Five Questions for Your Seder Table

Since the start of Corona, each week I am lucky enough to teach my dear AMIT students, and I am learning as much as I am teaching.

AMIT President Audrey Axelrod Trachtman On i24 News

AMIT President Audrey Axelrod Trachtman recently appeared on an i24 News broadcast and spoke about the innovative 21st-century educational approach AMIT has implemented throughout our 104 schools in Israel. In partnership with the American Zionist Movement, the i24 News broadcast featured several Zionist organizations.

Coming Out of Corona

Naomi Baum, Ph.D recently led a virtual program for AMIT on how to cope during these challenging times. We’re pleased to share her recent blog that we hope you’ll find helpful during this difficult period.

Corona and Hakarat Ha’Tov: The Lifelong Lesson of Embracing Holocaust Survivors

By Dr. Amnon Eldar
During the counting of the Omer, a period in which we work on ourselves and strive to improve our interpersonal skills and care for others, we would like to focus on hakarat ha’tov, being thankful for all that we have been blessed. The mourning of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students, who treated each other with disrespect, reminds us of the words of their teacher, “Love your neighbor as yourself. This is an important principle in the Torah.” Loving and caring for others teaches us that gratitude is a basic trait of utmost importance that should be carried out for all of our lives.

Teaching in the Time of Corona

How are members of the AMIT family coping with Corona Virus? Find out Pesha Fischer’s take on Teaching in the Time of Corona.

AMIT Responds to Students’ Needs During COVID-19

As many of you are aware, Israel is on semi-lockdown and has closed all schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this swift and necessary national measure, AMIT has also responded quickly to help our children keep learning uninterrupted by setting up online distance learning so they can continue their studies in the safety of their homes.

AMIT Director General Amnon Eldar Addresses the Closure of Israel’s Schools and Tells Principals: “A Crisis is Also an Opportunity”

In a swift letter to the AMIT network’s principals, AMIT Director General Amnon Eldar, sent a message of strength and inspiration to his “troops,” the educators who care every day for the more than 37,000 children in AMIT network.

Eldar explains how they are preparing for students to continue learning in the face of what is hoped to be temporary school closures as he reminds everyone of their obligation to personal responsibility to help thwart the spread of the coronavirus.

AMIT in The Jerusalem Post!

AMIT President Audrey Axelrod Trachtman recently spoke to The Jerusalem Post in a wide-ranging interview where she shared AMIT’s impact on its more than 37,000 students, the educational landscape in Israel, and what the network is doing every day to remain in the vanguard of modern Jewish education. Please read this terrific article in The Jerusalem Post and learn more about AMIT’s storied past, impressive present, and exciting future.

Successful Use of Building Design to Improve Learning

by Russell Jay Hendel
This article describes the innovations in use of space and building design of the AMIT religious network of schools in Israel. It is important to emphasize that space-design by itself will not accomplish pedagogic improvement; space-design is at most supportive to innovative pedagogy. Once we define our concept of learning, we can explore how spatial redesign supports and enhances it.

Want Good Teachers? Turn Them Into Entrepreneurs

The Jerusalem Post, by Dr. Amnon Eldar, director general of AMIT
More than 7,000 teachers left the education system in 2017 – a higher number than ever before – according to recently published data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). This is not a one-time event but a phenomenon. An increase in teacher attrition has been recorded for five consecutive years, and according to the CBS, the teachers who leave actually have higher statistical rankings (matriculation and psychometric scores) than the remaining teachers.

Meet Audrey Axelrod Trachtman, AMIT’s New President

How fitting that at the beginning of this new school year, Audrey Axelrod Trachtman will take the helm as AMIT’s national president. Every four years a new president is installed at AMIT. Along with this change in administration, our board of directors and other boards are also infused with new people who are passionate and dedicated to our mission.

Carmel 6000 and AMIT: Bridging Opportunity Gaps Together

by Sophie Friedman, The Times of Israel
Carmel 6000 and AMIT have a whole lot in common. Both believe in the power of STEM and education. Both appreciate the enormous potential of young women. And both are determined to use said powers, to unleash said potential.

Carmel 6000 Takes Second Place, Rocking EuroHack

Sophie Friedman, The Times of Israel
Pulling up to the sleek, glass Peres Peace House on the coast of Jaffa, the Carmel 6000 team definitely felt a little glamorous.

The Future Of Education Is Personalization

By Dr. Amnon Eldar, director general of AMIT
We’re living in an age of increasing personalization: Everything from medicine to shopping to what you’re watching on Netflix has grown increasingly tailored to individual needs, and the same is true for education. There is no more one-size-fits-all approach to educating children because no two children are alike in how they learn.

