CONTENTS

1. Yom Yerushalayim 5770
2. UBA Amana Student Wins International Bible Quiz
3. UBA Tel Aviv Cited for Tradition of Chesed
4. Yom Sababa at YBA Sussya
5. Profile: Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern (Res.)
6. Bat Yam Dedicates Garden to Fallen YBA Aderet Graduate
7. Orot Yisrael College: Living And Loving The Land Of Israel
8. Yagdil Torah "Torah and Ecology" Study Day

YOM YERUSHALAYIM 5770

           Since 1968, thousands of flag waving YBA students have joined other religious-Zionist youths in the traditional Yom Yerushalayim parade through the streets of Jerusalem to the Kotel Plaza. The following Jerusalem Post Op-Ed piece entitled "A Glimpse of Redemption" by Michael Freund, describes a heartwarming scene involving haredi and religious-Zionist yeshiva students.

Yom Yerusalayim Parade

           "On Tuesday night, at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem, I think I may have witnessed a foretaste of the messianic era. It was the eve of Jerusalem Day, marking the liberation and reunification of the city during the 1967 Six-Day War, when young Jewish paratroopers, armed as much with faith as with firearms stormed the enemy’s positions and unshackled the Temple Mount from nearly two millennia of incarceration under foreign control. From across the country, thousands of Israelis streamed into the square in front of the Wall, anxious to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of this historic event and bask in the aura of this holy place. Some wore jeans, others wore dark suits or black caftans. But whatever their choice of outer attire, all were drawn for the same inner reason: to affirm our indestructible bond to Jewish history as well as our unshakeable faith in Jewish destiny."

            Click here to read entire Jerusalem Post article.

UBA AMANA STUDENT WINS WORLD BIBLE QUIZ

          Or Ashuel, an 12th grade student at Ulpanat Bnei Akiva Amana in Kfar Saba, took first place in this year's World Bible Quiz, which took place on Yom Ha'atzmaut, after having won the Israel National Bible Quiz a month earlier. Or carries on her family's tradition of Bible erudition. 27 years ago, Or's father, Shimon Ashuel, while a student at Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Or Etzion, took second place in the same World Bible Quiz competition.

          What makes a World Bible Quiz champion? Unlike last year's runner-up, Ori Luwisch, from Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Sussya, whose photographic memory allowed him to compete with only three months of preparation, Or Ashuel spent years accumulating her encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible. "Or is the kind of student whose character outshines her intelligence," says Kobi Fried, Or's Bible teacher at Ulpanat Amana. "She combines a deep faith and reverence for the Torah with exceptional study habits and dedication."

          A month after her victory Or got to experience a Bible competition from the other side of the table, as she was invited to join the panel of judges in the 12th Annual Neriya Bible Quiz for Ulpanot, named after Harav Moshe Zvi Neriya zt"l, the founder of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva in Israel.  20 ulpanot competed in the event, which Or won last year.

          Click here to see coverage of the Bible Quiz in the Jerusalem Post.

UBA TEL AVIV CITED FOR TRADITION OF CHESED

Yael Madmon

          "On three pillars the world stands: on the Torah, on Worship and on Acts of Loving Kindness" – Avot

           Ulpanit Bnei Akiva Tel Aviv defines itself as a community school which actualizes its responsibility towards the community on a daily basis through the many "Acts of Loving Kindness" [Chesed] the girls are involved with throughout the city. The Ministry of Education, in a gesture recognizing the school's emphasis on volunteerism, chose Yael Madmon, a 12th grade student at the ulpanit to receive its national "Student Volunteer of the Year" Award for exceptional community service. A second student, Ziporah Picksel, was also awarded the regional prize for the Tel Aviv region.

          "In my thirty years as an educator," said Rosh Ulpana Yaffa Magnes, "I have never seen a student more committed to chesed and volunteer work, while remaining so unpretentious and modest regarding her many accomplishments." Yael was cited for the honor in recognition of her work as a first grade tutor in the "Le'oro Nelech" program, and for her activities in the Bnei Akiva "Garin Yonatan" project for assisting disadvantaged families and food banks in the Tel Aviv area.

