National President Pepi Dunay

Winter 2000
Fall 2000
Summer 2000
Spring 2000
Winter 1999
Fall 1999
Summer 1999
Winter 1998

back to top

Fall 2000

supporters — leaders, teachers, students, directors — gathered on the grounds of the Israel Museum to celebrate 120 years of ORT. It was an international gathering with students from Russia, Israel, Argentina and France present.

ORT leaders from around the world, including
22 World ORT Congress del-egates representing
Women’s American ORT and over 60 WAO mission participants, were treated to a spectacular extravaganza
organized by World ORT, hosted by ORT Israel. It was
an event we will never forget.

Telling the ORT story in music and dance using video and lasers demanded the most talented and creative producers. The spirit of ORT permeated the gathering, generated by the cast and audience as they performed and we responded, all out of love for a program we hold dear.

Reviewing our past in this way made real for many the life of despair in the shtetls of Russia and Eastern Europe
in the year of ORT’s founding, 1880, the anguish of
post-World War II Europe, the challenge of building the
State of Israel. All were part of ORT’s history. Sitting there, we could appreciate the tremendous change in technology during the past 120 years reflected in the course offerings at ORT. From the lathe to the laser ... from the saw to the semi-conductor... from agriculture to aerospace! What an accomplishment!

changing lives
Bringing ORT into the present, some remarkable young people told how their lives have been changed by their ORT training. Miki, a student at ORT Holon, was hired at
age 16 by Microsoft. Ela, who was ready to drop out
of school before enrolling in an industrial school associated with the air-craft industry, recently won an award from the President of Israel. Hila, 18, emigrated to
Israel from Ethiopia when she was only 10. Now, eight
years later, she has a degree in software engineering.
Slava, born in Kiev, is not only a student at ORT Afula but is also a volunteer in ORT Israel’s “Sunflower Project,” teaching young cancer patients to use computers.

As we mark the High Holidays, let us take heart that our ORT Program is uniting people all over the world, creating bonds of friendship that cross international boundaries. In
the words of the song sung by ORT students at the
World ORT Congress, let us remember that we too
belong "To a People whose spirit’s creative and strong.” As part of that People and that history, nothing is impossible. Our challenge is to make ORT’s next 120 years as glorious as the past. L’Shana Tova!

back to top

Summer 2000

Judaism at a crossroads; ORT at the center

in February I participated in the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations' annual mission to Israel. I was set for what amounts to a four-day tutorial on Israeli life from political, military, economic and social perspectives. It was a stimulating experi-ence, capped off by a visit to Amman, Jordan, for an audience with King Abdullah II.

At a panel discussion, "Trends in Jewish Demography and Security: The Outlook for World Jewry in the New Millennium," one speaker's conclusions about
20th century American Jewry particularly stood out:

• In politics we've achieved bipartisan support for Israel, freed Soviet Jewry, reduced anti-Semitism and successfully advocated for public recognition of the Holocaust.

• In religion we're seeing a return to tradition in all branches of Judaism. At the same time, Jewish feminism, born in the United States, has spread and is making real inroads worldwide.

• There's a cultural revival of Judaism in North America with day school attendance increasing, more adults participating in Jewish education courses and Jewish studies more popular than ever on college campuses.

• But there's also a weakened sense of community, with people taking their Jewishness inward.

• We live in a time of increased choices, and it's okay for individuals to make those choices. Religiosity has been maintained, but the ethnic dimensions of being Jewish have declined.

• We see a diminished attachment to Israel and Jewish people in other lands. We live in an open society but one where civic mindedness, generally, has declined.

• The development of the Internet while connecting us to others has also resulted in "Internet loneliness," similar to the isolation created by television, when we remain in our homes at night.

Some of these challenges test the core Jewish belief in community, which includes communal prayer and the support of social institutions. As Jews we've always recognized the importance of joining together, and with others, to effect change. That's why many of us belong to organizations like Women's American ORT.

