The Maarag - Morasha Year's End Ceremony
Morality, education, social welfare, environment, spirit –concepts that are all expressed through the extensive realm of shmittah, the biblical agricultural sabbatical year, observed to this day. We chose shmittah as the focal topic for our annual event in view of the powerful connections between shmittah values and numerous domains in our lives. By doing so, we made a vital statement: The essence of the year's conclusion is its connection with the beginning of the upcoming year, a reference to our approach that considers educational work to be an extended process of values clarification.
On Thursday, May 29, 2014 (29 Iyar), we convened at the Givat Washington Educational campus for the Maarag and Morasha organizations year's end conference. School principals, teaching staff, and many enthusiastic students and parents joined in the festive ambiance. The enormous scope of educational activity taking place in the programs' schools was evident from the start of the reception.
Yehuda Maimaran, CEO of Kol Israel Haverim and Shuki Yaniv-Elhadad, Director of the Department for Excellence in Jewish Education to Zionism and Social Involvement, each greeted the participants. Following their opening remarks, we were given a short introduction to the shmittah concept, and a video clip was screened, showing heads of various organizations and firms presenting their perceptions of shmittah values. The clip enticed us to further exploration and we immediately moved on to a series of captivating lectures on some of the fundamental aspects of the shmittah year.
Dr. Gilly Sivan was first to speak and discussed the ethical facets embodied in shmittah. Together, we studied texts from several biblical sources and from great thinkers such as Erich Fromm, Herzl and Professors Avi Saguy and Yedidyah Stern, concluding with a joint reading of chapters from the Book of Jeremiah. Dr. Sivan was followed by Rabbi Michael Melchior, who discussed educational aspects derived from shmittah and how they might contribute to our creating a better society and to promoting different values and principles within our social reality. Sammy Peretz, editor of The Marker, the financial newspaper, was last to speak. He raised the idea of a sabbatical for the general public as a means to create a more dynamic and attractive market, brought up some fascinating economic issues that touch upon our daily lives and explored ways through which the shmittah year can be a choice opportunity to promote them.
But what connection is there between shmittah and schools?? How can schools use the infinite materials of shmittah for the advancement of their educational communities? The Maarag and Morasha school facilitators created a joint response and developed a network tool they named "What Does Shmittah Have to do with Schools." The product, based on the Ma'arag track-mapping concept, is a mobile depot that contains hundreds of materials on shmittah and the shmittah spirit, and focuses on three domains: Man and Himself, Man and Society, and Man and the Land.
Following the lectures, the staff members of all the schools joined to study the network product in small group workshops. Maarag school staff members met to for a hands-on review of the projects presented by the schools while the staff of the Morasha schools met for a discussion with the students who were awarded the Morasha-KIAH Prize for Social Responsibility and with their parents.
All good things reach their end, but the event was not complete until the Maarag Prize for Excellence in Jewish Civil and Zionist Education and the Morasha-KIAH Prize were awarded. First up to the podium to receive the Prize for Excellence in Jewish Civil and Zionist Education were Toby Rosenberg, Principal of the Shazar Junior High School in Kfar Saba and Livna Neudorfer, Principal of the Yigal Alon School in Hod Hasharon. We then took leave of two schools completing the Maarag program: Etty Yedidya, principal of the Geulim School in Jerusalem, and Nanny Reisberg, principal of the Alon Junior High School in Kfar Saba, who also spoke and congratulated those present in the name of the school principals. The Morasha-KIAH award was presented to 34 amazing students from the Morasha schools, who stepped up to the podium, one by one for the traditional annual photograph.
We left primed and ready for the coming year of shmittah and convinced that we will use the opportunities it presents for educational work on values towards building a better society – a society that cultivates Jewish, social, Zionist and civil identity.
See you next year!
