Archive for category School
Sulam, Jerusalem, Israel
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Israel, School on February 11th, 2010
Sulam is a non-profit organization for special education which is why Moishe Alexander has donated.
Sulam was established in 1981 with the goal of advancing children with special needs, who suffer from a variety of difficulties including: developmental delays, Autism Spectrum Disorder, physical, emotional, sensory-integrative, behavioral and learning disorder, and combinations thereof.
At present 358 children aged 3 months to 17 years attend 39 different classes in Sulam under the dedicated professionalism of 363 staff members in 7 branches.
Sulam’s approach to therapeutic intervention and education is holistic as it aims to enable children to realize their individual potential, and to achieve maximum independent functioning levels and readiness for successful integration into society. Approximately 25% of Sulam’s children are ultimately able to integrate into a regular classroom.
Sulam pioneers in implementing new and unique methods of treatment for special children. Its highly professional paramedical and psychological staff provides a wide range of therapies and intervention techniques in an all-encompassing program with state-of-the art equipment, along with support and guidance to the children’s families.
Sulam’s Influence
Short-term: Sulam provides a one-stop service where all the helped need for special children is available under one roof, thus sparing parents the need to run to and from a variety of institutions and costly private therapies at the expense of their hours at the workplace and home.
Long-term: Sulam’s intensive investment in cutting-edge therapeutic and educational intervention significantly increases the likelihood that children with a wide range of disabilities can be mainstreamed into the normative educational system. This is not only of immeasurable emotional and social benefit to the children and their families, but serves to save the State, and the taxpayer, major expenses.
What Are Learning Disabilities?
Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Shmayahu
Posted by admin in Jewish, Jewish studies, School, Toronto on November 30th, 2009
Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Shmayahu is located in North York, Ontario.
There are a seven types of yeshivot:
1. Yeshiva ketana (“junior yeshiva”) – Many yeshivot ketanot in Israel and some in the Diaspora do not have a secular course of studies and all students learn Judaic Torah studies full time.
2. Yeshiva High School – Also called Mesivta or Mechina or Yeshiva Gedolah, combines the intensive Jewish religious education with a secular high school education. The dual curriculum was pioneered by the Manhattan Talmudical Academy of Yeshiva University (now known as Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy) in 1916.
3. Mechina – For Israeli high-school graduates who wish to study for one year before entering the army.
4. Beth Medrash – For high school graduates, and is attended from one year to many years, dependent on the career plans and affiliation of the student.
5. Yeshivat Hesder – Yeshiva that has an arrangement with the Israel Defence Forces by which the students enlist together in the same unit and, as much as is possible serve in the same unit in the army. Over a period of about 5 years there will be a period of service starting in the second year of about 16 months. There are different variations. The rest of the time will be spent in compulsory study in the yeshiva.
6. Kollel – Yeshiva for married adults. The kollel idea, though having its intellectual roots traced to the Torah, is a relatively modern innovation of 19th century Europe. Often, a kollel will be in the same location as the yeshiva.
7. Baal teshuva yeshivot catering to the needs of the newly-Orthodox. The best-known are Ohr Somayach, Aish HaTorah, and Hadar Hatorah.
Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid and Moishe Alexander both enriched by relationship
Posted by admin in Disabilities, Jewish, Jewish studies, School on November 30th, 2009
The first Jewish high school of its kind in the world, Yeshivas Nefesh Dovid (YND), founded in 2001, channels the knowledge of Torah into the hearts, minds and lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing young men. YND, with its sterling secular educational program, is a valuable support system for this population throughout the global Jewish community. YND accepts young men in their teens from yeshivos, Jewish Day Schools, and public schools and addresses all the emotional and academic challenges that those with hearing loss typically deal with on a daily basis regardless of mode of communication.
A unique aspect of the program is the presence of role models who are deaf or hard-of-hearing themselves, including Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Kakon, the Dean and Rosh Yeshiva, and co-founder Dr. Hart Bressler, MD. In addition to trained and qualified rebbeim and teachers, sign language interpreting services, speech pathology, audiology services and an array of recreational activities all complement the program. Upon graduation, the students receive an internationally recognized Ontario Secondary Diploma. Since its inception, YND’s current home base at the Yeshiva Gedolah of Toronto only serves to further integrate the students with hearing peers and the community at large.
Rabbi Kakon earned his Master’s Degree in Talmudical Law and s’micha (rabbinical ordination) from Ner Israel Rabbinical College of Baltimore, Maryland. He also holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland. As a licensed therapist, Rabbi Kakon provided clinical therapy services for several years.
While in Baltimore, he also founded and directed the only overnight camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing Jewish adolescent boys at Ner Israel Campus for seven summers. The success of the program and the necessity for a year-around education for this population resulted in Rabbi Kakon and his family’s relocation to Toronto to co-found YND.
Rabbi Kakon, a descendant of the Ropshitzer Rebbe and a ninth generation descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, is a charismatic teacher whose unique experiences and achievements inspire people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Dr. Bressler, Canada’s first deaf medical physician, is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine. As a full-time family physician, he also maintains a clinic that specializes in chronic pain management.
A past president of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Hearing Society, Dr. Bressler has spoken widely for both professional and lay audiences on topics dealing with deafness and hearing loss. He is uniquely qualified to provide support from a medically objective perspective as well as personal insight into the myriad of issues that impact those with deafness and their families. He studied at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem and Yeshiva University of Los Angeles.
Dr. Bressler was instrumental in working with Rabbi Kakon to establish the Yeshiva in Toronto.