What do Beit Shemesh-Mateh Yehuda, Beit She'an Valley, the area around the Sea of Galilee, Tzefat and Hatzor HaGlilit have in common? Last Monday (December 6) school principals and teachers from Beit Shemesh and Mateh Yehuda, and from all over the north of the country, convened at the From Inspiration to Action conference which addressed the relationship between schools in Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora.
The conference took place as part of the School Twinning program of the partnerships all over Israel, and of Partnership 2000 Beit Shemesh - Mateh Yehuda - Washington - South Africa in our region.
Jabotinsky School was represented by the principal Bracha Gadankan-Biton, and by teachers Zehava David and Sarah Lerner who are leading the program. Hartuv High School sent teachers Dafna Tzukrun and Etti Yifrakh. The Partnership appreciates and thanks the teachers who devoted a full day to this training event at Kinerret College in Tiberias.
The teachers who head the program at their schools, with the Jewish communities abroad, gathered for a day of learning and tribute organized by the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 division. One of the highlights of the conference was an inspirational lecture given by Noga Kokhavi from the Reali School in Haifa, called From the Anxiety of Survival to A Light to the Nations.
In her address Noga talked about the school's friendship with various communities around the world, about the different creative ways the school uses to maintain the relationship, and about empowering the Jewish identity of the students at the school through meeting and getting to know Jews in the different communities.
In the second part of the conference the various groups convened for a discussion about the Ten Commandments which generate a reciprocal and significant bond, and a special dialogue evolved which spawned reciprocal learning and cooperation.
One of the teachers summarized the conference by citing the words of the Hanukkah song: "Each is a small light, and we are all a powerful light."
