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Dec. 29, 2006
Judaics in Jerusalem
Rabbi launches program for North Americans.
RHONDA SPIVAK
Rabbi Joseph Benarroch visited Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg at
the beginning of December to promote a new one-year Judaic Studies
Leadership program for post-high school students at the Sephardic
Educational Centre in Jerusalem.
Benarroch moved to Israel eight years ago from Vancouver and now
lives in Efrat, a settlement just outside of Jerusalem, with his
wife and seven children. Prior to making aliyah, Benarroch served
as the rabbi of Beth Hamidrash.
"The program for English-speaking students at the Sephardic
Educational Centre, in the Jewish quarter of the Old City, is a
one-of-a-kind experience," said Benarroch. "The program
is designed to be an alternative to yeshivah programs. It is designed
to appeal to students who want more religious studies than they
might get at the Hebrew University's Rothberg School for overseas
students, but less religious studies than at a yeshivah."
Classes will combine academics with opportunities to "live
and breathe" the subject matter. There will be Shabbatonim,
opportunities to visit archeological sites, volunteer projects and
interactions with Israeli society.
"One of the big attractions of this program is that students
will be able to experience the pulse of living in the Jewish Quarter
of the Old City," Benarroch added.
The program will accept approximately 20 overseas students and will
combine five different areas of teaching: Judaic studies, the history
and politics of Israel, leadership training, Sephardi history, culture
and customs and the history of Jerusalem. As well, students will
be required to attend a Hebrew ulpan. The program is open to both
Sephardi and Ashkenazi students.
Benarroch said that, as part of their studies, students will go
on field trips throughout Jerusalem neighborhoods, "and will
get to know Jerusalem backwards and forwards." He said he is
working on students being able to obtain university credits for
the initiative – currently an impossibility.
The entire cost of the program, including accommodation and two
daily meals, is $7,000, and students can apply to obtain a Masa
scholarship from the Jewish Agency for the whole amount of this
cost.
"I've been getting a good response to the program," said
Benarroch. "There are already some Sephardi students from Montreal
who are interested in registering for it."
The Sephardic Educational Centre is involved in a variety of other
educational programs. Founded in 1979, the centre is located in
historic buildings that belonged to the Sephardi Jewish community.
It offers short-term Birthright programs and Shabbatons for English-speaking
students in Jerusalem, as well as providing weekly [Judaic] classes
in English, Spanish and French and special tours of the Old City.
"Our tours focus on the history of the Sephardi Jews in the
Old City," said Benarroch. "The first immigration of Ashkenazi
Jews to Jerusalem wasn't until the mid- 1800s. Prior to that, there
were only Sephardi Jews in Jerusalem. From about the year 1517,
when the Ottoman Empire conquered Israel, the Jews who lived in
the Old City were Jews of Spanish descent. They spoke Ladino."
Benarroch starts his tours of the Old City at the synagogue built
by the Ramban (Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman), a Spanish scholar and kabbalist,
when he arrived in Jerusalem in 1267.
"Ramban's synagogue, which is 740 years old, is the oldest
active synagogue that I know of in the world. Ramban, who was well
over 70 years old, escaped Barcelona and rode a donkey for three
months all the way from Spain to Jerusalem. When he got to Jerusalem,
there were only two Jews who lived there. He built the synagogue
with his own hands and it became a magnet that started to attract
Jews to the city of Jerusalem," Benarroch related. "My
office is right near Ramban's synagogue and I have the privilege
of davening minchah every day there."
Benarroch invited members of the Vancouver Jewish community to come
visit him at to the Sephardic Educational Centre to "see for
themselves." As he said, "I had a very positive experience
as a pulpit rabbi in Vancouver. It was a great community."
Rhonda Spivak is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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