Getting Educated (Article# 87) 7/11/08

We have just completed the time of year that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of teenagers all over Israel. June brings the bagrut examinations and sets off a frenzy of studying and worrying. As this was the first year we experienced bagrut, it was a strange and new experience for us.

The bagrut standard tests are the method by which the Israeli ministry of education certifies that students have achieved the appropriate level of proficiency in a specific subject. Similarly to Regents examinations in New York, the student’s high school graduation/diploma is based upon successful completion of a minimum number of bagrut examinations. The comparison ends there.

Israeli students pick a major course of study in high school, and each course of study has certain core requirements. In all other subjects (similar to the U.S.) there are minimum core requirements that must be taken for each student to get a state-issued diploma. Beyond the core requirements, each school has elective courses (but not for the student) that bring each student’s total bagrut credit level to the minimum required to graduate. The scope of courses is totally dependent on the size of the school as well as the interest expressed by the students.

Students take these exams in grades 10 through 12, in all subjects (religious and secular). The grade they get is not based solely upon the standardized tests; their coursework throughout the year as well as a series of final exams that they take in the weeks approaching the bagrut are also average in. So the kids run around really pressured for the last couple of months of school.

Chaya took her first bagruyot this year and it was fascinating to see how she totally stopped her social life in order to study. On Yom HaAtzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim, and Lag BaOmer, she decided not to go out with friends, in order to study. It was nice to see, since we entered the year concerned about her ability to study and pass the tests in Hebrew, but she really showed tremendous growth in the way she prepared.

The best news came when they announced a change in testing for new olim. Starting this year, olim can choose to take their bagruyot in their native tongue, which really makes it easier for them. Surprisingly, Chaya took the history and math exams in Hebrew. She was concerned that otherwise she would not understand all the terms—which she had learned throughout the year in Hebrew—and decided to stick with what was familiar. She thinks she did well (as do her teachers and principal), and we are quite proud of her progress.

The other kids all seem to be continuing their good adjustment to the Israeli education system, as well. Aliza had a rough go while adjusting to junior high in the beginning of the year, but we got an excellent letter from her teacher complimenting her progress. As one of only four English speakers in her class, she uses Hebrew all the time. Batya goes to a special enrichment course (using art to introduce concepts in Jewish identity), but the real “wow” achievement of the year belongs to Mordechai.

Mordechai completed first grade early last week. If you remember, Mordechai had a very tough adjustment to Israel and Hebrew in our first few months. Just a year and a half ago, he would regularly come home to tell us, “If I hear another word of Hebrew, I am going to throw up!” He adjusted and really gets along quite well in school now—so well, that on the last day of school, he was one of two boys in his class to be called up on stage in front of the whole school to receive a special award of excellence that is awarded to two students from each class at the end of the term.

I am constantly amazed at the resiliency of the kids and overwhelmed that they really can get it. Their strength and the way they have truly acclimated to our new country has definitely encouraged and supported Goldie and me in facing the various struggles we have gone through.

Last month, Goldie’s nephew Avrohom Dovid became a bar mitzvah. The timing (and airfares) weren’t optimum and we could not attend. I know that Goldie was disappointed in not being able to join her sister and brother in law, Esther and Daniel Yormark and the rest of her family as they gathered to share a major milestone. I think (and have previously written) that not being able to experience a family or friend’s simcha is one of the hardest adjustments we have to make.

As the member of our family who does travel regularly to the USA, I certainly get more opportunity to share in these events than Goldie (even though I missed this one). It is definitely harder on her and I know the distance from her siblings wears on her, especially since mine are so close by. It helps that her brother David comes to Israel several times a year and that his family comes for Sukkot.

We also missed my parents being co honorees at their shul dinner in Chicago with my brother Ozer and his wife Jenny (or at least most of us did – Chaim attended as the Israeli representative). My parents were recognized for many years of service to KINS while my brother’s honor was partly a thank you for service to the shul as a leader of the young adults minyan – but also a sort of farewell as their family makes Aliyah.

Since we were not going to be there, we made a small 3 minute video of some of the children and all of the grandchildren wishing a mazal tov. With the wonders of email and technology, I was able to get the video footage, edit it and send it out all at the last minute; it wasn’t perfect and not everyone had a chance to really get recorded – but I think it went over pretty well and was a chance for us to “be there” even if not physically.

We did however, finally have a chance to participate in a family simcha here this week. While it was the bar mitzvah of my cousins Tzvi and Tybi Ray’s son Binyomin and not from Goldie’s side, it was still nice to be a part of the celebration that would normally have taken place in the US (I think there will still be an event this fall). I am close with several of my cousins and we try to be a part of each other’s lives, so it was nice to see them and their families and for my kids to be a part of it as well.

The highlight of any bar mitzvah for me is davening together and sharing in the actual first shachrit of the bar mitzvah boy. This time it was a 7 AM minyan at the Kotel, which meant a 5:40 departure by bus from Bet Shemesh – but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Yes, the party the night before was lovely and he really delivered the goods in making his speech, but being there for the first time Binyomin was called to the Torah – and doing it at the holiest site on earth is an experience that cannot be duplicated. That is the real milestone and that is what the celebration was all about (and the fact that it was only a bus ride and not a plane ride away makes a whole world of difference as well).

We have several friends making their own simcha this year; we will surely miss most – if not all of them. While it is disappointing not to be there and we wish we could be, we are grateful for the times we do get to be with you here and look forward to the time when all of our family is here and we no longer have to miss anything.

We are also looking forward to July 22, the day when my brother Ozer and his wife Jenny bring their family to join us (literally) here in Israel. We are at less than two weeks to go and the excitement in our household is building every day (special thanks to Mordechai who asks us at least three times daily how many days are left until they get here).