balance between on one hand the general needs of KSD so that it can advance the regular school program for all pupils along with their interpersonal communicative skills, and on the other hand care for the various specific individual needs of each pupil in the school.
Social Mobility
Our objective is to offer pupils social mobility by integrating pupils as much as possible into Israeli society as equal and empowered citizens who are making a positive contribution to their environment. Our pupils can contribute to society like any hearing or cognitively functional individual. We are persistently working so enable each and every pupil to accomplish their potential that is inherent in them. As a result we transform each and every man and woman into fully independent and capable people that can be an integral part of society with the ability to advance both socially and economically.
Our underlying philosophy that influences all our studies and work programs in KSD emerges from our aim to create a support framework offering a positive future for all pupils in the school. Our diverse programs creates a safe and calm environment, offering enrichment in all areas of the children’s lives by exposing them to various life experiences. Furthermore, we provide pupils with the opportunity to go forth outside of our school and enter the wider world to become equipped with all types of experiential, communicative, academic and professional tools in order for them to not only contend, but to succeed in their endeavors.
To this end, KSD empowers pupils with professional vocational courses they can graduate with that includes: bakery, computers, cosmetics, hairdressing, graphic design, photography, hotel management, and agriculture. Pupils also have the opportunity to do professional certified courses outside of KSD. Today at least 70% of the KSD’s graduates are integrated successfully into the workforce. The various projects that pupils are integrated into empower the pupils in a way that their communicative skills with their surroundings improves dramatically. Graduates are able to integrate with their surroundings and they are transformed into the average person who can contribute to society in any manner.
The pupil’s enrichment to integrate into society continues beyond KSD’s program in their free time in an after day joint program together with Ministry of Welfare. Young guides lead pupils in annual trips throughout Israel to visit various factories and see the world of possibilities and the potential for social mobility that exists for them in Israel. Pupils increase their levels of independence by learning to use various apps such as ‘Moovit’ which is a challenge for a person with disabilities, and gain acquaintance with all of Israel by meeting various deaf communities throughout Israel and beyond.
Empowerment
KSD helps pupils develop their personal abilities at a standard of personal creativity and self-expression and open their eyes to the possibilities that are embedded in our world.
An example of this is two years ago, a girl from the Shoefat Refugee camp named Urud – meaning flower in Arabic graduated from KSD. She was integrated into Musrara College for Photography. Urud has a severe language disorder and cannot read or write in the level of the average person. Yet Urud has enormous talents in the areas of art and photography. Musrara College for Photography accepted her for certification studies. Social security together with the College provide her financial support and Urud has just successfully completed her second year at the Musrara College for Photography.
This year, a boy named Yuval who learned in a regular framework and became hard of hearing has joined KSD as his national service prior to his entry to the army. Yuval is empowered and able to make an enormous contribution to KSD teaching Hebrew to Arab pupils. In turn, pupils are empowered as they view Yuval as a role model as a boy similar to them and hard of hearing can be so active and successful and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
Embracing Cultures
In KSD every student learns their cultural background which enhances their sense of identity, and increases their levels of confidence and communicative skills which are essential for them to become independent and effectively enter the workforce. This results in the Jewish pupils to have a Bar Mitzva and learn the weekly Parsha that is taught by Rav Chanoch Yares. Similarly, the Arab pupils learn about Ramadan and Eid. Together the Jewish and Arab pupils learn about the connection between their faiths.
Three years ago one of the Jewish pupils, Jonathan who has latent cognitive development came to the age of Bar Mitzva. His parents who are ultra-orthodox were told by a Rabbi that he did not need to have a Bar Mitzva. KSD’s management and staff saw the social importance for Jonathan to have a Bar Mitzva, and together with Rav Chanoch Yares hosted a wonderful Bar Mitzva in the Synagogue that is close to KSD. KSD enlisted the support of an entertainer and a band to perform at the Bar Mitzva attended by Jonathan’s family. Jonathan along with his parents were overjoyed and overwhelmed.
We have the ability to open the eyes of pupils who are hard of hearing, deaf, or who have syndromes and cognitive disabilities to their hidden inner treasure which is the potential inherent within each of them. To achieve that they must gain the confidence and professional skills to become independent and enter the workforce, and the mindset to become tolerant and accepting of other cultures and religions. This sense of empowerment not only makes a positive contribution to their lives, but transform the world around them.