Team AMIT Raises $50K For Beit Hayeled At Jerusalem Marathon

More than 400 AMIT students, faculty members, and supporters got an early start to the day and hit the ground running at the Jerusalem Marathon, raising more than $50,000 for AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled, a surrogate family residence serving close to 200 children from difficult and disadvantaged homes.

The Parent Trap: How To Get Parents On Board With School Changes

by Alanna Kotler

A school community contains several constituencies—parents, faculty, staff, students—and the hope is that they all work together in the interest of each child. I would argue that each feels very strongly that it does. However, when you listen closely to the conversations that happen within each of these groups, there can be a gap between what is happening in schools and what each thinks is happening.

Jewish Education And Disabilities Inclusion: 10 Things To Know

Successfully including students of all abilities in Jewish education can seem overwhelming for a school that has not previously made accommodations or offered opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

The Next Generation of Learning

By Amnon Eldar, director general of the AMIT network
The AMIT network of schools has been at the top of educational achievements on a nationwide scale recently. This summer, AMIT was ranked the educational network with the highest achievements, according to the indexes set by the Education Ministry.

What Do Project-Based Learning And Torah Have To Do With Each Other? Everything

At AMIT, we are educating our children in Israel with vital 21st-century skills, including problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking by providing them with a cutting-edge, Jewish values–based education. To read more about how project based-learning, STEAM and Jewish studies go together, read this blog by contributor Rochie Sommer

Radical Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight

By Amnon Eldar, director general of the AMIT network
The process of transforming our schools and classrooms into “learning communities” calls for the same skills we seek to impart to our students, so they will thrive in the 21st century: teamwork, research, analytical skills, curiosity, critical thinking and creativity.

Critical Thinking: We Know It’s Important, But We Don’t Teach It Enough

At AMIT, we are educating our children in Israel with vital 21st-century skills, including problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking. Read more about the importance of critical thinking from Helen Lee Bouygues, an expert on the subject.

JTA: Israeli Program Enlists Young Religious Women To Solve Social Problems Through Tech

by Sam Sokol
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Sitting side by side in an open office in the tech giant Cisco’s headquarters here, Roni Ashkenazi and Ayelet Ganot sat staring at lines of code on a flat screen monitor checking their work before launching a demo of their latest project — a tablet app they are calling “What Should I Do.”

Beach Boys: High-Schoolers’ Startup Aims To Develop Wrist Band For Water Safety

By Shoshanna Solomon, Times of Israel
A team of 16- and 17-year-olds at an AMIT Yeshiva High School in the outskirts of Jerusalem has set up a startup company to develop a wrist band that aims to help keep beach-goers safe from drowning.

Jaclyn Wildes Loves the Learning and Chesed at AMIT

By JLNJ Staff
Jaclyn Wildes is studying at Midreshet AMIT in Gilo, Jerusalem. She grew up in Englewood, attended Moriah for elementary school, and Ramaz for high school. She’s attended Camp Seneca, Camp Szarvas and Camp Sulam in the summers.

How to Help Your Child Succeed in School

by Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP
Every parent wants to see their child succeed in school, but it can be a struggle for some. But don’t worry, there are ways to help your child overcome difficulties. Here’s a few tips to get you started.

5 Strategies For Kids Anxious About Going Back to School

by Adina Soclof, MS. CCC-SLP
Summer is coming to an end. The stores are stocked with fresh school supplies and that back to school excitement is in the air. But there are many children who aren’t so excited. The complaints, the stomachaches, and the sad faces are starting up again.

The Secret to AMIT’s Success? Shared Leadership

In this blog, we explore a key ingredient to AMIT’s pedagogic success: shared leadership, which refers to distributing leadership in a shared culture. AMIT accomplishes this shared leadership through the methods developed at its GOGYA teacher-training center.

The Jerusalem Post: Farewell, Bagrut System?

By Amnon Eldar, director general of the AMIT network
The Education Ministry recently published its various measures for evaluating schools in Israel and it is to be commended for its policy of transparency. However, in 2018, Israeli society’s view of bagrut (matriculation exam) scores should be the subject of in-depth discussion.

