Page 47 - issue
P. 47
Journey to Bat Ayin
public transportation will improve. BRANDRIGHTMARKETING T H E R A P YSPEECH PHYSICAL OCCUPATIONAL
There is one boys and one girls school in Bat Ayin, both of Malka Schnitzer, Director
115 Sudbrook Lane
which go until eighth grade. Some families send their children Please note our new address.
to other schools close by, such as Beitar or Ma’alei Amos. Reb- (410) 358-1997
betzin Batya shares that when they first began the yishuv, they
faced challenges with the chinuch system. “As baalei teshuva, Accepting all major insurances, including Medical Assitance
we thought we could reinvent the wheel of chinuch,” she says, Weekday & Sunday appointments available in school & clinic
“but we really didn’t know how to do it at all. We wanted the
system to provide the highest level of yirat Shamayim, tzniut,
and Torah learning for our children. We were very open and
also very closed.” She explains that they incorporated other
creative studies and nature into their educational framework,
which back then wasn’t found in the chareidi system but are
now starting to develop.
“We wanted the children to love Torah and not feel forced,
but we didn’t have the keilim (abilities) to do it,” the Rebbetz-
in continues. “We weren’t professionals in chinuch and didn’t
know anything about it. We also didn’t understand who we were
in the map. Gush Etzion is very dati leumi. We thought we were
just on this small hilltop, but our kids realized that they are part
of the larger Gush Etzion region and started to go against what
we wanted them to be like. When you are in a society, you react
to it. For instance, when you are standing at a bus stop, you look
around and see that everyone looks different from you, and you
start to feel weird. Even though we want to be on a very high
level of shmirat mitzvot, it was hard to accomplish because of
our openness. It’s very hard to find a combination of being open
but also very strong.” On a positive note, the Rebbetzin says,
“Since we started this yishuv, many yishuvim in the Gush have
awoken to the world of chasidut, and I’m sure that it affects
their yirat Shamayim.”
uuu
I head to the home of Pinchas and Penina Taylor, olim from
Baltimore, whose story I told in the last issue of the Where What
When. They came to Bat Ayin from Kiryat Arba to be the av and
eim bayit (dorm parents) of Midreshet B’erot, Penina explains.
Penina wanted to devote time to her third book and jumped at
the opportunity of a job that would give her the flexibility to write.
“We didn’t realize until after taking the job that this com-
munity was exactly what we were looking for,” says Penina. “In
both Rabbi Lisbon’s and Rabbi Goldberger’s shuls, we got a real
taste of what it means to be part of a kehila.” Once in Israel, the
Taylors struggled to find a place where they would find a similar
sense of being part of a kehila. After living in five communities
in 10 years, they visited Bat Ayin to check out the midrasha,
and felt a strong connection to Rav Daniel Kohen and the shul.
After a year at the midrasha, they met with the yishuv’s va’ad
(board) to determine if they would be accepted into the yishuv,
a common practice in Israeli towns. Their entry went smoothly
since they had a letter of recommendation from the rebbetzin of
the midrasha as well as from Rabbi Kohen. They were not asked
to do a graphology test, which is sometimes requested in order
u 410 358 8509 u 39
public transportation will improve. BRANDRIGHTMARKETING T H E R A P YSPEECH PHYSICAL OCCUPATIONAL
There is one boys and one girls school in Bat Ayin, both of Malka Schnitzer, Director
115 Sudbrook Lane
which go until eighth grade. Some families send their children Please note our new address.
to other schools close by, such as Beitar or Ma’alei Amos. Reb- (410) 358-1997
betzin Batya shares that when they first began the yishuv, they
faced challenges with the chinuch system. “As baalei teshuva, Accepting all major insurances, including Medical Assitance
we thought we could reinvent the wheel of chinuch,” she says, Weekday & Sunday appointments available in school & clinic
“but we really didn’t know how to do it at all. We wanted the
system to provide the highest level of yirat Shamayim, tzniut,
and Torah learning for our children. We were very open and
also very closed.” She explains that they incorporated other
creative studies and nature into their educational framework,
which back then wasn’t found in the chareidi system but are
now starting to develop.
“We wanted the children to love Torah and not feel forced,
but we didn’t have the keilim (abilities) to do it,” the Rebbetz-
in continues. “We weren’t professionals in chinuch and didn’t
know anything about it. We also didn’t understand who we were
in the map. Gush Etzion is very dati leumi. We thought we were
just on this small hilltop, but our kids realized that they are part
of the larger Gush Etzion region and started to go against what
we wanted them to be like. When you are in a society, you react
to it. For instance, when you are standing at a bus stop, you look
around and see that everyone looks different from you, and you
start to feel weird. Even though we want to be on a very high
level of shmirat mitzvot, it was hard to accomplish because of
our openness. It’s very hard to find a combination of being open
but also very strong.” On a positive note, the Rebbetzin says,
“Since we started this yishuv, many yishuvim in the Gush have
awoken to the world of chasidut, and I’m sure that it affects
their yirat Shamayim.”
uuu
I head to the home of Pinchas and Penina Taylor, olim from
Baltimore, whose story I told in the last issue of the Where What
When. They came to Bat Ayin from Kiryat Arba to be the av and
eim bayit (dorm parents) of Midreshet B’erot, Penina explains.
Penina wanted to devote time to her third book and jumped at
the opportunity of a job that would give her the flexibility to write.
“We didn’t realize until after taking the job that this com-
munity was exactly what we were looking for,” says Penina. “In
both Rabbi Lisbon’s and Rabbi Goldberger’s shuls, we got a real
taste of what it means to be part of a kehila.” Once in Israel, the
Taylors struggled to find a place where they would find a similar
sense of being part of a kehila. After living in five communities
in 10 years, they visited Bat Ayin to check out the midrasha,
and felt a strong connection to Rav Daniel Kohen and the shul.
After a year at the midrasha, they met with the yishuv’s va’ad
(board) to determine if they would be accepted into the yishuv,
a common practice in Israeli towns. Their entry went smoothly
since they had a letter of recommendation from the rebbetzin of
the midrasha as well as from Rabbi Kohen. They were not asked
to do a graphology test, which is sometimes requested in order
u 410 358 8509 u 39
