(Click here to go to directly to pictures from Students Day at Shalom Hartman Institute)
More than 180 11th and 12th grade students from high schools all across Israel came to the Shalom Hartman Institute March 3, 2009, for a day of learning, camaraderie, presentations, and fun.
The students and their schools participate in two innovative programs run by the Institute, Ma’atzim (Empowerment) and Be’eri (My Well), both of which aim at enriching the Jewish studies offered in secular Israeli high schools.
Ma’atzim focuses on teaching teachers and school administrators about Jewish subjects and offers them help in bringing that new knowledge to their students.
Be’eri is aimed directly at students, who receive three to four additional hours a week in Jewish studies.
Through these programs, hundreds of students and teachers at dozens of secular schools countrywide have been exposed to enriched Jewish studies without pressure to undertake traditional Jewish religious practice.
Both programs are expanding, with Be’eri seeking to double and triple the 30 schools now in the program.
Below are a series of photos from the day. Much of the action took place in the Institute’s beit midrash, but the students were found throughout the Institute campus, eating, drinking, talking, laughing and learning.
Hartman Institute Fellow Rani Jaeger , pictured below, gave the keynote talk of the day: "Identity and Alienation: The Unmasking of Esther in the Purim Story ."
View from top of beit midrash at Student Day for Ma’atzim and Be ‘ eri programs
Students make presentation to their friends and fellow students
Rani Jaeger makes Purim-themed presentation to students
See more pictures from the day by clicking here.
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