ORT Israel Youth for
the Community
Rationale
Today’s achievement oriented,
materialistic society prizes the value of self-actualization, often at the
expense of significant emotional relationships between people. This makes the
school the last bastion for fostering social values and eliminating social
alienation.
The school as an educating factor
must strive unceasingly to change this and to focus on developing social values,
educating the students to active citizenship by increasing sensitivity
to the community. This can be achieved by motivating them to strengthen
their social involvement in the school and in the community.
One of the principles of ORT’s vision
for the 21st century is the development of social values and the
cultivation of the value of giving to others and as the vision states: “The
network will instill in its students universal social values as well as values
linked to our Jewish heritage and will foster their awareness of contributing to
society and to the country.”
ORT’s vision gives prominence to the
integration of science and technology education with humanistic values: moral
values relating to the individual and self actualization, and social values
relating to the community, the nation, the state and all mankind. The rationale
anchored in this symbiosis is that achievements in general, including those in
the fields of science and technology, must be motivated and guided by moral and
humane criteria for the benefit of mankind.
ORT Israel’s youth
movement aims to foster the values of giving in ever-widening circles: the
school, the community, society and the country at large, in the spirit of the
values of Jewish tradition.
Guiding principles
A. Education towards the values of
giving cannot be based on verbal exhortation, however persuasive it might be.
Moral characteristics are instilled through ongoing practice and
experience. In order to cultivate sensitivity to others and the desire to
help them, our students must be given the opportunity to experience positive
connections with others who need help and thus feel the joy of giving for
themselves and the great sense of satisfaction this provides. Giving is a tool
through which the giver can express personal fulfillment and this helps develop
modes of behavior that make life meaningful. School life provides many
situations in which students can experience such giving – to peers in school as
well as to various factors in the community.
B. Our students are full of energy as
is typical of their age group. Their experiences of giving to other and to
the community channels their energies to useful and constructive ends. The
eruption of violence in schools is partly explained by the fact that students do
not have significant and useful roles to play in society, and as a result, their
level of frustration increases and this leads to eruptions of violent behavior.
C. Students have the potential to
act as agents of change at school in terms of preventing violence and they can
be involved in school programs for violence prevention as peer counselors:
Students greatly influence the fabric of social relations at school. They can be
role-models to their peers in their behavior, and they have the power to
reinforce desirable social norms – either because they have similar qualities,
or because they control the kinds of gratification that are important to
adolescents. Students know their peers well - their patterns of behavior and
their particular sub-cultures (language, dress, norms etc.). They can help their
peers based on what they share in common. The student counselors can help their
peers handle the issues of violence. The proximity in age enables open
discourse. It is easier for an adolescent to speak freely with a peer and can
examine values and opinions without the fear of being judged or being preached
to by an adult.
D. Students’ experiences in giving
will instill in them the essential nature of its
values:
* Giving requires active
involvement – as the Torah states says so succinctly “You shall not endanger
the life of your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16), and as Rashi expounds - that one
must not see another in danger and not come to his aid. Indeed in 1998 the law
of “You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor” was passed, in which the
first paragraph clearly states that “a person must offer help to a person before
him who, following a sudden event, is in immediate physical or mortal danger,
when it is possible to offer such help without endangering oneself or the other
person.”
* Giving is unconditional –
with no expectation of recompense – “the fee for a good deed is the good deed”.
It is not conditional upon the mood of the giver or on the difference between
the recipient and the giver (difference in gender, race, nationality etc.)
* Giving is real and not fake,
performed as a duty. It stems from a sincere desire to help others; it is also
reflected in the giver’s body language which reveals one’s real emotions.
* Giving is performed out of a
position of egalitarian respect for others. There is no condescension. On the
contrary! The principle of reciprocity is maintained, where the giver is also
ready to receive help. The giver preserves the individuality and difference if
the other, without expecting the other to behave in like fashion.
* Giving involves sensitivity and
empathy, getting to know the needs of the other, as they are perceived. A
necessary condition for empathic listening is an inter-personal perception
devoid of prejudices or stereotypes.
* Giving is consistent and
persevering and does not limit itself to one-time events.
