Nine students from all over the country won the national Creative Torah competition run by the National Religious Education system, in which students are required to write research articles combining some aspect of Jewish law with a modern issue. Three of those nine students came from AMIT schools.
The competition was held in the shadow of Covid and many of the students’ research articles dealt with the virus. One of the winning articles, written by Noam Yosef Amram Alkobi, an 11th grader at AMIT Daisy Berman Yeshiva High School in Beer Sheva, analyzes the position of Jewish law concerning masks creating the appearance of covering part of the body. This is the second year in a row that Alkobi has won a competition for articles he has written. “I thank G-d for the merit to write and for winning the competition; everything is from Him and He gives us strength.”
The competition is an initiative of the principal of AMIT Hammer Junior and Senior High School for boys in Rehovot, Rabbi Rafi Maimon, and is led by Assaf Siri, coordinator of excellence at AMIT Hammer. It is part of the development of Torat Chaim in the AMIT Network, with the goal of connecting Torah in a meaningful way to our students’ daily lives. Hundreds of students from all over the country signed up for the competition and presented fascinating and sophisticated research articles. In the first phase, 70 papers were submitted to the judges with 24 advancing to the final stage. At the finals, all 24 were presented and seven outstanding papers were selected as winners. Students, accompanied by their teachers, received a cash prize. The judging panel included Rabbi Yehuda Zoldan, supervisor of the teaching of Oral Law in the Religious Zionist government schools; Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Rosh Yeshiva of the Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva and a member of AMIT’s spiritual council; and Rabbi Eliezer Shinwald, Rosh Yeshivat Hesder in Modi’in.
Rabbi Sivan Srur, Rosh Yeshivat AMIT Daisy Berman, explained: “The victory shows investment, commitment to a goal, and love of Torah. The fact that this is the second year in a row is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations to Noam Yosef and his rabbi who helped him in preparing the article.”
A second student from AMIT who won, is Uri Yeshurun, a student at AMIT Yeshiva High School for Boys in Bruchin. Rabbi Yair Shtabun, Rosh Yeshivat AMIT Bruchin, says: “Uri did outstanding work and won from a field of hundreds of students from across the country. Praised is he who labors in Torah and sees the fruit of his labor.”
And finally, Maor Tarab and Roi Bernstein, 12th graders from Yeshivat AMIT Kfar Ganim High School in Petach Tikva, also won with articles on various approaches in the religious Zionist world, to coed vs. single-gender schools, youth groups, etc. “We tried to make sure our articles were practical and not just theoretical discussion. We are very proud of the work we put in and the results we’ve achieved.”
Elad Bar-Shalom, director of Torat Chaim for the AMIT Network, explains: “Yasher koach to all the students and teachers for their investment and persistence in exploring the connection between Torah and the reality of our lives, for the individual creativity they exhibited, and the striving for excellence in the field of Jewish studies.”