A prevalent attitude in Israel is to consider Judaism as a religion exclusively which creates polarization between the secular and religious causing traditional people to feel alienated from their religious heritage as they do not fit into either group. Furthermore, Israel’s educational system is increasingly unable to cultivate Jewish values among children and youth. Students who lack strong identity and a sense of secure roots have more limited interpersonal skills and could cause them to adopt racist attitudes.
Every individual possesses the right to a respectable quality of life and wellbeing. The heart of our works is focused on reducing high risk circumstances among youth and families living in Israel’s social-geographic periphery. At the same time we help each boy and girl identify their unique capabilities, empowering them to strive for personal achievement and success. This guarantees a resilient, thriving Israeli society, while promoting social justice and actively implements the principles of social Judaism, based on the principles of justice, equality and human dignity.
The Division of Welfare & Social Resilience a network of centers around Israel for over 400 youth-at-risk, impoverished youth or Bedouin, Ethiopian, French and Russian youth who have immigrated to Israel but are displaced as they suffer from exclusion in the social and geographic periphery of Israel. It also operates diversified training centers for professionals working with youth-at-risk, and is constantly engaged in enhancing their knowledge base in working with teenagers. The Division of Welfare & Social Resilience offers a specific multi-disciplinary approach named “Institutional Psychotherapy” which combines social, cooperative, educational and therapeutic aspects. It is a pioneering socio-educational-therapeutic philosophy, first of its kind in Israel, and is based on the principles of social justice and cooperation as therapeutic tools that helps foster self-esteem, empowerment and leadership. A team of therapeutic, multi-disciplinary educators enables the emergence of cooperative frameworks, where youngsters learn to live together as citizens, while using mediation tools to resolve conflict.
These tools encourage every youngster, who finds himself at risk, to find his or her way back to the community, the society and the nation, while realizing their own values. Since 1981, this program has led to dramatic changes in the lives of thousands of youth-at-risk: starting with a reduction in self-inflicted wounds, in crime, violence and vandalism, and continuing with the reinforcement of creativity, volunteer values and involvement of youth in the community and the development of leadership and excellence in all aspects of life.
The Division of Welfare & Social Resilience runs centers in Netanya, Kiryat Gat Beer Sheva, Kseiffeh and Yerucham.
Our committed partners include: Israel's Ministry of Education, Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, National Insurance, Adelis Foundation, Agudat Sabah, Dan & Gloria Schusterman Foundation, Rashi Foundation, Ted Arison Family Foundation, Ruach Nechona, Bank Leumi, JNF UK, the Academic College of Netanya, Mrs. Mickey Mandelbaum and local education authorities and municipalities in Israel.
Israeli society is beset by increasing polarization between haredim and secular Jews, and to a lesser extent between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Social and political lines are drawn over the debate regarding which of Israel’s democratic or Jewish features should be heightened or relegated to the other. There is a quest for contemporary Jewish identity and Israel’s civic identity to be based upon socio-public responsibility that overcomes the increasing extremism and schisms in Israeli society.
Solutions have been provided by the Sephardic Hachamim of the past two hundred years who were confronted by the political, economic, social, cultural and technological revolutions that occurred throughout Europe from the 18th to the 20th centuries. In the midst of these upheavals, the Sephardic Hachamim had to grapple with questions that arose from the attraction of modernity and in response promoted communal cohesion by understanding that Torah’s dual nature advances the religious and halachic precepts on one hand, and on the other hand promotes more broadly a social, ethical, political, and national ethos. To address this it is essential to consider questions such as how Judaism informs what is social responsibility in a modern democratic society? How do these values in turn affect Jewish law?
To this end, the Rabbis not only taught Torah, but were concerned with the social life, economic status and the unity of the community despite different levels of observance by communal members along with their different occupations or cultural and intellectual approaches. This was expressed via communal obligation towards the weak and acts of tzedek to redress various sources of injustice. The Mizrachi heritage also promotes the social values of Judaism that can infuse social issues ranging from poverty, immigrants, the unemployed and pensioners. This has the effect of strengthening the sense of responsibility for community and society. The Rabbis expounded that serving G-D goes beyond observing commandments to more broadly doing “that which is straight and good in the eyes of G-D” which applies to the social concern of all of humanity.