Preparing Students For The Future, Not The Past

By Amnon Eldar, director general of the AMIT network

The Industrial Revolution began in 1760 and transformed predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America into industrial, urban ones. Schoolchildren sat in long rows and teachers emphasized discipline and rote learning. Since then, the world has changed dramatically. The internet introduced an “information revolution” that affects our economy, society, and technology. Knowledge has gone from the hands of the elite into those of everyone, yet schools have not adapted to this change and still prepare graduates for the old world.

Reflecting On A Year Of “Living Torah, Living Chesed and Living Israel”

It is with many mixed emotions that I send out this last “Midreshet AMIT News” email to the students and parents of the class of AMIT 5778. We experienced many emotional goodbyes these past few days and had multiple opportunities to reflect on the incredible accomplishments and growth of our students.

U.S. Embassy English Enrichment Visit

By Danelle Rubin
Last week, we had the privilege of welcoming representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Israel at two AMIT schools in Petach Tikvah: Yeshivat AMIT Eliraz High School and AMIT Menorat HaMaor Haredi Track.

What will Israel’s Education System Look Like At 80?

By Amnon Eldar, AMIT director-general
The discourse surrounding the character of the school of the future is usually lacking because it has to do with improving the existing model. It takes as a given basic assumptions of the past, which don’t allow us to examine in depth what kind of school we would like to have in the future.

How AMIT empowers girls to pursue science and technology

By Amnon Eldar, Director General of AMIT
Assaf Rappaport, head of research and development at Microsoft Israel, recently said that the greatest missed opportunity in Israeli high-tech is the lack of women—they account for less than 20% of the high-tech workforce.

An AMIT student’s view of the particle accelerator in Geneva

The trip to Switzerland is an incredible experience that combines with diverse activities and enriching, experiential learning. Before traveling to Geneva to visit the particle accelerator, we took part in five days of preparation with different professors from universities across Israel. It was interesting, in-depth learning. When we arrived in Switzerland, we also had some…

Women’s History Month: Paying tribute to AMIT founder Bessie Gotsfeld

March is Women’s History Month, a perfect opportunity to pay tribute to Bessie Gotsfeld, the founder of American Mizrachi Women, now known as AMIT.

Even Harry Potter knows what students need to succeed in the real world

At AMIT, we believe that the old way of learning (a teacher standing and lecturing) is a thing of the past. Judging success by looking at a long list of standardized test scores is also a thing of the past—that is not how to foster students who are active learners, who are creative and collaborative. Even Harry Potter knows that it’s much more effective (and fun) to make magic and cast spells than to study them in theory.

At AMIT Kfar Ganim, inclusion isn’t just a buzz word—it’s reality

Many educators like to talk about inclusion in schools, but there’s a difference between discussing the concept in theory and implementing it in reality. That’s something that Rabbi Hagai Gross, the principal of Yeshivat AMIT Kfar Ganim in Petach Tikva, knows all too well.

“We are saving souls”

In order to get accepted to AMIT Menorat Hamaor, the school’s principal, Ilan Hamami, says half-jokingly that prospective students have to answer one question: Do you have a smartphone? If they respond “yes,” he lets them enroll—but not because that means they have access to high-tech gadgets or that they come from well-off families; in fact, it’s the opposite. If they have a smartphone, it shows him that they have begun to stray from their families’ Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) lifestyle.

Jealousy and pity for children in the age of the smartphone

Dear Generation Z, I am jealous of you and I pity you and wonder what you will feel about the next generation, Generation Alpha. Will you also have the same mixed feelings about them – jealousy and pity?

The Goal: Attracting top-level educators

There is no debate that the quality of teachers is the most important factor in the success of the educational system, and it is, therefore, crucial that we lead a change that will attract the best to the field of education. In a recent study, Israel’s National Bureau of Statistics found the average score of teachers on the psychometric exam to be below the national average (545).

AMIT is Reimagining Education for the 21st Century

In the beginning of July, I had the opportunity to visit AMIT’s center for educational innovation, GOGYA, located in Ra’anana, Israel. The name “GOGYA” comes from the word “pedagogy,” and the GOGYA center is where principals and teachers from the AMIT schools gather to reimagine education for the 21st century.

Q & A with Daniel Silva
No. 1 New York Times Best-selling Author

Daniel Silva, the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, just released “House of Spies,” the next installment of his series featuring Gabriel Allon, the Israeli spy, assassin and art restorer. Silva appeared at an AMIT event and book-signing in New York ahead of its release, and then spoke with AMIT about the new thriller, current events, including ISIS attacks and how he’s able to figure out where they will strike next, his writing process and what he’ll be tackling in his next book, which can be summed up in one word: Russia.

