Ra'anana Day 6
With this posting I go back to cover the last day of our mission. I left chronology to focus on my trip to the Negev...this and a following post close out our delegation's visit.
Day 6 Wednesday, 3/16/05 Ra’anana
This turned out to be a whirlwind day; not that the others were not. We left Haifa early and headed south for Ra’anana, the Israeli Boca Raton. This is a prosperous town with many Anglo Israelis. It is a MetroWest partnership city going back many years. In the early years of the relationship MetroWest funded a variety of programs related to social needs. As the town prospered the focus of the relationship changed. Places like Ofakim, a Negev settlement town for poor olim became the object of our “needs” funding. Ra’anana became an important locus for our pluralism efforts.
An argument can be made that Jewish charitable dollars should be sent only on the neediest in terms of shelter, food and education. However, if you are going to address issues that are affecting the social fabric of a society, you must also spend where basic needs are less of a concern. An experiment in building a pluralistic environment has a greater chance for success where the residents have resources to start new institutions and the time and desire to influence the municipality to make changes. Ra’anana provides fertile ground for advancing a pluralistic agenda because with a little bit of outside help the residents can take over and build. Starting a non-Orthodox synagogue, an alternative kindergarten or a new independent school will find support in financially stable, well educated communities. In addition, a modest strategic investment helps maintain a long and meaningful relationship between our two communities that both sides desire.
We started our visit to Ra’anana at the municipal building where we met with Mayor Zeev Bielski and members of his administration.
Waiting for me in the municipal building was Fanny Nachmana, mother of Gal, with whom I had lunch on my first day in Israel. Fanny is the director of the cultural affairs department and I had let her know we would be in town. It was nice to see her once again.
We were ushered into a conference room where the Mayor spoke of the municipality’s efforts to be welcoming to all and to support the programs we were promoting. Hannah Goldman, our Chair and head of our delegation, talked about the positive steps the municipality has taken, praised the mayor for his support and expressed our hope for continuation of that support. I recalled for the mayor that when I first met him he had provided me with a valuable education in the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians and my behest we went off agenda for a few minutes. I asked the mayor for his insights on current events and he discussed the coming evacuation from Gaza and its effect on Israel. The mayor recited some history regarding Gaza. Then he eloquently spoke of the need to understand the legitimate concerns and beliefs of the Jewish residents of Gaza but also referred to the need to follow the direction of a democratically elected government.
From the meeting with the mayor we headed to the TALI Megged school, a pluralistic pre-school program. We presented the school with a new boom box that was much appreciated. The children were preparing for Purim so we saw lots of costumes. There was a musical program followed by a brief repast of Persian dishes.
From TALI we headed to the Bilu School, a Modern Orthodox grammar school. The kids were lined up outside the school and we heard a choral presentation.
Also, new olim carrying the flags of their countries of origin were introduced.
Inside we met with the schools principal, Chana Zweiter, as well as representatives of two programs conducted in the school, Rosh Pina (Kaleidoscope) and Yesodot, both of which we support. Rosh Pina provides a mentoring program for teachers in both the municipalities religious and secular schools. The program promotes education pertaining to tolerance and pluralism and influences the teachers to incorporate those lessons in their own teaching. Yesodot, under Orthodox auspices, provides similar programming emphasizing democratic values in Judaism and is working with Rosh Pina in the Ra’anana schools. Shlomo Fisher, of Yesdot, spoke of the conflict that can arise between religious values and government/legal systems. The potential for violence from these conflicts (the Rabin assassination and the situation in Gaza) is great. His organization is trying to bridge abate that conflict.
Next we went to MetroWest High School to participate in the Meitar Jewish Israeli Culture class. This is an elective class that does provide credit toward matriculation. The program serves about 24 students. Usually kids take more “useful” classes for their concentration but the popularity of this programs indicates the growing desire of teens to learn about Jewish values. Meitar, headed by Martin Ben-Moreh, is focused on providing a common language of Jewish culture and values that will allow all elements of Israeli society to communicate better. Our group broke up into smaller units and joined two or three students to discuss the class and the subject matter.
We left the high school to join the municipality’s head of education for lunch at a local restaurant. (Although food was not the focus, I enjoyed sweet potato soup and an oriental style salad.) The education minister (I did not record his name) spoke of the municipality’s commitment to pluralism and its efforts to provide pluralistic curriculum at the earliest stages. The elementary schools have a bar/bat mitzvah project. There are yiddishkeit programs. He spoke of a program called 100 Concepts of Heritage that is given in the junior school and which includes an exam. All high school students take one hour per week of Jewish Identity education in a program created by the Hartman Institute. His goal is to have all the schools operate in the spirit of the TALI program. Unfortunately he could only be with us for a short time so we did not have much opportunity for dialogue.
