| Winter 2009 Newsletter
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| ___________________________ AFYBA HIGHLIGHTS |
AFYBA SCARSDALE RECEPTION
Over 100 friends of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva from Scarsdale and
New Rochelle participated in a reception honoring the 
Tzachi Fenton
memory
of Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein z”l, by dedicating the English Judaica
Library in his name at Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem. Rabbi
Rubenstein and his wife Deborah lost
their lives in a fire that engulfed their
home in April 2008. Rabbi Rubenstein
became close to YBA as a result of
his organizing a series of “Spiritual
Safaris” for his congregants at Yeshivat
Hakotel.
The reception took place at the home
of AFYBA President Alan and Denise
Wildes. Alan is himself an alumnus 
Alan Wildes with honorees
of YBA Yeshivat Hakotel’s
Overseas Students Program.
Three other alumni of the
program were honored at
the event: Ari
Loren, Harris
Lukashok and
Ari Raskas.
The event’s guest speaker was Lt. Colonel
(res.) Tzachi Fenton, a graduate of YBA Netiv
Meir and the Hesder Program at Yeshivat Hakotel,
who spoke about the miracles that he and
his troops experienced in the Gaza Strip during
Operation Cast Lead last January. |
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YBA HIGH SCHOOL IN ISRAEL PROGRAM FOR
OVERSEAS STUDENTS |
YBA has announced the launching
of a low-cost, high-quality educational
alternative to modern Orthodox day
schools: a 3-year religious Zionist high
school program in Israel for tenth through
twelfth grade students from Diaspora
communities. The program will be subsidized
by the Ministry of Education Naale
Program, and tuition (including full room
and board) will be approximately half of
the average tuition for yeshiva high school
education in the U.S., with scholarship
assistance available for needy families.
“In our dormitory schools, the extracurricular
informal education is just as
important as what takes place in the classroom,”
explains Elchanan Glatt, Director
General of YBA in Israel. “Our students
spend their leisure time engaged in wholesome
activities, such as chesed work. They
live 24/7 in a nurturing Torah-oriented
environment, and absorb traditional Jewish
values and Ahavat Yisrael from the
close personal relationships they develop
with their teachers and dorm counselors.”
Four veteran YBA dormitory schools
have agreed to participate in the program:
Yeshivot Netiv Meir in Jerusalem and
Ohel Shlomo in Beer Sheva, and Ulpanot
Amana in Kfar Saba and Segula in Kiryat
Motzkin. YBA’s goal is to recruit 20
students per school to enter 10th grade in
September 2010. |
The program will feature intensive
modern Hebrew instruction [Ulpan] in
the first year, with the goal of mainstreaming
the students into regular Hebrew
language classes from the second
year on (with extra tutoring available
as needed). English language
and literature classes will be aligned
with the American high school curriculum
and additional PSAT/SAT
preparation classes will be offered.
Graduates will receive an Israeli
high school matriculation [Bagrut]
diploma, recognized by most leading
universities in the US.
Rabbi Yoni Mozeson has been
retained as the program’s Marketing
and Recruitment Officer, under the
supervision of AFYBA Executive
Director, Menachem Bar-Shalom.
Rabbi Mozeson will coordinate the
marketing and screening process with day
school principals, congregation rabbis and
shlichim [emissaries] of the Bnei Akiva
youth movement, Kollel Torah Mitzion,
Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency
for Israel.
For more information contact the
AFYBA office at 212-248-0471, office@
afyba.org, or Rabbi Yoni Mozeson at
201-928-1819, rabbimozeson@afyba.org |
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| ____________________ YBA IN ISRAEL HIGHLIGHTS |
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YBA MARKS 70 YEARS
AT KFAR HAROEH
On the tenth of Heshvan [October 28], YBA in Israel
marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the first Bnei
Akiva Yeshiva at Kfar Haroeh by Harav Tzvi Moshe Neriya
zt”l. Guests of honor at the event included some of the original
13 students who accompanied Harav Neriya to Kfar Haroeh
in 1939, and the rabbi’s widow, Mrs. Rachel Neriya.

First YBA graduates with Rabbis
Zuckerman and Drukman “Who could have imagined
70 years ago, that this
small, seemingly insignificant
group of students studying
Torat Eretz Yisrael on this
hilltop in the spirit of Harav
Kook zt”l, would so quickly
grow in numbers and influence,
to impact the course of Jewish history, the contours of
Israeli society – the very soul of our nation?” said Elchanan
Glatt, Director General of YBA.
The program featured a panel discussion addressing the
question “Yeshiva High School Education: Where Do We Go
from Here?” |
ULPANAT KFAR PINES CELEBRATES JUBILEE
Over 1,300 alumnae of YBA Ulpana Kfar Pines joined
the school’s 400 students for an evening of celebration
in recognition of the school’s 50th year of educational
excellence. The school’s central courtyard was filled to
capacity with young and old graduates chatting with
classmates, viewing video presentations and listening to
the school’s music department perform.