In Islamic countries there were Jewish communities that had a united form of Judaism with many components existing in tension or even in contradiction to one another. This encouraged diversity where Jews were able to hold a variety of beliefs and values, with approaches of faithfulness living alongside intellectualism. Together they encouraged openness coupled with a clear Jewish identity.
Today, Social Judaism advances an inclusivist approach that social cohesion underpins and contributes to Torah authenticity. This is in contrast to the exclusivist approach of perceiving the Jewish people through the prism of maintaining the authenticity of the Torah which leads to widening polarization within Israeli society.
Social Judaism aspires that the State of Israel be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Shemot 18,6) by promoting humane and ethical values. This is as opposed to an exclusivist attitude that seeks to impose Halacha in a standardized manner on the different sectors of society with different levels and approaches of religiosity.
To this end, the Mizrachi heritage can make a positive contribution by emphasizing traditionalism that treasures the continuity of heritage and fosters a sense of belonging to the community and responsibility to the general public. Traditionalism can serve as a basis for identity and interim stage between Haredism and secularism and more fundamentally as a source of civic identity as Social Judaism causes Israel’s democracy and Judaism not to be merely complementary, but synonymous with one another.
In this respect, all of Kiah’s programs are aimed at fostering civic identity by reinforcing Jewish identity and advancing social mobility, both of which embody Social Judaism.
Kerem Institute for Jewish Humanistic Education was established in 1974 by Alliance–Kol Israel Haverim as an alternate track for teacher training in universities and colleges. Kerem offers a unique approach in the field of teacher training and development. The Jewish Humanistic approach is intertwined in all our activities and manifests in a variety of ways.
The unique home where Kerem dwells – a green and beautiful corner hidden in the heart of Jerusalem – visually expresses the character of the place that lovingly combines the old and new. The warm atmosphere and small rooms allow for intimate and in-depth learning, where Israelis with different identities gather and feel comfortable to study together.
Kerem is a prestigious institute in the Jerusalem cultural landscape and attracts prominent teachers, school principals, and various stakeholders in the social and education fields. Our student community is diverse and is made up of men and women with differing Jewish identities and lifestyles. Our staff includes expert teachers, academics, and artists who are all leaders in their fields make up our unique and pluralistic spirit. Their different approaches enrich our students in many diverse perspectives towards Judaism.
By embracing a broad Jewish Humanistic educational approach, Kerem aspires to deeply influence the Israeli society through training and development of excellence, creativity, and social commitment. More than 700 Kerem graduates rank among the leaders of numerous Jewish initiatives in Israel. Graduates include: Dr. Ruth Lehavei, founder of the Keshet School for religious and secular students, Dr. Hana Pinhasi, director of the Teacher Training School in the Hartman Institute, Prof. Michal Mushkat-Barkan, director of the Pluralistic Jewish Education Program in the HUC, Dr. Ariel Levenson, founder of the Secular Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and many others, Dr. David Biton, Yardena Nachtomy and Yafa Bnaya – three of the original group that joined Yehuda Mimran to established "Mimizrach Shemesh".
Memizrach Shemesh is a Beit Midrash (House of Study) for social leadership, which cultivates social activists and leaders in the spirit of Jewish tradition, inspired by the Sephardic and Mizrachi Sages. We create centers of study and activity for young people and students and develop the next generation of homegrown communal leadership, primarily in the social and geographic periphery of Israel. We aim to advance an inclusive and tolerant Judaism, as a response to increasing religious extremism that weakens public solidarity, and instead, promotes humanitarian and democratic values, which are the cornerstones of an enlightened and just society.
Memizrach Shemesh has over 1,000 participants at 50 action centers throughout the country, from all sectors of Israeli society, including secular, traditional and religious, men and women, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Mizrachim, Russian and Amharic speakers. The Beit Midrash has a vast experience of over 14 years of working with young adults using our unique model of Beit Midrash dialogue learning of varied Jewish texts, exploring Jewish identity and social issues. Over the years, Memizrach Shemesh has successfully coached over 1,000 students, developed their social awareness and sense of belonging, and assisted them in pursuing higher education which in turn raises their prospects of achieving social mobility.
Between 2017 – 2018, Memizrach Shemesh has influenced the lives of over 6,000 Magav army police, Rabbis and their community members, students, pupils and parents.
Our committed partners include: AVI CHAI Foundation, Adelis Foundation, Young Adults Centers, Friedman Family Foundation, UJA - Federation of New York, The Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut, Jewish Federation Greater Metrowest, Municipalities throughout the country.