To be continued…
Gary A
Day 6 Wednesday, 3/16/05 Ra’anana
This turned out to be a whirlwind day; not that the others were not. We left Haifa early and headed south for Ra’anana, the Israeli Boca Raton. This is a prosperous town with many Anglo Israelis. It is a MetroWest partnership city going back many years. In the early years of the relationship MetroWest funded a variety of programs related to social needs. As the town prospered the focus of the relationship changed. Places like Ofakim, a Negev settlement town for poor olim became the object of our “needs” funding. Ra’anana became an important locus for our pluralism efforts.
An argument can be made that Jewish charitable dollars should be sent only on the neediest in terms of shelter, food and education. However, if you are going to address issues that are affecting the social fabric of a society, you must also spend where basic needs are less of a concern. An experiment in building a pluralistic environment has a greater chance for success where the residents have resources to start new institutions and the time and desire to influence the municipality to make changes. Ra’anana provides fertile ground for advancing a pluralistic agenda because with a little bit of outside help the residents can take over and build. Starting a non-Orthodox synagogue, an alternative kindergarten or a new independent school will find support in financially stable, well educated communities. In addition, a modest strategic investment helps maintain a long and meaningful relationship between our two communities that both sides desire.
We started our visit to Ra’anana at the municipal building where we met with Mayor Zeev Bielski and members of his administration.
Waiting for me in the municipal building was Fanny Nachmana, mother of Gal, with whom I had lunch on my first day in Israel. Fanny is the director of the cultural affairs department and I had let her know we would be in town. It was nice to see her once again.
We were ushered into a conference room where the Mayor spoke of the municipality’s efforts to be welcoming to all and to support the programs we were promoting. Hannah Goldman, our Chair and head of our delegation, talked about the positive steps the municipality has taken, praised the mayor for his support and expressed our hope for continuation of that support. I recalled for the mayor that when I first met him he had provided me with a valuable education in the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians and my behest we went off agenda for a few minutes. I asked the mayor for his insights on current events and he discussed the coming evacuation from Gaza and its effect on Israel. The mayor recited some history regarding Gaza. Then he eloquently spoke of the need to understand the legitimate concerns and beliefs of the Jewish residents of Gaza but also referred to the need to follow the direction of a democratically elected government.
From the meeting with the mayor we headed to the TALI Megged school, a pluralistic pre-school program. We presented the school with a new boom box that was much appreciated. The children were preparing for Purim so we saw lots of costumes. There was a musical program followed by a brief repast of Persian dishes.
From TALI we headed to the Bilu School, a Modern Orthodox grammar school. The kids were lined up outside the school and we heard a choral presentation.
Also, new olim carrying the flags of their countries of origin were introduced.
Inside we met with the schools principal, Chana Zweiter, as well as representatives of two programs conducted in the school, Rosh Pina (Kaleidoscope) and Yesodot, both of which we support. Rosh Pina provides a mentoring program for teachers in both the municipalities religious and secular schools. The program promotes education pertaining to tolerance and pluralism and influences the teachers to incorporate those lessons in their own teaching. Yesodot, under Orthodox auspices, provides similar programming emphasizing democratic values in Judaism and is working with Rosh Pina in the Ra’anana schools. Shlomo Fisher, of Yesdot, spoke of the conflict that can arise between religious values and government/legal systems. The potential for violence from these conflicts (the Rabin assassination and the situation in Gaza) is great. His organization is trying to bridge abate that conflict.
Next we went to MetroWest High School to participate in the Meitar Jewish Israeli Culture class. This is an elective class that does provide credit toward matriculation. The program serves about 24 students. Usually kids take more “useful” classes for their concentration but the popularity of this programs indicates the growing desire of teens to learn about Jewish values. Meitar, headed by Martin Ben-Moreh, is focused on providing a common language of Jewish culture and values that will allow all elements of Israeli society to communicate better. Our group broke up into smaller units and joined two or three students to discuss the class and the subject matter.
We left the high school to join the municipality’s head of education for lunch at a local restaurant. (Although food was not the focus, I enjoyed sweet potato soup and an oriental style salad.) The education minister (I did not record his name) spoke of the municipality’s commitment to pluralism and its efforts to provide pluralistic curriculum at the earliest stages. The elementary schools have a bar/bat mitzvah project. There are yiddishkeit programs. He spoke of a program called 100 Concepts of Heritage that is given in the junior school and which includes an exam. All high school students take one hour per week of Jewish Identity education in a program created by the Hartman Institute. His goal is to have all the schools operate in the spirit of the TALI program. Unfortunately he could only be with us for a short time so we did not have much opportunity for dialogue.
To be continued…
Gary A
posted by Gary A at 3:57 AM
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