The greatest test of Jewish life in North America and throughoutmost of the world today is whether we can sustain ourselves when there's no outside negative force compelling us to join hands. We must seek ways to overcome the trend of separation by creating a positive atmosphere for people to come together for the benefit of a common cause. ORT, which touches more than 280,000 people daily, can be that cause.

back to top

Spring 2000

couch potato democracy?
not for WAO

many of us will soon head to the polls to participate in the presidential primary elections. Bombarded by television commercials, direct mail and newspaper editorials extolling the virtues of one candidate or another, that's the process we experience in this country: a mixture of advocacy and advertising.

Between the years of a major national election, however, we usually focus more on issues than on personalities. Historically, Americans have formed groups to advocate on behalf of many issues, and we still do. Being part of a group makes our voice stronger.

As a member and supporter of Women's American ORT, you are part of an organization that advocates for quality education, separation of church and state, women's rights, family issues and the security and safety of Jewish communities around the globe. While there are many other good causes out there, we choose those that are most closely linked to our mission.

That's why we belong to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and the Non-Governmental Organization Section of the United Nations Department of Public Information.

We believe that it is our obligation, as an organization, to lend our strength to those whose goals are similar to ours. We also share with these groups the information and insight we gain from being part of a global organization. Who better, for example, to understand the plight of Argentinean Jewry facing economic crisis than we who have functioned there for decades?

Every three years at National Conventions, WAO delegates adopt resolutions that guide us in determining which positions to advocate during the following three years. Major resolutions adopted at the First Triennial convention held in 1998 include Education in a Democracy, Church and State, Civil Rights and Liberties, Family Issues, Israel, and World Jewry and International Human Rights. Copies of our resolutions booklet are available from the National Office.

We encourage our chapters to respond to Action Alerts sent from the National Office and posted on our Web site at www.waort.org. This past year, Action Alerts and Web site information kept our members up to date on the intricate voucher battles unfolding in Florida and Texas. Although Florida became the first state with a statewide policy supporting vouchers, grassroots involvement by voucher opponents in Texas, including WAO members, defeated the Texas voucher legislation.

As Americans we tend to take our freedoms for granted. It's time for all of us to get involved in our democracy. Use it or lose it.

back to top

Winter 1999

The Miracle of Giving
Lights up Student Lives

We usually think of miracles as events that happened in biblical days. This time of year our thoughts turn to the miracle of Hanukkah. According to tradition, as the Maccabees reestablished the Temple in Jerusalem, oil which seemed sufficient for one day, lasted for eight. Perhaps it was a miracle or maybe it was careful planning or a special, highly concentrated oil. The result was the same in that something small but valuable grew into something more important. So important that it became a legend.

Miracles do happen today. One is the miracle of your financial contributions to Women's American ORT. Did you know that every dollar you contribute to ORT Programs overseas results in $20 being spent on ORT students? Or that every dollar you donate toward ORT Operations USA is leveraged to bring in $10 in support of our students here? Those dollars are like small amounts of oil that, by some miracle, grow to have much greater impact.

Last June, I attended two of the three graduations from our wonderful post-secondary schools here in this country. The first was the Zarem-Golde graduation in Chicago where 255 students received certificates in English as a Second Language, computerized accounting, computer-aided design/drafting and micro computing/
network technology. A highlight of the day was the graduation speech of Mejrima Cosic, a student from Bosnia, who left that war-torn country less than two years ago with her husband and child.

Mejrima's story will be featured as part of the PBS documentary The Visionaries which will be aired this spring. She represents only one story. Each of the graduates faced challenges, many coming from other countries to find opportunity here. The following day, Bramson ORT College (note the name change from Technical Institute) graduated 250 students, many of whom received associate's degrees in computer related fields.

Bramson prides itself on outstanding job placement, with more than 80 percent of its graduates finding good jobs. As I watched each student receive a diploma, it was clear that miracles were happening before my eyes! That was evident not only on the graduates' faces but in the pride expressed by their families who crowded the auditorium.

Knowing that many of these families left countries like Russia and Ukraine, places I had recently visited, made their journey more real to me. I knew what they had left - family, friends, a familiar place, a language they had spoken since childhood. Many of them struggled upon their arrival here, working at low paying jobs. Then they found their way to ORT where they began to succeed.