The game-changer that’s improving Israeli kids’ lives

The national average of Israelis passing the matriculation exams is 70%, but as Liz explains, “AMIT sets the standard even higher, by having 85% of our kids pass the bagrut—something that we are really proud of and that we devote incredible resources to, to make sure it happens.”

Architect Shares His Vision For the Classroom of the Future

The Gogya center in Ra’anana, where AMIT teachers learn innovative methods of instruction that inspire their students, is a critical component of AMIT’s success in educating Israeli children.

Past President Francine Stein describes AMIT’s impact on the periphery, on a special Yom Yerushalayim broadcast of “JM in the AM”

Francine Stein, a past president of AMIT, believes that the southern Israeli city of Beersheva is one of the best places to witness firsthand the impact that AMIT is having on the lives of Israeli children.

“No child left behind” isn’t a slogan, it’s AMIT’s policy

AMIT Executive Vice President Andrew Goldsmith, on “JM in the AM,” describes how “no child left behind” isn’t a slogan, it’s AMIT’s policy.

Yom Yerushalayim Mission – Part 1

Our first stop on today’s part of the AMIT Yom Yerushalayim Mission was Mount Herzl, the national cemetery, where we discussed the meaning of the liberation of Jerusalem 50 years ago.

These Words Meant Everything (An interview with Eliav Batito)

Eliav Batito, an 18-year-old from the northern Israeli city of Afula, is a recent graduate of the AMIT Yehuda High School in that city. During his senior year, Eliav served as the chairperson of Israel’s National Student Council, representing over 750,000 teenagers.

We’re Living in Dangerous Times

With anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts of violence rising worldwide, it’s well known that more and more families are choosing to make aliyah.

A Special Lady

I recently met with a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor. She told me that she survived the war with forged Polish papers which allowed her to flee from Poland to Austria and then Germany, where she worked at various factories and farms.

An Extraordinary Partnership: Frisch Beit Hayeled & Midreshet AMIT – Perfect Together!

I spent my last day in Israel visiting two programs in one of the most incredible places, Frisch Beit Hayeled and Midreshet AMIT.

Incredible Things Are Happening in Rehovot – Cont’d

How do you go from a school once known as the Red Jail now called the White House in just two years? Sometimes, it only takes one dynamic person who won’t take no for an answer.

Incredible Things Are Happening in Rehovot

Our first stop in Rehovot was at Yeshivat AMIT Amichai an all-boys school with 425 kids in grades 7-12. There are now 300 kindergartens, up from 78 a few years ago.

The Next Prime Minister of Israel

Ofra Pe’er, the principal at AMIT Renanim Junior and Senior Science and Technology High School for Girls, believes that the next Prime Minister of Israel will come from her school.

It All Comes Full Circle

While visiting AMIT Kfar Blatt Youth Village and AMIT Petach Tikvah Pre-Army Junior College, I met Moshe Uziel, who as a child lived in the youth village with his sister because their mother could not care for them properly.

2 Teenagers, 2 Towns

Today I met Yonatan and Amir at two different AMIT programs. While each young man has his own unique story, both shared similar challenges in school.

My AMIT Journey – Up Close and Personal

I can hardly contain my excitement. After working at AMIT as Director of Marketing & Communication, I am going to Israel to see first-hand of the amazing schools.

Innovation-Entrepreneurship-Creativity-Spirit Rules the Day

I started the day at the Elaine Silver Vocational High School in Beersheva. There is something so magical about this place

Being Driven to History

The taxi driver. Ask any seasoned business traveler for the latest and best information anywhere—what to do, where to go, where to get it (anything), how to get there—and he’ll tell you, hail a cab.

The Times of Israel: Teachers Will Need to Adjust Their Approach in Order to Educate the Leaders of Tomorrow

In the last decade, there has been a big push globally to innovate our education systems.

The AMIT Difference

I touched down in Israel as wildfires were burning around the country, affecting AMIT schools in multiple communities.

Anne Golombeck Blog

“I’m coming home” is truly the way I feel each time I enter Yerushalayim. Just set me loose to walk and wander for hours and nothing makes me happier.

The Times of Israel: The State of School Climate and Environment Today

Surrounding the core of identity and values of a school, we have identified five additional components, and my upcoming posts will each delve into one of these components.

Let’s Celebrate Jerusalem’s 50th Together!

I am honored and excited to be chairing the AMIT mission celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem.

Girl Power – It’s Happening in Yerucham!

I did not know anything about Yerucham except that it is located in the Negev and I was blown away by what is happening at several AMIT Schools.