Behind the headlines
Media headlines about the current campaign to deal with Hamas generally fail to convey the human dramas involved…writes Michael Kuttner.
Rabbi Brander welcomes returningshlichim from overseas as they join the IDF
Recently, I had the opportunity to have a short discussion with Rabbi Kenneth Brander, who leads Ohr Torah Stone, the Modern Orthodox Movement of thirty institutions and programmes.
Founded by Rabbi Riskin in 1983, this amazing organization is transforming Jewish education, rabbinical leadership and outreach. Its graduates have an enormous positive impact on communities from “down under” to the far reaches of the northern hemisphere.
I was eager to learn how the war against terror impacts the alumni of OTS.
My three main questions were:
- How has the war impacted the students and teachers?
- How have the shlichim overseas been affected?
- What do Jews in the Diaspora need to know?
Rabbi Brander disclosed that 800 students, 150 faculty and 4,000 alumni are participating in the war against terror. In addition, there are at least 25 to 27 extended families involved. Teachers and principals are included, which causes logistical challenges when it comes to providing pedagogical continuity. For example, the remaining teachers have to do double shifts in high schools and, at the same time, act as “comforters” and moral support for their students and families.
Students have parents and siblings serving in the IDF, which adds extra stress to an already stressful situation.
OTS packing for soldiers
Nine alumni and eighteen members of the extended OTS family were murdered on 7 October and have fallen in action since that time. In November alone three close friends of the Neve Shmuel Yeshiva High School graduating class of 2020 were killed while serving in the IDF. All three were just 21 years old.
One of the ways that students can channel their concerns, while at the same time feel that they are contributing to the war effort is by volunteering. Time is being set aside from formal studies to volunteer in the agricultural sector and thereby assist farmers seriously impacted by the war. Others are running programmes for displaced families and organizing fundraising. Rabbi Brander emphasized that helping and volunteering is just as important as book studies.
70 displaced residents of the south are being provided with accommodation and meals in Efrat. OTS students are babysitting and organizing activities for young children, serving meals and working with mothers whose spouses are in the IDF. These proactive assignments, it was explained, help to build a mental health structure for students and faculty now and for next year,
For shlichim serving overseas as Rabbis, Day School teachers and youth leaders the outbreak of war is a particularly challenging time. Seventeen shlichim dropped everything and returned to Israel on receiving their call-up notices leaving behind wives and children in foreign countries. Others have remained and are leading pro-Israel rallies and campaigns, often in places where openly identifying as Jews and Israelis is not so safe these days. The enormous stress these shlichim and their families face is something that OTS is very cognizant of.
The human dramas and costs behind the headlines are often overlooked. Those of us living in Israel confront them daily. For Jews living in other parts of the world, it is important to understand exactly what challenges and tragedies lie behind the headlines.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
