Federation Star - July-August 2018

16 Federation Star July/August 2018
ISRAEL MISSION
Jewish Federation of Greater Naples
Mission to Israel, Apri 29 – May 11, 2018
We wish you had been there with us!
By Jane Schiff and Jeffrey Feld
Twenty part-time and full-time
Greater Naples residents and
one Nashville daughter had an
amazing journey to Israel from April
29 to May 11. We visited many popular
tourists sites such as the Western
Wall, Independence Hall, Caesarea,
Yad Vashem, Masada, Petra and many
others. The other half of the time, we
visited agencies, homes, facilities and
schools that YOUR annual campaign
ORT Kadima Mada
By Paula Filler
At the top of the Negev, in Beer
Sheva, is an ordinary community
school, Tuviahu School, where ORT
(the Organization of Rehabilitation
through Training) has set up a Future
Learning Space.
The classroom is a large open space
with whiteboards – large screens that are
linked to the students’ computers – and
students in movable desks that wheel
around the room with textbooks on the
tray on the bottom of the desks, and
computers open and ready on the desks.
Teachers prompt students with
questions or assignments for them to
work on in small teams. Each team
chooses its own way of approaching
and tackling the assignment. Then after
Lone Soldiers
By Betty Schwartz
Young men and women from all
parts of the world volunteer to
serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
for one and a half years. They undergo
basic training and are placed in units according
to their abilities. Because these
soldiers are in Israel without families,
they are referred to as “Lone Soldiers.”
There is an organization, Friends
of the IDF (FIDF), that ensures that
these soldiers have a place to live and
dollars fund. On this two-page spread
are reports on those visits from some
of the participants.
Rabbi James Perman, who joined
our mission as our scholar-in-residence,
said, “It wasn’t simply about seeing
good people doing good social work.
Federations perform a valuable function
that no other component of the
community does. It’s what it does best.
Federation is similar to buying a mutual
a prescribed period of time, the entire
class wheels their desks together to see
what each team has done.
ORT began in 1880 in Russia, training
Jews for vocational skills such as tailoring,
machine repair and other trades
to make Jews self-sufficient. Today ORT
is on the cutting edge of new ways of
learning as well as continuing to teach
necessary skills for trades.
The ORT space at Tuviahu School
is used for many different subjects. The
children seem excited and very involved
in learning because the space provides
education in whatever manner the student
is best able to learn.
Your contributions to the Federation’s
Annual Campaign provide funds
for all the ORT Kadima Mada programs
throughout Israel.
Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center
By Susan Shane
The Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding
Center was an amazing visit.
Established in 1996, it is located in
Grofit in the southern desert of Israel,
very near the Jordanian Border. It is
a non-profit organization that receives
funding from the Jewish Federation of
Greater Naples as well as from Jewish
National Fund and many other groups.
Therapeutic horseback riding is being
used as a tool for improving the lives
of people with disabilities worldwide.
This center started with 15 children,
and currently serves 230 people, aged
3 to 83, suffering from conditions of
neurological development, physical disabilities
and/or emotional impairments.
A team of licensed therapeutic riding
instructors and 30 volunteers make
each person’s therapy unique. Riding
therapy provides a three-dimensional
movement, much like walking, which
somewhere to be for Shabbat.
Our group hosted three young
women for Shabbat dinner. All three
were American: Oliva from New York,
Selena from Boca Raton and Rachel
from San Diego. Female volunteers are
allowed to serve in combat units as these
three women shared with us. Whatever
their reasons for serving, all were proud
of their contributions to Israel.
helps to create muscle memory for
those needing help in learning to walk.
Grooming or just walking along with the
horses, is therapy for some. The therapy
creates self-confidence and improved
social interaction skills. The cost per
participant is approximately $3,000 per
year for weekly rides.
The facility houses three riding
arenas, more than 20 horses, two corrals,
bridle paths, wheelchair-accessible
sidewalks, stables, a classroom and a
zoo. The Braverman Family covered
riding arena features a fan with a water
misting system which allows the program
to operate on a year-round basis,
even in the hot summer and windstorm
season. It is the continued support from
our donors that allows Red Mountain
Therapeutic Riding Center to continue
operating and grow each year.
fund of worthwhile charities. Just as a
single investment can purchase shares
in dozens, even scores of companies, so
a single contribution to Federation buys
the donor access to a widely diversified
range of good causes in line with our
American Jewish values.”
We missed having you with us.
Maybe you will join us on our next trip.
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
By Jane Perman
What do an American college student
from New York, an Israeli
student from Ra’anana, and a Palestinian
graduate student from Hebron all
have in common? Emma, Sharon and
Ibrahim met with our group when we
visited the Arava Institute for Environmental
Studies to explain what they
were doing in the desert at Kibbuz
Ketura.
All of them are studying global
environmental issues in an academic
program at the Institute. These three
represent a student body that is approximately
one-third Jewish Israelis,
one-third Arabs (including Palestinians
from the West Bank, Jordanians, and
Arab citizens of Israel) and one-third
international students. The belief of the
founders of the Institute is that “nature
knows no boundaries.” Peace and leadership
studies are part of the curriculum.
The students from varied political,
cultural and religious backgrounds live,
Hand in Hand
By Karen Lichtenstein
The Hand in Hand schools bring
together thousands of Jews and
Arabs in six schools and communities
throughout Israel. Its mission is to create
an inclusive, shared society in Israel
through Jewish-Arab integrated, bilingual
schools and communities.
With a Jewish and an Arab teacher
co-teaching in each classroom, Jewish
and Arab children are learning
together, which may promote social
inclusion and equality in Israel. Because
of the tension and conflict that
viably exists in Israel, the Hand in Hand
schools are bringing hope, dialogue
study and learn together.
The Arava Institute is also home to
environmental research, centers for renewable
energy, sustainable agriculture,
trans-boundary water management, energy
conservation, sustainable development
and hyper-arid socio-ecology. One
example of the research that we saw was
a date palm grown at the Institute that
they call “Methuselah,” planted from
the seed of an endangered plant species
from Biblical times.
Our group left with a great deal of
optimism that Emma, Sharon, Ibrahim
and their fellow students and researchers
at the Arava Institute might help solve
the environmental issues that threaten
our world and increase cooperation in
the face of conflict.
In addition, we all are very proud
that the Arava Institute is sponsored by
Jewish National Fund and our annual
gifts to Jewish Federation of Greater
Naples.
and understanding to the communities.
We visited the Max Rayne Campus
in Jerusalem, the first Hand in Hand B
school, which started in 1998 with
20 students. The school has grown to
almost 700 students from kindergartenJ
through 12 th grade.
t
Children are not born with biases I
and it showed as we witnessed both
Jewish and Arab children playing andm
learning together.
p
The high school provides a support-ive
environment as the teenagers pre-pare
for life as adults after graduation, c
with dialogue groups, extensive civic
studies, and volunteeringi
in the community. v
The parental communi-ties
are an essential way fora
Hand in Hand to expand its t
impact.
a
Hand in Hand is show-ing
that there is hope fora
peaceful cohabitation for
the present and future gen-erations
of Israel! a
B
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T