YOM SABABA AT YBA SUSSYA

           Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Sussya for Environmental Studies held its fourth annual "Yom Sababa" event in which grandparents visit the yeshiva and spend the day studying Torah with their grandsons. This year's theme, "Halacha and Modernity," featured a key note address by Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, head of the Zomet Institute, who demonstrated how electrical currents can be exploited on Shabbat without violation of Halachic principles. Following study sessions in the classrooms and lunch, the grandparents were treated to a tour of an excavation site in the nearby Yattir Forest, where agricultural antiquities from biblical times, including water cisterns, irrigation channels, grape and olive presses, grain threshing floors and millstones were uncovered and restored.

           Click here to view a video about YBA Sussya for Environmental Studies.

Grandparents' Day

PROFILE: MAJ.-GEN. ELAZAR STERN (RES.)

            AFYBA is proud of the thousands of YBA alumni who have gone on to serve with distinction in the IDF and in every walk of life in Israeli society. This first in a series of articles profiling distinguished graduates features an exclusive interview with Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern (YBA Netiv Meir, 1974) on the eve of his retirement from the IDF. The article by Yaakov Katz, entitled "His Final Salute," was originally published in the Jerusalem Post on July 25, 2008.

         Click here to read entire Jerusalem Post article.

YBA ADERET DEDICATES GARDEN TO FALLEN GRADUATE

           Eight years after Staff Sgt. Gadi Ezra hy"d was killed in battle against terrorists in Jenin, his high school dedicated a garden in his name. Gad was born and raised in Bat Yam and after graduating from Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Aderet in Bat Yam went on to enlist in the Hesder program at Yeshivat Or Etzion. Gadi was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for camaraderie, courage under fire and effort to save human life at the time of his falling.

           The idea to dedicate the yeshiva's courtyard to Gadi's memory originated with Ami Haziza, the school's dorm manager (and former Aderet student himself). Haziza, with the assistance of Rosh Yeshiva Benzion Elul, recruited the support of the Ezra family and the Bat Yam Municipality, hired a landscape architect and directed the project, with much of the work being carried out by the yeshiva students themselves. The resulting "Gan Gad" incorporates a spring and babbling brook flowing past fruit trees and flower beds to fill a fish pond, all symbolizing aspects of Gadi's good natured and caring personality.

LIVING AND LOVING THE LAND OF ISRAEL

           Before the Pesach vacation, the entire student body of Orot Yisrael College took a field trip to the mountains of the Lower Galilee. From the top of Mount Atzmon (547 meters), the students took in an amazing vista of the Beit Netufa valley, the area of the Tzippori, Hoshaya, Beit Rimon villages and the Nazareth mountain range to the south. The track included walking amid the natural Mediterranean vegetation in an amazing spring bloom.

           After a rest, the students descended towards Yodfat, an important city from the end of the Second Temple period that refused to the surrender to the Romans as other cities had. After fighting bravely, the battle concluded with the fall of Yodfat and Zippori at the hands of Roman conquerors on their way to crush the Jewish rebellion and destroy Jerusalem in the year 70 CE.

           The fieldtrip was led by the First year students of the Orot Yisrael College Department of Eretz Yisrael Studies, who were thoroughly prepared by their teachers Dr. Yitzhak Sapir and Naama Bindiger.

           Why does Orot College insist on conducting field trips for the entire student body? If you don't live the Land of Israel, you can't love the Land properly. And, without that love, how will a teacher communicate the value of Eretz Yisrael to her students in the future? These field trips strengthen and develop the relationship of Orot's students with the Land of Israel, its landscapes and heritage, so that when they become teachers, they will appreciate the importance of field trips in the Israeli school system, and convey the value, beauty and holiness of the Land to the next generation.

           Click here to visit the Orot Yisrael College English Webpage.

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