  |
 |
|
 |
 |
|||
| OHR Online | |||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| OHR Online | |||
|
|
|||
|
|||
    
|
|
|
|
OTS Newsletter - Winter 2006-7Short Takes: OTS High Schools
Powerful Performance Chagit Freiman, a 12th grade drama student at the Shavei Rachel High School for Arts and Communications, performed a monologue in December at the third annual forum on Theater in Religious Education, an event in Jerusalem attended by drama students from religious high schools across Israel. In a powerful presentation, Chagit read a child’s monologue from a play called “Dancing with Father,” which depicts a parent’s struggle to accept the limitations of his disabled child. The aspiring actress, who plans to serve as a Sherut Leumi volunteer after graduating from high school, was also selected to perform at a recent convention in Gush Etzion, for educators from more than 40 Israeli municipalities.
Award Winning Research Chana Kupitz, who graduated from the Neveh Channah High School for Girls in June, has won three awards – from Yad Vashem, the Masuah Institute for Holocaust Studies and Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot – for her senior research project, The Relationship of the Polish Population to the Expulsions of Summer, 1942. The paper has been added to the libraries of all three institutions, says Chana, who is now in the Hadas program, which combines Torah study with full IDF army service. Teacher Miriam Weizman, coordinator of senior projects at Neveh Channah, reports that four 12th graders and a record seven 11th graders are now working on elective research projects in a wide range of topics.
A Wilderness Adventure The entire student body and teaching staff of the Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva High School for Boys enjoyed the unique challenge of combining camping skills with the laws of keeping the Sabbath as they spent a remarkable three-day weekend together in the Malachim Forest near Kiryat Gat. On Thursday, the boys organized their campground and set up an outdoor synagogue, beit midrash and cooking area. The evening was devoted to Torah study and discussions around the campfire about faith and social action. On Friday, the boys hiked and prepared food for the extraordinary Shabbat that followed – an unforgettable day of prayer, learning, singing and camaraderie surrounded by nature.
Expanding Their Minds Maof, a new after-school framework at the Jennie Sapirstein Junior High School for Girls, is making it possible for seventh through ninth graders to explore different realms of the world around them. “Three afternoons a week, innovative professionals in the areas of psychology, theater, art, science and midrash lead small groups of girls in theoretical and practical studies,” explains principal Moriah Kleitman. In an art and theater group, students have created ornate puppets. A science group is taking an in-depth look at diseases and inoculations, while a group studying midrash is learning to apply this knowledge to the field of bibliotherapy.
Excited About Learning One afternoon each week, the library at the Jacob Sapirstein Junior High School and High School for Boys is transformed into a busy learning center, where a group of tenth graders help their younger schoolmates prepare homework, study for exams and review classroom assignments. “Although the center was originally set up to tutor students just in math and Talmud, its functions have been expanded due to popular demand!” says Michal Nativ, who coordinates student volunteer activities in the school.
Opening a Dialogue To mark the 11th anniversary of the death of Yitzchak Rabin, 45 students from the Bet Midrash High School for Boys in Efrat exchanged views and ideas with their secular counterparts in a public Day of Dialogue event in Tel Aviv. “At first, the encounter sparked moments of hot debate between our students and the other students, who came from a high school in Rishon L’Tzion,” recalls teacher Yishai Singer. “Each accused the other of having no values. But as the dialogue continued, it became apparent how much we really have in common.” Interviewed at the event by Israel Television’s Channel One, Bet Midrash eleventh-grader Uri Parednick commented, “We’re really much more similar than the media makes it seem.”
|
|||||
|
|||||||||
