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OTS Newsletter - Spring 2008Learning and Gaining Independence Now in its second year, Yeshivat Darkaynu is emulating the success of the Darkaynu Program for women, providing developmentally disabled young men with a Year-in-Israel experience filled with learning, skill acquisition, and great adventures.
Gordon and Leora are 18-year-old twins from Potomac, Maryland. Last year, as Leora made plans to spend the year after high school studying in Israel, she was determined that her brother should share the experience with her. The fact that he has developmental disabilities didn’t stop her: Leora told her family about Yeshivat Darkaynu, a unique OTS program that enables young Jewish men like Gordon to study in Israel alongside their mainstream peers. As a result, both Gordon and Leora are now enjoying learning in Israel. Yeshivat Darkaynu was initiated in 2006, following the outstanding success of Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Darkaynu Program, which “sidestreams” developmentally-challenged young women with mainstream students in the school’s Maria and Joel Finkle Overseas Program and accommodates them alongside their peers in the dorms on the Chana and Yaacov Tilles Campus. Yeshivat Darkaynu participants are similarly integrated into the overseas program at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion. There are currently seven young men in the program – three in their first year and four who have returned for a second year of study. Ranging in age from 18 to 24, most are from different locations in the U.S., with one from Sydney, Australia. All are enjoying the kind of study experience in Israel that has meant so much to their friends, schoolmates and relatives from mainstream environments.
A Full Yeshiva Experience “Every day, we daven [pray] and have meals with the rest of the yeshiva,” says Shalom Ozarowski, who coordinates the program together with Avi Ganz. “Then we have our own classes, which emphasize experiential learning and practical knowledge for daily living.” Natan, a 19-year-old participant from Chicago, says his favorite class is the Laws of Shabbat, because “it helps me grow to be a better Jew.” Yeshivat Darkaynu also includes many tiyulim and outings across the country, some with their peers in the mainstream program, and some on their own. Combining education and fun, recent trips have included a visit to the Elite chocolate factory in Upper Nazereth, a tour of Hasmonean-era sites around the Old City of Jerusalem and a 3 a.m. trip to Masada and Ein Gedi.
Learning Skills for Independent Living
In addition to Torah study, the program emphasizes vocational training, preparation for the workplace and contributing to the community. Every Yeshivat Darkaynu student spends three days a week in a vocational internship in the Gush Etzion area. These include work at a library, a cafי, a printing press, a supermarket, a kindergarten, and the kitchen of Ohr Torah Stone’s Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva High School for Boys. Another day is devoted to community service chessed activities, with students alternating between sorting clothing for the needy in an Efrat thrift shop and preparing, serving and cleaning up in a Jerusalem soup kitchen. All of these activities give the boys work experience in a Jewish environment – something that might not be available to them at home – while fostering personal growth and independence. Developing life skills is a critical part of Yeshivat Darkaynu. “For most participants, this is their first extended period of really living on their own,” explains Ozarowski. The students live in the regular yeshiva dormitory and are in charge of taking care of themselves, with ongoing supervision. Thus even doing laundry becomes a learning experience. “We all do it together, and emphasize different skills each time, like sorting, folding and untangling clothing,” Ozarowski says. Another important component of the Yeshivat Darkaynu schedule includes weekly workshops, which focus on developing social skills, preparing the young men for meeting new people, and making conversation. In vocational training classes, the participants learn about dressing for work, appropriate workplace behavior, budgeting their money and other key skills for success. Although the participants are far from home, each is “adopted” by a local English-speaking family near the yeshiva. “They visit their families once a week for dinner, and once a month, they go in pairs to spend an entire Shabbat with the families,” Ozarowski says. “Because the yeshiva is located in the small community of Alon Shvut, the boys can move freely around the yishuv during their free time. They are delighted to meet members of their ‘families’ in the grocery store or on the street.”
On Their Own
At the same time, Yeshivat Darkaynu is dedicated to preparing participants to venture farther into the world. One example is a project for fostering independence, in which pairs of students travel into Jerusalem by bus, on their own, to the mall or other places they’ve already visited with the group. “The boys plan all the details of their outings themselves – down to rearranging their schedules for the time they’ll be away,” relates Ozarowski. Some students have become so adept at traveling that they can now help their friends in the program. “The mother of one student was visiting Jerusalem and wanted her son to come to her hotel,” Ozarowski continues. “He does not travel alone, so we sent him with two other students who were going to the mall. He spent some time with them there, and then they put him in a cab to the hotel where his mother was waiting. It was a new situation for them, and they handled it very well.”
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