The joyous occasion was capped by an address by Rosh
Ulpana, Harav Yoram Tzohar, marking his 28th year as
headmaster of the school. Kfar Pines is affectionately
known as the “Mother of All Ulpanot,” serving as the
model of religious Zionist dormitory education for girls,
in the same way
that YBA Kfar
Haroeh served
as the model for
religious Zionist
yeshiva education
for boys. |
“YAGDIL TORAH” TALMUD SCHOLARS AWARDED PRIZES
Over 400 students from 14 YBA yeshiva high schools who
participated in last year’s “Yagdil Torah V’Yadir” 
Ben Lande with Rabbi Engel and students
Project packed
the Beit Midrash at Yeshivat Givat
Shmuel, near Bar Ilan University,
to congratulate their classmates for
mastering at least 50 daf [double sided
pages] of Talmud, over and above their
regular Talmud curriculum. The winners
earned sets of Talmud and other
Jewish texts, such as Tur, Rambam
and Shulchan Aruch.
The number of prize winners has grown every year from 90
(25%) in 2007 to 130 (32%) in 2009, including 20 students
who mastered over 100 daf last year. Mr. Ben
Lande, the program’s generous sponsor, was joined
by his family members to extend a “yasher koach” to
the boys.
Presently, in the fourth year of the YBA Yagdil
Torah Project, over 500 students from 15 schools
are participating in the Talmud study program, and
over 1,000 students from 16 schools are studying
Seder Nezikin in the Mishnayot study program. |
MODIIN MAYOR ISSUES CHALLENGE GRANT
Haim Bebas, the mayor of Modiin, has earmarked NIS 2.5M
($625,000) of his city’s 2010 budget as a challenge grant to YBA
to raise a like sum for the expansion the YBA high school yeshiva
and ulpana campuses in his town. Modiin is Israel’s fastest growing
city, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Both schools are
presently at maximum capacity, with over 400 students each, and
are expected to continue to
grow towards 600 students
each within the next few
years.
“Both our schools in
Modiin have modern classroom
facilities built by the
Ministry of Education,” explains Shmuel Beber, YBA’s Deputy
Director General, “however, the ministry doesn’t provide funding
to build a Beit Midrash [study hall], so the schools have been
using classrooms for that purpose until now.” Due to the need to
free-up additional classroom space, both schools are now seeking
donors to help build permanent study halls. YBA Yeshivat
Lapid B’Modiin is planning to construct a new Beit Midrash and
lunchroom facility, while YBA Ulpanat Orot Modiin plans to
convert its present library building into a Beit Midrash.
For more information regarding naming opportunities for the new
facilities in Modiin, please contact the AFYBA office (212) 248-
0471 or office@afyba.org. |
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| _________________________ YBA SCHOOL NEWS |
YBA NER TAMID DEDICATES
CLASSROOM BUILDING
The sounds of conversations
in English
were heard alongside
Hebrew at the dedication
ceremony of a new
classroom building at
YBA Ner Tamid, located
in Hashmonaim – a settlement near Modiin that is a
popular destination for olim from North America.
The new building replaces the temporary caravan
classrooms that have served the yeshiva since its establishment
in 1995. Ner Tamid’s founder and President,
Rabbi Aharon Adler, formerly from New York, and
Rosh Yeshiva Palti Granot addressed the participants,
as well as YBA Chairman, Rabbi Haim Drukman, YBA
Director General, Elchanan Glatt, and other municipal
officials.
YBA Ner Tamid has announced a $400,000 capital
campaign to complete its new dining hall, to replace the
temporary structure presently used by the students for
meals.
For more information regarding naming opportunities
for the new facilities in Hashmonaim, please contact the
AFYBA office (212) 248-0471 or office@afyba.org. |
OVERSEAS STUDENT PROGRAM
AT YBA HESDER SHADMOT NERIYA
YBA Yeshivat Hesder Shadmot Neriya has announced the opening
in 2010 of the Overseas Students program for Diaspora high
school graduates who wish to spend a year studying Torat Yisrael
in Eretz Yisrael before starting niversity. The yeshiva is located in
the Jordan Valley settlement of Shadmot Mechola, near the town of
Beit Shean.

Ben Lande with Rabbi Engel and students “What makes our program unique is the amount of personal
contact with Israelis and the Land of Israel that we will offer,” says
yeshiva director, Rabbi Moti Goodman. “Besides daily Ulpan [modern
Hebrew] classes, every student
will have an Israeli chevruta [study
partner] and adopting family from
the settlement. Our program will
feature more tiyulim [field trips]
than other yeshiva programs, so that
our students will really get to know
the country and develop a genuine
love for Eretz Yisrael.”
