Artistic Ability; Social Responsibility

There is a large wooden charity box in the lobby of Ohr Torah Stone's Jacob Sapirstein Junior High School for boys that attracts many contributions from students at the boys' school in the Ramot section of Jerusalem. "That's because the boys designed and made the box themselves," explains Ann Belsky Moranis School of Arts teacher Uri Kreuzer, a carpenter, woodworker and former Jewish studies instructor. "When youngsters create objects relating to their heritage and learn about their function and purpose, it enhances their identification with the values these items represent."

Kreuzer teaches an unusual art course that combines textual study and creative expression for seventh, eighth and ninth graders. Before building the charity box, the students reviewed the traditional sources of social justice and community responsibility. In similar fashion, the woodworking class learned about the traditions of mezuzah before creating the mezuzahs that adorn the doorways of the school building, and reviewed sources relating to Hannukah before designing and building menorahs. "This is one of the goals of the Ann Belsky Moranis School of the Arts," Kreuzer says. "Teaching students how to explore the values of their heritage through the unleashing of artistic expression."