Overview
Israel’s secular educational system, as an important arena for instilling values and clarifying issues of belonging, commitment and responsibility toward Israeli society faces enormous challenges to impart meaningful Jewish, Zionist, civic identity among children and youth in Israel. In turn, many secular Israeli pupils feel alienated as they face an identity crisis and lack a sense of belonging. This is manifest in them not knowing the Hatikva or why they should go to the army. Ma’arag (Tapestry) Program for Excellence in Jewish, Zionist, and Civic Education seeks to promote solidarity in Israeli society through a shared sense of Jewish identity, social values, and mutual responsibility. Ma’arag programs creates a bridge between state schools where Zionist and civic identities are stronger than their Jewish identities, and religious schools where Jewish identity is stronger than Zionist or civic identities. Ma’arag creates programs in Israel’s secular educational system that instills Jewish, Zionist civic values and social responsibility over a range of subjects from literature and history to science and mathematics. Ma’arag programs in schools continually approach every activity through the prism of Jewish identity and for each pupil to personally connect with it and empower them to reach their academic and personal potential as Jewish Israelis.
Subjects
The teachers are trained and empowered to build and develop concrete pedagogical tools and lesson plans, based on the school’s vision and values, and develop seven educational “products”, which are then integrated in classroom learning. In the area of Biology & medical ethics, the Ma’arag program teaches pupils to appreciate complexity and consider whether national law and religious law complement or contradict one another. After a school exhibition about the splitting of the Red Sea, pupils attempted to transform this narrative into chemistry terminology. Alternatively, in mathematics pupils assess the significance of certain numbers in the Tanach and identify how geometry and measurements were used in constructing the Tabernacle. In this manner, pupils in Ma’arag programs connect with their past by bringing it to life and making it relevant in the pupils’ everyday lives while deepening their identities.
To effectively promote Jewish values throughout all the subjects, The headmaster together with the management meet twice a month for 3 hours to learn texts, along with psychological, pedagogic and management tools that foster dialogue in schools on matters relating to Jewish identity. They in turn teach the teachers who teach the students.
In the middle and end of the year, the school management conducts a training program for all the teachers in the school about their values that they want to foster in the schools. This takes place altogether over a period of three days.
In order to continue to provide ongoing support during and after the program, Ma’arag program created an “Online Beit Midrash” as a tool for educators to access and discuss a wide array of texts to be used in their classrooms, creating a meaningful shared dialogue on Jewish, Zionist and civic identity, including subjects such as: Treatment of the ‘Other,’ Shabbat in the Israeli Public Sphere, Partial Justice, Marriage and Gender and more. You can view the Online Beit Midrash here: Maarag Online Beit Midrash.
Activities
The Ma’arag program facilitates for schools to arrange field trips and programs on heritage and leadership to enhance the identities of pupils. Teachers and pupils identify role models from the Tanach and the modern State of Israel. This can help teachers and pupils to identify their values and different styles of leadership in order to cultivate their various strengths. Pupils also identify contemporary people who have excelled in their fields and won prizes for example in the area of game theory and consider what values did these people have and how can they be emulated?
Ma’arag pupils have organized projects reflecting Jewish values such as sports competitions based on the values of Chesed where older students help the younger students. Environmentally conscious students have built water storage facilities inspired by water conservation in the Tanach.
Methodology
Ma’arag advances a unique dialogical educational methodology that enables teachers and students to go through an introspective process to identify what is important to them and why. To spur on discussion, Ma’arag programs utilizes the ‘Dilemma methodology’ on various issues related to identity such as whether pupils would choose for their Bar Mitzva the traditional approach of attending Synagogue and being called up for an Aliya to the Torah, or the modern social trend of travelling abroad. This dilemma is a tension between tradition and modern social trends. Pupils proceed to learn texts on the significance of Bar Mitzva so that they will be more informed to make an educated decision in the 21st Century.
Other methods Ma’arag programs employs includes ‘Kesem Hashmini’ that is a social psychology tool that identifies the group dynamic enabling teachers to tailor the educational material to the group. Ma’arag program also utilizes organizational management methodologies to foster change in schools and advance specific values.