The program will open in August 2010, and scholarship assistance
is available for qualified students through the MASA Program of
the Jewish Agency for Israel.
For more information about the program, please contact
Rabbi Moti Goodman shadmot@neto.net.il or visit the yeshiva’s web
site: www.yeshadmot.org.il |
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| SPOTLIGHT ON: YESHIVAT HESDER RUACH TZFONIT, AKKO |
|
BUILDING DEDICATIONS:
Construction of the new campus for YBA
Hesder Ruach Tzfonit in Akko continues
at full speed, with two campus buildings
already completed ahead of schedule. In
September, Mrs. Chava Kreitzer was on
hand to help dedicate the yeshiva’s dining
hall, and in October, the extended
Nordlicht family attended the dedication
of the Beit Midrash. The campus classroom
building, student residences and
Merhavya Community Outreach Center
are scheduled to be completed by August
2010. The new campus
will allow the
yeshiva to continue
to grow from 160
students today to
a maximum of 300
students.
AKKO MAYOR
VISITS NY:
Mayor of Akko Shimon
Lankry recently spent two days in New
York participating in a series of meetings
on behalf of YBA Yeshivat Hesder Ruach
Tzfonit, Akko. Mayor Lankry, himself a
graduate of YBA Kiryat Shmuel in nearby
Haifa, played a key role in establishing
the yeshiva in Akko in 2003, as part of
his plan to lead a Jewish renaissance in
the city.
JCRC-NY VISITS AKKO:
During
his visit to New York, Mayor Lankry
met the leadership of the Jewish
Community Relations Council and
volunteered to host the JCRC’s next
mission to Israel in Akko. The group
of 15 ommunity leaders toured
Akko in August and learned how the
municipality is constantly working to
improve relations between the city’s
Jewish and Arab residents, including
investments in parks, community centers,
educational and economic opportunities
in both sectors.
For more infornation visit www.yakko.co.il
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YBA IN A FLASH
|
Nine graduates of YBA schools are
presently serving in the as Members of
Knesset, representing four different political
parties in both the coalition and the opposition.
YBA proudly salutes all its alumni who
carry on the YBA tradition of excellence and
leadership as Israel’s elected legislators.
Of the 500 Hesder yeshiva students inducted
into the IDF in August, close to 80%
were sent to infantry combat units, while
others were drafted into the Armored Corp,
Field Intelligence, and Navy. YBA proudly
salutes the new recruits from its eight affiliated
Hesder Yeshivot: Akko, Hagolan,
Hakotel, Holon, Maalot, Or Etzion, Neve
Dekalim, and Shadmot Neriya.
A recently released IDF
research report measuring
the motivation of inductees
to serve in combat units revealed that eight
YBA schools were among the highest ranked
high schools in Israel. YBA Chairman Rabbi
Haim Drukman commented, “We place
a strong emphasis on teaching religious
Zionist values: service to the State of Israel
and the Jewish people alongside the study of
Torah. The results can be seen in the high
motivation of our graduates to serve in the
IDF’s toughest combat units.”
To enhance its curriculum on Teshuva
(Atonement) during the month of Elul,
YBA Tikvat Yaakov invited former Maccabi
Tel Aviv basketball star Doron Sheffer to address
the students about his inspirational
life story. Sporting a large white kipa and
beard, Sheffer spoke about how, in 2000,
he was diagnosed with cancer, forcing him
to retire from professional basketball at the
height of his career. Sheffer went on to beat
the disease, and embarked on a spiritual
quest leading to his eventual return to his
Jewish heritage. Today Sheffer learns Torah
full-time in a Jerusalem yeshiva.
UBA Amana in Kfar Saba was ranked
eighth nation-wide in Israeli high school
matriculation (Bagrut) scores in a recent
Ministry of Education study. UBA Segula in
Kiryat Motzkin near Haifa was also ranked
as the leading school in Israel’s northern
district.
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EDYTHE SOMMER MEMORIAL
SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED
|
Yeshivot Bnei Akiva in Israel has
selected three recent high school
graduates as the winners of the annual
Edythe Sommer Memorial Torah
U’Maada Scholarship Award. Eitan
Adler (Rambam Mesivta of Long
Island), Benjamin
Frieling, (DRS Halb)
and Ryan Fiter (Hebrew
Academy High
School of Quebec)
are all spending the
year at the Yeshivat
Hakotel Overseas Student Program,
in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Established through the generosity
of the Sommer Family of Chicago,
the award recognizes post high school
American students studying at YBA
schools in Israel for
their academic excellence,
exemplary
midot [character
traits] and involvement
in chesed and
communal activities.
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