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Feb. 10, 2006
Helping Israeli youth
Campaign funds some crucial programs.
PAT JOHNSON
Were it not for Ben Yakir Youth Village, Israel may not have benefited
from the contributions of Gen. Moshe Dayan, President Moshe Katsav,
Minister of Defence Shaul Mofaz or Shevach Weiss, a former speaker
of the Knesset.
Each of these accomplished Israelis was a graduate of the youth
village, which has taken in and integrated hundreds of thousands
of new Israelis over seven decades. And without the support of Canadian
Hadassah-WIZO, many of the services offered at the village would
not be available.
Since the 1970s, Ben Yakir Youth Village has not only integrated
orphaned and disadvantaged Jewish young people from all over the
world, but has also accepted, housed, educated, trained and given
confidence to Israeli children and teenagers who would not otherwise
be able to afford the educational supports they need.
Ben Yakir has become even more crucial since the intifada began
and Israel has been forced to plow more money into defence, causing
painful cuts to the country's once-lauded social safety net.
Originally created in Germany, Youth Aliyah brought thousands of
young Jews from Europe to Palestine. The project was taken up by
Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold and developed into a department
of the Jewish Agency.
In addition to the necessities of life, Ben Yakir provides top-notch
education and skills training to children aged 12 to 15. After completing
the program at age 15, graduates continue on in the public school
system at nearby Hadera, while returning home to the familiar surroundings
of Ben Yakir, assuming they do not have a permanent family home.
On top of the variety of comprehensive education at Ben Yakir, the
village also provides remedial and special needs programs that have
become less accessible in the general system since the budgetary
restraints caused by the intifada. Prof. Reuven Feuerstein, a world-renowned
researcher and expert in autism, pervasive developmental disorders
and Down's syndrome, leads the Hadassah-WIZO Canada Research Institute.
Such programs are more important than ever, said Ginny Soronow of
Hadassah-WIZO's Vancouver chapter, because of social service budget
cuts.
"It's a terrible, terrible byproduct of the intifada, because
a lot of these parents have lost jobs and they can no longer afford
to feed these children," she said. "If there is a child
who has the least bit of a learning difficulty, they just can't
cope. It's very much an economic situation. This is a direct result
of the intifada ... social programs had to be cut."
Many of the students have also lost family or had other close encounters
with terrorism and suffer from trauma of varying sorts.
Because Ben Yakir requires international support for its programs,
it has been adopted as a special project by Canadian Hadassah-WIZO.
An annual campaign supporting the village began in Vancouver last
week and continues until March 12. Hadassah-WIZO members and supporters
will be receiving telephone calls asking for support and the local
branch of the international women's Zionist organization is appealing
to British Columbians to join the campaign in support of Ben Yakir
programs.
Soronow who, with Toby Rubin, is co-chair of this year's local campaign,
said they are asking contributors to up their annual donation in
support of a very special project.
"We will be calling Hadassah-WIZO members to give a donation,
make a pledge and we're asking for an increase because it is so
desperately needed in Israel," Soronow said. "This year's
increases will go to the bar mitzvah program at Ben Yakir."
The program allows boys whose family could not afford to give them
a bar mitzvah a meaningful and memorable experience.
"Many of them are from the former Soviet Union and have literally
no knowledge of the Jewish religion," said Soronow. "They
don't know any of the rituals, they don't know any of the holidays."
By the time they are bar mitzvah, they have a foundational knowledge
of Jewish tradition. They then have a group bar mitzvah at the Western
Wall and return to Ben Yakir for a celebratory barbecue involving
all village residents and visiting families. Each bar mitzvah boy
receives a new watch, black pants and a fresh, white dress shirt.
"It's just wonderful, because they would never be able to do
it without Ben Yakir," said Soronow, who visited the village
on a Hadassah-WIZO trip in 2002. "It's a wonderful thing. It's
a day these kids will never forget."
As someone who works with special needs children in the Richmond
school district, Soronow appreciates the programs at Ben Yakir,
including the hobby farm and therapeutic equestrian programs.
"I was involved in therapeutic riding here in Richmond,"
she said. "I know what caring for animals [does] and the trust
kids put in an animal. Animals, especially horses, are very intuitive."
She said the boys of Ben Yakir stole her heart.
The village, she said, is "supportive, loving and nurturing
and these kids just feel secure."
"You can't learn if you're hungry and terrified," she
added.
Travelling around Israel, it's hard to miss the contributions made
by Canadian Hadassah-WIZO and its individual supporters. Three Vancouver
women – each of whom has served as national president of Canadian
Hadassah-WIZO – have significant projects named after them.
Judy Mandelman has a day-care centre named in her honor at Holon.
Naomi Frankenburg has a recently opened cultural centre named in
her honor at Hadassim Children and Youth Village, near Netanya.
And Rochelle Levinson, who just completed her term as national president,
has a club room named in her honor for the students at Netanya Technological
High School.
To support Ben Yakir Youth Village through the Youth Aliyah campaign,
contact the Hadassah-WIZO office in Vancouver at 604-257-5160.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.
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