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YAVNE SCHOOL IN PARIS JOINS AMIT IN SOLIDARITY WITH SDEROT
New York City, February 21, 2008...... The Yavne School, one of the most prestigious Jewish schools in Paris with 1,400 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, has decided to join the AMIT Network's "Color Red" Act of Solidarity with the students in the city of Sderot. Each time the "Color Red" alarm sounds in Sderot, alerting residents to a Kassam rocket attack, an "alarm" which is sounded throughout the AMIT Network will now be sounded in the Yavne School in Paris as well. Students and teachers will stop all studies and recite Psalms together, in a show of solidarity with Sderot’s children and residents.
Yavne Principal Eliahou Bellahsen, who decided to join this initiative, explained, "Through the act of stopping our routine, even a few times a day, in order to think about our brothers and sisters who live in Sderot and to pray for their wellbeing, the students experience the solidarity and the connection of all Jews wherever they are as one People." Dr. Amnon Eldar, director general of the AMIT Network, called Principal Bellahsen to thank him for his show of solidarity.
The Yavne School also has invited a group of students from the AMIT Torani Madai Elementary School in Sderot to be its guests for ten days in Paris. The children will be hosted by families in the Jewish community, will study with their Parisian counterparts in the mornings, and will tour sites such as the Eiffel Tower and Euro Disney in the afternoons.
The AMIT Network in Sderot consists of six schools and programs enrolling almost 2,000 children from kindergarten through post high school. Every school has a bomb shelter and additional concrete shelters have been erected in the school playgrounds. AMIT facilities have sustained damage from the almost daily Qassam attacks, students have been seriously injured, and siblings and parents killed.
AMIT's principals and teachers in Sderot are in regular contact, via both phone and by personal visits, with all parents and students. Psychologists have been helping students whenever necessary. Special activities, such as arts and crafts, have been organized to keep the younger children calm, and AMIT regularly plans trips for the students to take them out of the city.
AMIT has organized a special Campaign for Sderot to raise funds for the special services and activities it is providing for its students in Sderot. To contribute, please call 212-477-4725 or click here for an online donation form.
AMIT enables Israel's youth to realize their potential and strengthens Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, religious values and Zionist ideals.
AMIT educates and cares for Israel's youth, including the most vulnerable. Some 70 per cent of AMIT students cope with educational, psychological, economic and/or social risk factors. AMIT approaches each child as an individual, maximizing his or her potential, and enabling our students to become vital, productive members of Israeli society. The AMIT schools promote religious tolerance, service to the state and the recognition that every child is blessed with unique talents and abilities. Founded in 1925, AMIT operates more than 70 schools, youth villages, surrogate family residences and other programs, constituting Israel's only government-recognized network of religious Jewish education incorporating academic and technological studies.
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Media Contact:
Barbara Goldberg
Director of Communications
212-477-4728
barbarag@amitchildren.org
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