Ma’arag programs proceeds to guide teachers enabling them to find and interpret sources in order to develop textual-based projects embedded within the Jewish tradition that are both personally meaningful to teachers and pupils. This offers them both a greater sense of ownership and motivation culminating in inspiring pupils to action and increasing their commitment to social justice.
As Ma’arag programs address a diverse range of areas, Ma’arag’s message seamlessly permeates across different departments that have traditionally maintained barriers between them. The school achieves unity of purpose by placing the vision in every curriculum and classroom wall. The teachers consider this entire process when writing the curriculum. Teachers are participants in the endeavor to establish a Jewish identity leading them to create innovative projects and have a sense of ownership of what they teach.
Impact
Rather than subjects being taught independently and separately from one another, Ma’arag’s approach of fostering Jewish identity across different disciplines in a school leads to unique synergies being created between subjects. As a result, this heightens academic output and increases grade scores.
Ma’arag programs are impacting new generations of children and youth each year, and are generating a revolution in Jewish, Zionist and civic education throughout the country. Over the past 4 years, Ma’arag programs have worked with 100 schools from years 1-12 impacting over 20,000 students. Ma’arag programs are currently operating in 20 schools, training 2000 teachers and influencing the lives of 17,700 pupils. Ma'arag programs have developed over 700 lesson plans that foster and enrich a strong Jewish, Zionist, and civic identity. Each year an additional 7 schools adopt Ma’arag programs. Ma’arag programs works with headteachers, the leadership in schools who in turn work with the teachers, students and parents.
Our committed partners include: AVI CHAI Foundation, Adelis Foundation, Agudat Sabah, Ministry of Education, Municipalities throughout the country.
Morasha (Heritage) is a Kol Israel Haverim program working to promote social justice and a values-based Jewish Education, that seeks to strengthen the connection between Jewish identity with social responsibility in the school environment.Morasha has operated for 15 years in Israel’s socio-geographic periphery catering for pupils and teachers in primary and secondary schools. Today, Morasha is implemented in 38 secular and religious state schools. Between 2017 and 2018, Morasha trained 2200 teachers and influencing the lives of 17,800 pupils.
Countering Alienation
While the school environment plays an important role in forming the identity of its pupils, not all of the voices of the various pupil’s identities are aptly represented at school. Pupils who do not find their families' traditions echoed in the school's cultural sphere often feel alienated. Coupled with this, the growing trends in Israeli society of concentrating on individual achievements and overlooking unity and social cohesion, are constantly reflected in the educational sphere. Schools now promote an agenda of personal achievement, casting aside the discussion of important values and ethics.
In the absence of both a shared language for discussing social issues and a supportive community atmosphere, pupils are deprived of a sense of belonging. This diminishes their sense of feeling responsible toward others leading to increasing polarization in Israel's society.
Morasha's Contribution
Morasha aims to strengthen identity and translate it to social action in the school environment in order to reinforce Social Jewish values in Israeli society which an emphasis on mutual respect and responsibility. Morasha identifies how Jewish social values can be implemented in the school's daily life. Over the course of four years, Morasha empowers the educational staff to undergo a transformative process by developing and implementing original values-based educational programs to create a sustainable change in the school's culture and approach.
Morasha achieves this through numerous means including:
- Pupils Identity
Pupils are encouraged to express their various approaches to Jewish tradition, including that of the traditional pupil taking pride in their culture of origin. Morasha has a four-year program in which it works with educational staff and the pupils.
- Creating Safe Space
Morasha program creates a safe space where a common language is used, and where joint forums for advancing values-based education are established, enabling pupils and teachers to deepen their dialogue. This causes barriers to erode and stereotypes to be abandoned, enabling Jewish social values to become relevant in the lives of pupils' lives. These values can ultimately be channeled toward the benefit of the community, in school and beyond.
- Social Responsibility
Pupils with a greater sense of security in their identities will become increasingly aware of the values of Social Judaism. This will contribute to them being more active and embrace social responsibilities.
Approach and Methodology
In cooperation with the school management, the program establishes milestones for assessing the school's progress towards the predefined goals. Morasha's implementation in schools includes the following components:
- School Guidance: Morasha adopts a top-down approach as a facilitator from Morasha is appointed to work with the educational staff members. Over the course of four years they work together to reformulate the school's mission statement and vision.