Some people have asked me why these students just can't go to the local community college or vocational school. Why do they need an ORT school? Simply put, it is because the atmosphere that ORT creates the warmth, the individual attention, the Jewish environment, the focus on practical education and job-seeking skills makes for success. ORT has a history of working with people who have been displaced either by choice or by force. Jews and non-Jews have benefited from this experience for almost 120 years.

Perhaps that's why it's so fitting that ORT is now helping to reestablish much of the school system in Kosovo. With funds from agencies such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, ORT is working to reestablish 14 schools in this ravaged country. And so another miracle is happening!

back to top

Fall 1999

ORT Brings A Sweet New Year To the Former Soviet Union

Food is an important part of every culture. As living creatures, we depend on food for life; as humans, we often elevate that dependency to a level of spirituality and symbolism. Our Jewish culinary traditions vary depending on where our ancestors resided, whether they were Sephardim from Spain, Turkey or the Middle East, or Ashkenazim from Russia, Eastern or Western Europe. Yet, at holiday time, there are certain foods that unite us because they take on the meaning of the holiday. This is particularly the case during Rosh Hashanah when we welcome the New Year.

From fish, a symbol of fertility, to the round hallah, representing the longing for a full and wholesome year, to the abundant fruits and vegetables we serve in the hope of a plentiful harvest, to apples dipped in honey to signify a sweet new year ... all are part of a ritual that binds us to our past.

For children, these are potent symbols -- they shape identity and create a positive, joyful association with the holidays. Most of us provide these experiences for our children and grandchildren as part of our Jewish responsibility. Plus, it is a lot of fun!

There are, however, Jewish homes where these rituals are unknown because society prevented one generation from teaching them to the next. One such place is Odessa, Ukraine, where ORT maintains a wonderful school for children ages 7 to 17. I visited this school in May when videotaping a portion of "The Visionaries" documentary on WAO, a PBS series to be distributed in the spring of 2000.

There I met parents who had grown up under Soviet rule, when all religions were devalued if not outright persecuted. Now their children are learning Jewish traditions in an ORT school, celebrating the holidays, eating matzah, dipping apples into honey!

Excited by their children's education, these parents asked the school if they, too, could learn. And so a Sunday school was established for the parents, many of whom will now be able to celebrate holidays at home, the best place to reinforce what the whole family is learning at school.

ORT students in St. Petersburg and Moscow are enjoying a similar renaissance in Jewish education, and this September, new ORT programs will open in Samara and Kiev. This is all possible thanks to the commitment and support of WAO contributors who appreciate the challenges we face in this part of the world. Having seen some of these communities first-hand, I cannot thank you enough for your support.

Right here in the United States, at ORT schools in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, adults, many of whom are new immigrants, are also celebrating the holidays and learning about their traditions. Over 5,000 men and women are beginning new lives and entering exciting careers, thanks to ORT USA. Here too, Women's American ORT's funding is key to each school's success. I am proud to say that more than $1 million designated for ORT USA schools was contributed during our just completed fiscal year by members and supporters.

As Jews, we mark the New Year with contemplation, not celebration. We take this time to review our lives and ask ourselves what more we can do to improve our relationships with others. We seek ways to make our mark on the world, to improve the lives of others as well as our own. As readers of this magazine, each of you has made a choice. As WAO members, you have chosen to devote a bit of your life to learning about, and we hope supporting, Women's American ORT, and through it, the global ORT program.

As you observe Rosh Hashanah, I hope you understand how much good you are doing through this effort. You are truly making a difference in the lives of thousands of men, women, boys and girls each and every day. Shanah Tovah!

back to top

Summer 1999

Women's American ORT -- Into the Next Century

One of the qualities which distinguishes human beings from other living creatures is our quest to find meaning in our lives, to make sense of events, to quantify and qualify our time in history. That is why, I suppose, authors, journalists, sociologists, and historians have taken this opportunity, at the close of the 20th century, to reflect on this most interesting century and to some extent, forecast where we might be heading at the start of the next.

