Gesher Hai Teachers Delegation to Baltimore

Our Gesher Hai ("Living Bridge") program is very active in both Baltimore and Ashkelon. Each of our Ashkelon schools participating in the program is matched with a school in Baltimore. Gesher Hai aims at understanding cultural differences and working to form a close connection by means of a shared project.

In January 2011 a delegation of seven Ashkelon teachers representing the Arts School (Omauyot), the Science School ( Madaim), Ort Afridar, Harel, Mekif Daled, and Cochav HaZafon, travelled to Baltimore to strengthen the connection with their partners: Beit Tefiloh, Shoshana Cardin, Beit Israel, Yeshivat Rambam, Kreiger Shechter, and Baltimore Hebrew, schools. The delegation was led by Ashkelon Gesher Hai Coordinator Marcelo Burdman.

The Ashkelon teachers were hosted in Baltimore homes for the weekend and then stayed in a local hotel. They received a warm welcome and visited schools, synagogues, community centers and the Jewish museum. They participated in discussions, lectures, hands-on projects, lessons about Israel and Ashkelon, took part in many social gatherings and made close and personal connections with their Baltimore partners and friends. Thanks to everyone! We are looking forward to hosting the Baltimore teachers here in the future.

Photos by courtesy of Ariela Lerman and Tova Shafran

Josh Schwartz's Barmitzvah Project

Soccer Jerseys for Or Chaim kids soccer team in Ashkelon

Josh Schwartz and his family visited Ashkelon in June. They were eager to meet the Or Chaim Soccer team kids and hand-deliver the jerseys that they designed, as Josh's bar mitzvah project.

The Or Chaim soccer team kids were thrilled to receive the soccer shirts and immediately tried them on. Gavriel, their coach grabbed a soccer ball and the Schwartz kids - Josh, Andrew, Joseph and Allison joined them, trying to score goals!

Or Chaim soccer team with the Schwartz family

MARCELO BURDMAN, our Gesher Hai coordinator organized this program.

Josh Schwartz read a speech he wrote in Hebrew, and shared how excited he was to share his love of soccer with new friends from Ashkelon.

After their visit to the school, the Schwartz family visited the Michael Lapidus Baltimore Park and Lynn Stacie Getz Playground that they helped to build two years ago. They were excited to see how green and colorful the park is now, and they inspected each and every mosaic piece of art in the park.

Gesher Hai at Netzach Yisrael School

This week Geula, Nicole and I were the guests of honor at a special performance by the girls of Kita Vav (6th Grade) at Netzach Yisrael religious school for girls. The girls have been matched through our Gesher Hai (Living Bridge) project, with a sixth grade class at Beit Yakov school in Baltimore, and they have worked hard on a project showing selected sites in Eretz Yisrael, under the expert hand of their dedicated teacher Tehila Chayun. The two schools have kept in touch through the internet and by phone and have forged a close bond, working together on this project.

Geula Shalev, the Gesher Hai coordinator is very proud of their efforts: "it is heartwarming to see the enthusiasm of the students and the staff for this project".

At the performance, the girls sang a specially composed song in Hebrew and English and showed off models they had made of religious sites in Israel, The models were constructed out of a variety of materials including cardboard, papier-mache, plastic, and mosaic, and also included printed texts that the girls had researched about each place. The class made a cd showing places in Israel and featuring them singing their special song. The CD will be sent to their partner class in Baltimore. Nicole