| •Volume 2, Issue 3 | • Kislev 5770 | •November 2009 |
|
CONTENTS
YESHIVOT BNEI AKIVA – Click here to view a map of the 63 schools in the YBA educational network. |
YBA HIGH SCHOOL IN ISRAEL PROGRAM
YBA has announced the launching of a low-cost, high-quality educational alternative to modern Orthodox day schools: a 3-year religious Zionist high school program in Israel for tenth through twelfth grade students from Diaspora communities. The program will be co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education Naale Program, with tuition and fees (including full room and board) substantially below the average tuition for yeshiva high school education in the US. "In our dormitory schools, the extracurricular informal education is just as important as what takes place in the classroom," explains Elchanan Glatt, Director General of YBA in Israel. "Our students spend their leisure time engaged in meaningful activities, such as chesed work. They live 24/7 in a nurturing Torah-oriented environment, and absorb traditional Jewish values and Ahavat Yisrael from the close personal relationships they develop with their teachers and dorm counselors."
The program will begin in two YBA dormitory schools – Yeshivat Ohel Shlomo in Beer Sheva and Ulpanat Segula in Kiryat Motzkin – with the possibility to expanding to other YBA dormitory schools if necessary. YBA's goal is to recruit 25 students per school to enter 10th grade in September 2010. Rabbi Yoni Mozeson from Teaneck, NJ has been appointed as the program's Marketing and Recruitment Director, and will coordinate marketing and screening efforts with day school principals, Orthodox Union rabbis and shlichim [emissaries] of the Bnei Akiva Youth Movement, Kollel Torah Mitzion, Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Screening seminars for program applicants will be scheduled in cities across the US and Canada during March and May, 2010. For more information, or to arrange an informational meeting for perspective students in your community, please contact the AFYBA office at 212-248-0471, office@afyba.org, or Rabbi Mozeson at 201-928-1819, rabbimozeson@afyba.org |
ULPANAT KFAR PINES CELEBRATES JUBILEE
Over 1,300 alumnae of YBA Ulpana Kfar Pines joined the school's 400 students for an evening of celebration in recognition of the school's 50th year of educational excellence. The school's central courtyard was filled to capacity with young and old graduates chatting with classmates, viewing video presentations produced for the occasion and listening to musical interludes by the school's music department. The joyous occasion was capped by an address by Rosh Ulpana Yoram Tzohar, marking his 28th year as headmaster of the school. Kfar Pines is affectionately known as the "mother of all ulpanot," serving as the model of religious Zionist dormitory education for girls, in the same way that YBA Kfar Haroeh served as the model for religious Zionist yeshiva education for boys. |
ETHIOPIAN ABSORPTION IN YBA SCHOOLS In August, two schools in Petach Tikva refused to enroll Ethiopian children, sparking a public debate on racial prejudice in Israel, and how effective Israeli society has been in absorbing Ethiopian olim. The following translation was excerpted from an article by Yifat Erlich in the Makor Rishon newspaper, (jtimes.co.il), September 9, 2009, focusing on one YBA graduate among three examples of successful Ethiopian absorption: Avresh Malasa (27), holds an MA degree in counseling and manages a dormitory for Ethiopian immigrant girls. She was born in a village called Goshku in Ethiopia, and after a year of wandering between villages and towns in Ethiopia, made Aliyah with her family in 1991. When her plane finally touched down in the Holy Land, 9 year-old Avresh gazed out the window and was surprised to see that the sand in Israel was yellow, exactly like in Ethiopia, and not gold as she had imagined. Despite her initial disappointment, Malasa never ceased to be amazed by the new things she discovered in her new modern homeland.
Her high school years were spent at Ulpanat Kfar Pines, in a class with five other immigrant girls from Ethiopia. "Already in the ninth grade I began to volunteer to give the Dvar Torah at Shabbat meals in front of the entire Ulpana," she recalls. "At first I felt a bit like a stranger, but not because anyone made me feel that way; and I got over it by the end of the first year." Click here to read more. |
NEW APPOINTMENTS AT YBA INSTITUTIONS YBA in Israel has announced the following new appointments as of September 2009 for the 5770 school year. AFYBA wishes the new headmasters much success in their positions.
Avi Shachar has been appointed as the director of the YBA Northern District. Avi holds an MBA from Bar Ilan University and is the former school administrator of YBA Tikvat Yaakov, Sde Yaakov, YBA Nachlat Yitzchak, Nechalim, and most recently YBA Yavneh, Haifa.
Nechama Gonen, who recently retired after over 30 years of service as the head of Ulpanat Segula in Kiryat Motzkin, has been appointed to coordinate the YBA network-wide Chochmat Nashim Program, a girl's extracurricular Torah study program parallel to the Yagdil Torah V'Yadir Program for boys.
Ulpanat Segula, Kiryat Motzkin welcomed Rabbi Eyal Shenkar as headmaster. Rabbi Shenkar is a graduate of YBA Netanya and YBA Yeshivat Hesder Shadmot Mechola. He holds a BA from Herzog College and has served for the past nine years as teacher and junior high school principal at YBA Pirchei Aharon in nearby Kiryat Shmuel.
YBA Raanana welcomed Rabbi Efraim Zik as Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Zik recently returned to Israel with his family from Peru, where he served as rabbi of the Lima Jewish community for the past 10 years. Rabbi Zik is presently completing an MA in Talmud from Bar Ilan University.
YBA Kfar Haroeh welcomed Rabbi Gad Bartov as Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Bartov has served Kfar Haroeh for the past 13 years, including the past two years as Assistant Rosh Yeshiva. He is a graduate of YBA Yavneh, Haifa and holds a JD degree from Tel Aviv University, where he will soon finish a PhD in Philosophy.
YBA Tikvat Yaakov welcomed Rabbi Malachi Kaufman to the post of Rosh Yeshiva after serving as acting Rosh Yeshiva last year and for 22 years before that as a teacher in the school. Rabbi Kaufman holds a Ph.D. in Talmud from Bar Ilan University. |
|
You are receiving this e-mail because you are currently subscribed to receive the AFYBA E-newsletter, a monthly informational e-mail communication sent by the American Friends of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva. We would appreciate your confirming your interest in continuing to receive the AFYBA E-newsletter by clicking on the "confirm" link at the top of the e-mail, or by sending a blank reply to this message. If, however, you would like to be removed from this list, please feel free to click on the "unsubscribe" link at the top of the e-mail or on the "SafeUnsubscribe" link at the end of the e-mail, and your address will be automatically removed from our mailing list. For more information on Constant Contact's anti-spam policies, we invite you to read their "Privacy Policy," also at the end of the e-mail. If you enjoyed reading this issue of the AFYBA E-newsletter please feel free to forward it to others who might share your interest in Yeshivot Bnei Akiva in Israel. You can be assured that they will not be bothered with unwanted spam messages and will only receive future issues if they choose to subscribe. Oz Ben-Shmuel Visit our web site @ www.afyba.org |
212-248-0417 | office@afyba.org | www.afyba.org |