As Jews, the 20th century has seen our greatest tragedy and our greatest triumph.

And where has ORT been during the past century? Everywhere! ORT has been part of every great event in Jewish history for the past 120 years -- from the shtetlach of Eastern Europe, to the displaced persons camps after World War II, to building the State of Israel, to serving immigrant and then indigenous populations throughout the Diaspora from India, to France, to South America and the United States, and most recently, back to our roots in Russia and Ukraine. ORT has always served the needs of the Jewish people by remaining on the cutting edge of technology and transferring those sought-after skills to our students. ORT will continue to do so into the next century and Women's American ORT will be there as the single largest contributor to the World ORT program, both in the United States and overseas.

Every day, ORT Operations USA is teaching over 12,000 students. Student enrollment at our three post-secondary schools, the Bramson ORT College in New York, the Los Angeles ORT Technical Institute and the Zarem-Golde ORT Technical Institute in Chicago each have record enrollments. Although immigration has slowed, more and more not so new Americans are seeking out the excellence found at these schools. They are attending
our technical classes, as well as those in vocational English, and are getting very good jobs. We are well on our way toward gaining status of all three schools as two-year colleges.

Within the past two years,ORT has ventured into new space, bringing technology into the classrooms of Jewish day schools across the country. Right here in Cleveland, under the direction of Yossi Israeli and with financial assistance from our colleagues in American ORT, technology support is provided to four day schools, the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland and the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies. The ORT Resource Center in New York reaches out to teachers in Jewish educational institutions throughout the greater metropolitan area and beyond, an example being a seminar recently held at the Jewish day school in Toledo. Similar projects exist in South Florida and Atlanta and new initiatives are being considered in San Francisco and Detroit.

The vision for the next century is clear -- creating a partnership with Jewish educational institutions around the country to bring advanced technology into the classroom. Women's American ORT has been the leader in transferring the experience of ORT to our country and we will continue to do so in a variety of ways as we meet the challenges of the next century.

As an organization, we have gone through many changes, most of which are reflective of the times. But we have never lost our commitment to our mission and our understanding of our unique role in Jewish life. This has not changed. Why? Because it's a very Jewish thing to give someone a livelihood!

The year 2000 will be very special for ORT. We will be celebrating ORT's 120th birthday in Jerusalem at the World ORT Congress, June 4-7. We invite you to join us on what will surely be a most memorable set of missions led by our fantastic mission team. We hope you, your family and friends will join us to celebrate ORT in the Twenty-First Century!

Excerpted from Pepi Dunay's speech at Women's American ORT's Annual Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, July 25, 1999. For the complete speech, please contact our Webmaster at webmaster@www.waort.org.

back to top

Winter 1998

On my five-day trip beginning Oct. 30, I, along with Gideon Meyer, Acting Director General, World ORT Union, and Reese Feldman, Chair, Administrative Committee, World ORT Union, saw firsthand the complexity and contrast of life in Russia, a land burdened by a difficult past, trying to become part of the advanced technological economies of the emerging 21st century.

Jewish life, like everything else in Russia, is complex. Officially, there is no anti-Semitism and it seems that Jews, at least in the large cities, feel free to be Jews. When we visited the Director of Education for Moscow (not Jewish) she had several small flags on her bookcase, one was Israeli. The Jewish scientist/ bureaucrat who took us to meet government officials openly wore an "Israel 50" lapel pin. The synagogue in St. Petersburg is being restored (with foreign money). We were there on Shabbat and there was a wide age range of congregants present.

On the other hand, we know that incidents of anti-Semitism have risen since the onset of the financial crisis in August, and since a large number of the profiteers are Jewish, Jews are an easy target for the frustration and anger of the people. Representatives from Lishkat Hakesher and the Jewish Agency told us that inquiries about immigration have risen dramatically over the past few months. It is difficult to leave a place where one's ancestors have lived for generations, especially if one's spouse is not Jewish, and the hope after 1991 was that life would get better. Now people are questioning the future.

