Our teachers training program at the David Yellin Academic College works to retrain professional teachers. This year we have approximately 100 students who in addition to thebasic curriculum they are taking, are also take courses in Judaism, humanities, and the arts. These extra courses allow them to have a deeper understanding of various aspects of Judaism that include: the Bible and its commentators, Rabbinical literature (Mishna, Talmud, Agadah, and Jewish law), Medieval and modern Jewish philosophy, Modern Hebrew literature, and Jewish history. 

• Training teachers to work through art with youth at risk. This pilot program is part of our teachers’ training for artists. Once a week, this group of students conduct their training by working as art teachers with youth at risk. They also meet once a week for a 2-hour class, where they learn different practices dealing with the emotional needs of youth at risk by teach using art. All of the students are supervised and are receiving credit for their time. The teachers enrolled in this program all have degrees from Bezalel Academy, the Music Academy, or in the specific arts that they are teaching. 5 students receive a scholarship for working with 5-10 youth at risk. These artists contribute to creating a better society by helping these youth to transcend the circle of risk.

• Certificate in Teaching of The Jewish Israeli Culture and Bible –This specific program offers teachers training to teach Jewish Israeli Culture and Bible in state schools in a Humanistic spirit.

עובדי המנהלה אמנם אינם מורים, אך אנו בתכנית מורשה רואים בהם אנשי חינוך הלוקחים חלק משמעותי ביצירת הסביבה החינוכית של בית הספר. מטרת יום העיון היא להטמיע תפיסה זו בקרב העובדים ובקרב קהילת בית הספר. יום העיון מוקדש לדיון בסוגיות חינוכיות ובחינת מרחבי ההשפעה האפשריים של עובדי המנהלה בבית הספר, בהיותם צומת מפגש חשוב עם תלמידים, הורים ומורים.

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.

Click here to see the broshure

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:

1.  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.  

2.  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.

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.

MAOF is a program that embodies its acronym which is Masoret/traditions, Arachim/values and politics. MAOF believes that the more people are exposed to a more tolerant discourse, rooted in the Jewish social tradition, the more we will be able to overcome the societal polarization and extremist discourse that characterizes Israeli society today. To this end, the MAOF Program provides parliamentary advisors the opportunity to infuse the Jewish and democratic State of Israel with moderate Jewish values within the Knesset.