Shmuly Yanklowitz (l) and fellow student Noah Stern

Judaism is rooted in chessed – social awareness, compassion and acts of unremunerated kindness. At Ohr Torah Stone, learning and action go hand-in-hand, with all students encouraged to identify and address social needs. Volunteering within the community is thus an integral part of the curriculum in all OTS schools, from junior high to post-graduate programs, with training and guidance provided for each student by the OTS Susan Resnick School of Social Work.

“At the Jacob Sapirstein School for Boys, students are very excited about helping others,” says teacher Michal Sitbon. Much of their chessed activity revolves around special “happenings” that the boys initiate in order to add excitement to the lives of sick children that they visit all year round. “Last Purim, the students planned a carnival for over 200 kids from Kav L’Chayim, an organization for chronically ill and handicapped children,” Michal reports. “They organized everything, bringing in clowns and setting up booths with games, prizes and snacks. It was amazing.”

Students at the Jennie Sapirstein School for Girls volunteer each week in the children’s oncology unit at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital, where two of them were recently named ’Outstanding Volunteer.’ Their outstanding performance is clearly tied to the special training they receive from Resnick professionals, who familiarize students with the requirements and sensitivities of their work and stress the importance of taking responsibility.

For OTS students from overseas, the time spent learning in Israel is an important opportunity to give as well as receive. “Our rabbis and teachers stress that Torah study should also be balanced by social activism,” says Shmuly Yanklowitz, a Chicago native in his second year of study at Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev. “Getting involved in chessed projects enables us to help Israel and the Jewish world while developing our abilities and our spiritual selves.”

Shmuly and his fellow Yeshivat Hamivtar students have already spearheaded several tikkun olam initiatives. Every Friday, a group of them travels to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, visiting with bedridden patients and distributing flowers. They also volunteer at the Chazon Yeshaya food shelter, which feeds thousands of destitute Israelis each week. “On one visit,” relates Binyamin Gilbert, who recently received rabbinic ordination from the Joseph Straus Rabbinical Seminary, “we were asked to help organize a wedding for a couple with no money. So we helped transform a schoolroom into a hall fit for a beautiful simcha.”

OTS students brighten  the lives of sick children.