THE ORT RUSSIA SCHOOLS
St. Petersburg ORT
ORT de Gunzbourg is the school of the students, Katya and Jane, and the director, Vladamir Dribinsky, who attended our Convention. The school, a joint venture between the Education Department of St. Petersburg, Lishkat Hakesher and ORT, has 10 ORT staff members who provide technical education for students, technical training for teachers, courses for adults and the maintenance of a small museum on the history of ORT in Russia. There are 400 students aged 7 to 17. The school is very popular, with five students vying for each available place. About 70 percent of them are Jewish. Jewish studies take up 3-6 hours per week, depending on age, with Hebrew and Jewish culture taught by representatives of Lishkat Hakesher ORT provides fantastic technical education in computer labs, using the latest technology. The students and faculty are producing a CD-ROM on the history of Jews in St. Petersburg over the past three centuries. I think it symbolizes what ORT in St. Petersburg is doing, helping to bring a dormant Jewish community to life through the excitement and attraction of technology.

Moscow ORT School
This is a wonderful school as well and it was thrilling seeing names of WAO contributors on the wall of honor. Here students range from grades 5 through 11. ORT provides courses in computer graphics, software applications and the Internet. Technology is integrated into most subject areas. For example, in English class, students were collaborating on a project with students from Columbus, Ohio; their current activity is describing their ideal mail-order spouse! Students use the technology literacy system, designed in London, which deals with mechanisms, systems and motion; they were able to construct a robot and a sensor-activated greenhouse. There is also a fantastic multimedia center funded by the Maus Foundation and British ORT.

Students study Hebrew and English as part of the curriculum. German and French require a fee and are taught after regular school hours. Connections with Israel are strong – Jewish signs, flags and posters are everywhere. The school has a nice conference room used for local teacher conferences. The students performed a humorous skit for us. They are talented, beautiful, bright and love their school.

ORT Technical College
This facility, run by ORT for the past two years, has 500 students who are post-high school. There are three tracks offered – fashion design, computerized accounting/ business, and advertising. Advertising is a new subject this year and has attracted new students, mainly Jewish. The school worked with ORT Argentina and ORT Israel to develop the curriculum.

Here, students get the practical knowledge they need to get a job. Small business and foreign firms seek them out. They have a fashion museum with costumes of Russia and current couture designed and made by the students. All classes are connected to the Internet. They can download an embroidery design from another country! Business students learn Excel and Microsoft office. Advertising students work with foreign firms new to Russia – advertising itself is a new concept; billboards are everywhere. There will be jobs for these people.

Though most of the students are not Jewish, they know they are at a Jewish school. Jewish holidays are celebrated. Here is a place where ORT is not only strengthening the Jewish community, but the general community as well.

Alex Furman, Director of ORT Russia, outlined our other activities in Russia, including support of ORT programs, sponsorship of seminars for educators on technology in education; oversight of International Cooperation projects and much, much more.

THE FUTURE
All this has developed in just six years! It is a tribute to ORT – to the funders from around the world who recognized the opportunity ORT has to serve this large, emerging Jewish community. ORT schools represent a clean, bright, safe, positive, educational environment within a deteriorating and chaotic country.

No one can predict the future, of course, but most people we met were quite pessimistic about life in Russia, at least in the short run. Changing 70 years of a totally centralized economy is very difficult. Imagine life with no checking account or real banking systems, no insurance, no private homes and poor tax collection, which prevents the government from maintaining infrastructure, paying civil servants, teachers, the army, even paying the lighting bills at our schools! So we do know one thing: Life in Russia will be very difficult for years to come.

But the future for ORT is exceptionally bright, if we are able to find the necessary funds to make it happen. On the drawing board are many plans for more technology centers, more Jewish and high-tech programming in existing schools, and more teacher training.

ORT has a future in Russia and should, for if our mission is the strengthening of Jewish communities worldwide, there is no place where the needs and the potential are greater. As leaders in World ORT, it is up to us to meet this challenge while we can!

back to top

news | calendar | about us | snapshots | suppORT | home