For the past thirty years, AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled and AMIT Kfar Blatt have reflected the very worst and best parts of Israel. Children come to Beit Hayeled escaping from the worst possible circumstances. They leave homes where beatings, sexual abuse, mental cruelty, alcoholism, and neglect are a way of life. To stay is impossible, and children as young as five no longer have a place to call home or anyone to love and help them.
Behind the facades and hidden in plain sight are the buildings that are the founding structures of Tel Aviv. These seemingly insignificant white houses, factories, hotels, and cinemas are part of one of the 20th century’s most important trends and esthetic styles: Bauhaus. And, Tel Aviv has nearly 2,000 white Bauhaus buildings, the highest concentration anywhere in the world.
At the AMIT Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva in Ra’anana, Rav Yuval Cherlow is teaching the morning Torah class to first year students. As he rounds up his discussion of the prophet Amos, he raises questions related to ethics, Judaism and the modern era. “Is it possible to have a code of ethics for the Internet? How does Judaism deal with such issues? Can one draw up a code of ethics that balances Jewish halacha and the modern world of communications?” The questions are complex and do not always have an easy answer, but they reflect the ethos that is helping to make AMIT Orot Shaul an attractive place of learning for young boys who wish to pursue both in-depth Torah studies and make a contribution to Israeli society.
I never met my paternal grandfather, Rabbi Elazar Mushkin, after whom I was named. He died five years before I was born, and I was born on the anniversary date of his burial. But I felt from the earliest childhood that my grandfather was present, teaching me the values that helped shape my life.
This past summer, a distinguished group of AMIT principals, teachers, and administrators attended PBL World in Napa, California. PBL World is the prestigious annual conference presented by the Buck Institute for Education. The conference is devoted exclusively to Project Based Learning (PBL), an innovative approach for teaching and learning in the 21st century.
When Marty Glickman awoke in Berlin’s Olympic Village on the morning of August 8, 1936, he thought ahead to the race he’d be running that day in front of more than 100,000 spectators… He imagined taking the baton from his teammate Sam Stoller and sprinting down the backstretch, running clear of the competition, and handing the baton cleanly to Foy Draper. A dominant victory for the U.S. in the semi-final 4×100-meter relay would be a prelude to their gold medal run in the finals a day later.
Will they care? Will they commit? Will they give? These are questions every Jewish organization is asking about today’s Generation Y (See “NextGen Donors: The Future of Jewish Giving,” a major study issued in early August that has generated much attention in the press and elsewhere).
Between Israel’s eight-week summer vacation and the Yom Kippur through Simchat Torah break, students at the AMIT Hatzor Haglilit complex of schools, like other Israeli kids, didn’t see much of the inside of a classroom until the end of September.
“Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey,” currently showing at the Israel Museum, seeks to reexamine and contextualize the history and legacy of King Herod (73 BCE – 4 BCE), who ruled Judea from 37 BCE until his death. This is the largest architectural exhibit ever undertaken by the Israel Museum, which seems appropriate: Herod was one of the great builders of all time; his structures – which include Masada, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Herodium palace, and the town and port of Cesearea – form the backdrop of seemingly every storyline of 1st Century Judea
Should we determine for ourselves what is right and wrong, or should we ask society to do it for us? Most of us probably would immediately vote for the former. We highly value our autonomy and personal freedom and do not want others making these important decisions for us. And yet, without laws that embody a sense of right and wrong, we would have chaos and anarchy. How are we to balance the needs of the society with the rights of the individual?