- Mentoring Teachers: Morasha facilitators mentor 27 selected teachers who are Morasha coordinators in their respective schools. Together they attend professional Morasha seminar training of 60 hours over the course of a year. Seminars address existential questions of Jewish identity and teachers receive the dialogical methodology of teaching. This transforms pupils from being passive to becoming actively involved in classrooms and the community. After four years of training and mentorship, teachers can independently lead the Morasha program in their schools.
Morasha adopts a bottom-up approach as pupils instigate change that spreads through the school environment up to the educational staff and management. This is achieved via two programs:
- Movilei Chavruta – Pupils Lead Chavruta
Morasha trains each year pupils that have been selected by their teachers, to become leaders of 'Dialogue Circles'. Pupils meet weekly with Morasha coordinators and facilitators where pupils learn to independently use pedagogic tools and texts in a beit midrash dialogical style in a manner that is self-sustaining once the facilitator leaves after four years. They are trained to lead 'Dialogue Circles' and as a result increase their self-confidence and improve their ability to listen and manage the discussion. This increases the prospects for social mobility of pupils in the socio-geographic periphery.
- Mitalmud Lemaaseh – From Learning to Action
Over 2600 pupils study in depth Social Jewish texts in a dialogical manner that deal with moral issues and are sensitized to the needs of others offering pupils exposure to different segments of society. The pupils on their own initiative create volunteer programs in their communities. Examples include volunteering with children that have been hospitalized or have special needs. In Ofakim, pupils along with their parents went to the homes of elderly people to celebrate Jewish holidays such as Chanukah, Purim and Yom Ha'atzmaut. The success of this program has led to this volunteering programs to be repeated on an annual basis.
From 2017-2018, 650 pupils are participating in this program impacting up to 14,000 pupils and members of the community.
- Conferences: Morasha holds three national conferences each year, two for Movilei Chavruta and one for Mitalmud Lemaaseh for 800 pupils and educational staff from religious and secular schools who come together. The conferences bring together future
- leaders of Israel at informal gatherings where they can share experiences, receive training workshops.
- Program Development and Study Materials: Morasha develops and offers a variety of resources in terms of curricula and teaching materials on the topics of Jewish-Israeli identity, social values, and communal responsibilities. The website of
- Morasha provides access to this information and to the teaching materials for the benefit of all the schools affiliated within the network.
Schools in which the Morasha Program is Active in the 2017-2018 School Year:
Netanya: Rigler; Mikve Israel: General School, Religious School, French Israeli School; Holon: ORT Rabin Bat Yam: Ramot, Harel; Gedera: Begin Darca, Ilan Ramon Darca; Mateh Benjamin: Kfar Adumim; Kiryat Malachi: Gymnasia Darca; Gan Yavneh: ORT Rabin; Ashkelon: Sinai, Makif Dalet; Kiryat Gat: Yad Yitzchak, Sprinzak, Rivka Gover, Masuah; Sa’ad: Da’at; Netivot: Makif Darca, Hatzvi Darca; Beersheva: Afik, Yosef Karo; Ofakim: Ashalim, Kol Abir Ya’acov, HaGivah; Tzur Yigal: Nof Tzurim; Yerucham: HaMeuhad; Tzur Hadassah: Lavie, Tzurim.
Our committed partners include: Israel's Ministry of Education, AVI CHAI Foundation, Adelis Foundation, Darca School Network, Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, UJA - Federation of New York, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and local education authorities and municipalities in Israel.
Israel’s education system is marked by substantial gaps that exist between the country’s center and its periphery in terms of government investment per student, educational content, the availability of technological equipment and more. Believing that every child is entitled to receive quality education, KIAH established the Division for Educational Excellence in 2001. The Division’s mission is to narrow these gaps in levels of education between the country’s center and periphery, mainstream and marginalized populations.
In order to effect lasting changes, the Division for Educational Excellence targets schools in socio-geographic regions with a view to long-term capacity building. All of the Division’s diverse programs have in common a commitment to improving quality of teaching, setting high standards, developing students’ motivation, encouraging critical thinking, strengthening self-image and fostering independent learning skills.
The Division works in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and local municipalities and enjoys the partnership of leading academic institutes, hi-tech and other advanced companies, foundations and private donors. Through the Division, KIAH has built a network of scholastic advancement programs that operate in schools throughout the country, aiming to provide every student in Israel with the necessary conditions to ensure his or her success in fulfilling their potential.
The Division currently works in over 45 schools nationwide, impacting some 25,000 school students and 2,300 teachers.