Update #6 From AMIT
Status of Education in Israel
Despite the chaos of the past week, ongoing tension in northern Israel and IDF troops preparing to enter Gaza at any moment, Home Front Command (the IDF’s military district command also known as Pikud HaOref) released a roadmap, dividing the country into three regions: red, yellow, and green.
- Green Region: All school activities may resume as usual.
- Red Regions: Completely prohibited to resume any public activity.
- Yellow Region: Can hold school activities if bomb shelters are available for all.
Notwithstanding these guidelines, Israel’s Ministry of Education (MOE) acknowledges there is a gap between this allowance and reality on the ground. Therefore, MOE has empowered every mayor and municipality to decide, based on local circumstances and availability of teaching staff, whether they can open schools or not.
We are enthusiastic to report that four AMIT schools resumed partial in-person learning today: AMIT HaOfek Or Akiva, AMIT Kamah Yeruchum, AMIT Lehava Kedumim, and AMIT Eitan Ma’aleh Adumim. We applaud these principals, who are moving heaven and earth to create some sense of normalcy for their students.
Gogya Hybrid Goes Global
AMIT educators continue to look for ways to meaningfully contribute to the State of Israel. A new global initiative named “Sha’agat Aryeh” (the roar of the lion), has created a network of Jewish teachers from around the world to dedicate their time to teach AMIT students in Israel. We are humbled by teachers who wake up in an opposite time zone to teach AMIT classes in addition to their regular class load.
Chesed Shel Emet
Every family in Israel knows someone who was called up from reserve duty to fight. There are also those who are called up to do Chesed Shel Emet – the most difficult job of identifying bodies and bringing them to burial. Three of our AMIT staff members: Rav Shalom Malul, principal of Yeshivat AMIT Ashdod; Avinoam Almagor, principal of AMIT Bienenfeld Havruta; and Yishai Bonnie, administrative vice-principal of AMIT Be’er, have been working around the clock since October 7th to bring some peace to the families and oversee their loved ones’ burials.
As of today, 23 AMIT alumni have been killed, and 35 current families and families of AMIT staff members have lost a loved one. AMIT mourns the loss of two alumni from Yeshivat AMIT Tzfat: Elyasaf Ben-Porat HY”D and Gavriel Yishai Barel HY”D.
Keeping Smachot Rituals During War Time
How does one celebrate a Bar Mitzvah during war time?
Rav Zvi Ehrlich, the rabbi of AMIT Dyckman Ulpena in Be’er Sheva, has a longstanding relationship with members of Kibbutz Be’eri, a secular kibbutz. Rav Ehrlich teaches the boys the parsha, basic tenants of Judaism and Jewish values, and teaches them to say Shema Yisrael as it represents the values of Kiddush Hashem (conduct that reflects well on Jewish people). On October 7th, one of Rav Ehrlich’s boys, Uri King, and his parents were hiding in their bomb shelter for 30 hours until they were rescued by the IDF. His mother shared that the entire time they were hiding in the bomb shelter in the dark, Uri kept repeating Shema Yisrael over and over.
This past Thursday, Rav Ehrlich and the educational staff of AMIT Dyckman decided to pull off a Bar Mitzvah for Uri, in the Dead Sea region where his family was evacuated. He confidently read the Parsha. There was not one dry eye in the audience, and his mother told Rav Ehrlich – next time when you teach the kids of the Kibbutz about Shema Yisrael, I’m sure you’ll tell them about Uri.
AMIT in the News
