An exhibition about the Holocaust has opened in Havana, Cuba, the country's first, but so far it is attracting more foreign visitors than locals. Initiated by ORT Cuba National Director William Miller two years ago, "We Remember - The Holocaust and the Creation of a Living Community" combines text, photographs and video to enable the island's resurgent Jewish community to better understand its roots and for the general public to learn about the nadir of modern civilization. Knowledge of the Holocaust is next to non-existent among Cuba’s non-Jewish population and the exhibition has yet to draw wide-scale attention locally. "People passing by the Sephardic Center notice that the exhibition is here and come in but we're working hard to spread the word among teachers and the general population to … Continue Reading
World ORT and ORT Russia to Help Develop School for Russia’s Silicon Valley
World ORT and ORT Russia have been given the task of designing a massive new school to serve the population of the Skolkovo Innovation Center - Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley. After beating a field of 200 domestic and international competitors for the multi-million-dollar tender, ORT has initiated a consortium of companies and organizations which were similarly shortlisted by the Skolkovo Foundation, the agency responsible for the Innovation Center. The idea is to create a “smart school”, similar to the concept which World ORT is developing in Israel where two client schools have been earmarked for the necessary radical overhaul to enable them to use technology to create an individualised and collaborative learning environment with more opportunities for cross-curricular integration and … Continue Reading
Two Years Later: JDC in Haiti
For 8th grader Fabienne and her fellow students at the Zoranje educational campus, learning is the order of the day at a new, state-of-the-art, handicap-accessible middle school built and opened by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). That's because two years after the earthquake, JDC has focused its relief work on children’s education and disabilities-related programming in collaboration with its Haitian, Israeli and other NGO partners. Through $8.6 million dollars in donations from the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors, JDC’s projects, including the middle school, have impacted nearly 300,000 Haitians to date. The middle school, which was funded by The Bonita Trust and JDC, is located 30 miles outside of Port-Au-Prince on the … Continue Reading
New Agreement Signals Greater World ORT Involvement in Estonia
World ORT and the Estonian Government have signed an agreement which paves the way for a greater role for ORT in the development of the Baltic state's education system. The country's only Jewish school formally affiliated with World ORT in 2008 but the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Tallinn this week stands to benefit the whole of Estonian society. According to World ORT Trustee Dr. Emil Kalo, "It's a sign of World ORT's commitment to Estonia. This strategic framework agreement shows the direction which we will take together in implementing new projects in education. It extends beyond the Jewish school and opens up a wide range of partnering possibilities and to seek European Union funding." The Memorandum of Understanding formalizes World ORT's long standing willingness to share its … Continue Reading
Sandy Cardin: “Viva La Revolución”
With representation from 16 countries, ROI’s Ibero-American Gathering opened last night in Buenos Aires. This, ROI's second Latin American gathering, was hopping from the opening minutes. The ruach of almost 50 Latinos electric throughout the hotel. Developed in co-ordination with local program partners including Hillel Argentina, ORT Mexico and Taglit-Birthright Argentina, this five day program of unique networking and skill-building sessions will move the needle by "harnessing and elevating our collective impact in creating a Jewish future that is vibrant, relevant and widely accessible." (Justin Korda, ROI Community's executive director). Speaking at the opening program, Sandy Cardin - president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, discussed "the role each of you play … Continue Reading
Future Leaders Program: Israel Leg
The Ministry of Information and the Diaspora, in conjunction with World ORT and Stephen Muss, launched a new project this year aimed at inspiring and nurturing the next generation of leadership for local Jewish communities across Europe and the Former Soviet Union. An initial cohort of 32 students, representing 18 countries and between 15 and 18 years old, was selected based on the quality of their applications and the dedication that they had already demonstrated to their schools and in their Jewish communities. The programs' aim is to nurture their leadership potential and to help them to become fully involved in their communities, dedicating their energy, enthusiasm, and skills towards building long-term, sustainable change - helping to revitalize Jewish life and to actively contribute to the … Continue Reading
World’s Leading Holocaust Music Website to be Launched in Berlin
The formal launch of the world's leading website on music in the Holocaust is to be a key event at this week's historic meeting of World ORT's Board of Representatives in Berlin. The meeting marks World ORT's first function in the city where it became established as an international organization since the war. The website, which features more than 100 recordings and more than 300 articles written by a team of 20 academics, researchers and Survivors, fills what was perhaps the largest single gap in understanding the Holocaust. The need for this website is evident when one considers that I have found so little information devoted to music during the Holocaust in the 27,000 pages - 29 volumes - of the 2001 edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians," said Mr Marks, a former … Continue Reading
ORT Supported Schools Win Top Israeli Education Prize
President Shimon Peres and Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar have announced that the Nesher Comprehensive High School, near Haifa, and the Levinson High School in Kiryat Yam have won the prestigious National Education Award. Both schools are supported by World ORT. Nearly 80 schools entered the year-long award process, which involved close scrutiny of all aspects of the educational and social life of each institution. A Ministry of Education spokesman said the prize winners were characterized by their extraordinary efforts to minimize gaps and prevent students from dropping out; by their support for underachievers, giving them the confidence to reach their goals; by their activities for students with special needs; and for the way they instill the importance of community involvement. Levinson … Continue Reading
Nurturing Europe’s New Jewish Leadership
A new World ORT program aims to bury the notion that Europe is a graveyard for Jewish culture and activism. The Future Leaders Program has brought together 34 teenagers from Ireland to Russia - 18 countries in all - for the first face-to-face sessions in its six-month schedule of training, education, distance learning and volunteering. “When people talk about Jewish communities it’s often the USA and Israel while Europe is sometimes referred to as the ‘graveyard of Europe’, the place where their grandparents and great-grandparents are buried,” the Head of World ORT's Education Department, Daniel Tysman, told participants and guests at ORT House, London, this week. “But it’s very clear from seeing you all here today that Europe isn’t a graveyard; Europe is full of green … Continue Reading
ORT Russia and Project Kesher Partner with Computer Training Courses
If you think that women should not bother their pretty little heads with technology then you had better stop reading now. Because ORT Russia has partnered with Project Kesher for their first course in training professionals who will go on to use a new Hewlett-Packard course to help thousands of women master technological tools in the administration and marketing of small businesses. The two organizations have enjoyed a long and successful collaboration in tackling the “digital divide” through the computer training they offer at 17 ORT-KesherNet training centers in Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine, which has so far enabled more than 11,000 Jewish and non-Jewish women to improve their economic situation. Now they are upping the ante by training nine trainers in HP’s LIFE (Learning … Continue Reading
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