Liberman: American Jews Face 'Demographic Catastrophe'

Liberman: American Jews Face 'Demographic Catastrophe' by Raphael Ahren for The Times of Israel. http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-jewish-continuity-not-iran-our-greatest-concern/

This week in class I was assigned to read this article "Liberman: American Jews Face 'Demographic Catastrophe'. It talks about how Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has decided that the American jews need to have better and easily accessible Jewish learning facilities, such as private Jewish schools. He talks about how people do not go to them, because there are not a lot and when there are some they are over priced. He also talks about how the Israeli government should pay and then the American community match the amount of money given, so the education is easier accessed.

This article really hits home for me for a few reasons. First of all, I have one friend who never had a lot of money, but wanted a Jewish education. We went to hebrew school together at our synagogue for many years, but that was only three times a week. She eventually ended up not being able to go to Jewish day school because there was just simply no money for it. When we hit high school, she had made up her mind that she was going to Jewish school for the rest of her education. She went through and did many applications and filled out so many forms. All of her hard work payed off and she ended up getting a scholarship to the Jewish high school in our neighborhood. I agree with Liberman that we need Jewish schools to be more accessible. If a student truly wants to have a Jewish education , they should not have to go through a HUGE hassle in order to try and get it. It needs to be more available.

Another reason why this article hits home for me is because my best friend is transferring to the Jewish high school of our area. She is more fortunate and can easily make the change to the school financial wise. After being here in Israel and knowing and seeing what it is like to go to school and have Jewish classes, I decided that I really like it. I would love to go to the Jewish high school of my area, but I know that there just is not enough money for me to do so. I hope Liberman can find a way to make Jewish education more accessible for everyone so that people like me and my friend can get the education that helps them and the kind that they want.

גדודי נוער

This past week I went to גדנ"ע‎, which is an abbreviation for גדודי נוער or in loose translation youth battalions. At first I was so scared because I didn't think I could make it in an army setting. I was also appointed to be a translator for my team. I understand when people are talking, but I really cannot translate it back into English. My מפקדת or commander was so sweet she saw how uncomfortable I was with translating. She started out trying to translate as much as she could and then have me translate the rest. We worked from there and by the end I believe I feel way more comfortable translating out loud now than I ever have. I appreciate my מפקדת so much, I hope she knows that. Her name was Lior and she was one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She talked to my team not only about our opinions on things, but she was able to open up to us about her views too. I really felt a connection with her and I think she did too. We are now friends on Facebook and I hope that we will keep in touch. Overall I thought my גדנ"ע experience was going to be horrible, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow and it'll turn out alright.