Shoshana+N

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Rationale
Research:

For the research part of my project in which we had to research an organization that has helped Israel in the country and overseas, I decided to research the Zaka organization. The organization’s name means Zehue Korbanot Ason, which is identification of the bodies in disasters. Throughout the years, Zaka has offered assistance to countries that have been hit with disasters. Over the years, Zaka has able to expand their teams. Now they have many teams that can help in a situation (diving team, canine team, repelling and climbing team etc.)

Profile:

After my research of an organization that helps society, I interviewed someone who helps society. I decided to interview Alissa Harbater. Alissa works with the olim who arrive from the U.S.A and decide to live in Efrat. She organizes many programs for both the children and the parents. Certain programs help with school, society, managing your bank account etc.

Creative:

For the creative part of my project I chose to talk about the famous song by Naomi Shemer, “Jerusalem of Gold”. In my eyes, this song has a lot of meaning to it. It describes Jerusalem as beautiful place full of lights, angels, song and more. Jerusalem is a very holy and important city for the Jewish nation. I feel like it is a city full of stories behind it.

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Research Article
Zaka

How does Zaka function in Israel and overseas?

In 1989, next to Tel-Stone, a bus was forced off the road by a terrorist. 17 people were killed in the bus crash. When the injured were evacuated, dozens of volunteers came to take care of the bodies and took them to be buried. This act was the beginning of the Zaka organization we know today. In 1995, the organization founder, Meshi Zahav, gathered volunteers who had the same idea he did, which was organizing care and identifying bodies from attacks and disasters. The care that the Zaka volunteers give is according to the Halachic aspect of having respect for the dead. Every volunteer must go through training in first aid, evacuation and many more areas that the organization specializes in. The volunteers carry a beeper and are on call at all times. Today Zaka has 1500 volunteers and has assisted all segments of the population. The Zaka organization also works overseas. Zaka volunteers are able to leave Israel at a moment's notice to offer assistance to overseas disasters, which involve Jews or Israelis. Zaka works with Israel's Foreign Ministry and International police forces to ensure quick solutions to problems. In the disasters, Zaka works with the MDA. Zaka identifies the victims and honors the dead while MDA offers medical help to the injured. Zaka has been involved in assisting many international disasters, such as the Columbia shuttle crash which killed the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, the terror attack in Mombasa, Bali,Taba,Turkey, Mumbai, the tsunami disaster in Thailand, Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans and many more. When Zaka goes overseas in order to identify the victims of disasters, they must know the native language of the countries. Zaka trained the volunteers who speak foreign languages to give foreign interviews to the media. One purpose of Zaka is also to reflect the reality of living under the threat of terror. Zaka has campaigns which explain what the organization is about. They call it hasbara-public explanation. One of the public explanations Zaka did was in February, 2004 outside the Peace Palace in Hague. They brought the remains of the Number 19 Jerusalem bus, which was hit in a suicide bombing in January 2004 and killed 11 civilians. It was a haunting reminder of the reality of terror. When Zaka volunteers get a call requesting help for a disaster that has occurred, they must be prepared in case there is a missing person who is a need of rescuing. The volunteers carry special equipment for the necessary mission (ropes, first aid kit etc.) The organization consists of many units. One of the units is the Climbing and Rappelling Unit. This team is involved in situations which involve climbing to get to a certain location and rappelling from that same location or rappelling to get to the source that needs help. The unit is built up of specialists with medical knowledge who offer an immediate response to natural and urban disasters. Another unit in Zaka is the Diving Unit. The idea of establishing a diving team was created after an incident where there was not the right equipment in a drowning case. In 2005 Moshe Caniel z”l drowned in Tel-Aviv. During the search, the Zaka team realized that they didn’t have the qualified personnel and right equipment to get to the depths of the ocean. Zaka learned quickly from their mistakes and established a diving a unit. Due to the creation of the diving team, Zaka was able to fly toFrancein 2007 and assist in a search after an Israeli diplomat who went missing in the ocean off ofFrance. They succeeded in locating and retrieving his body. The unit has 150 people and consists of ex Navy commandos, doctors, lawyers and businessmen who train together. A third unit in the organization is the Canine Unit. In this unit there are only ten search and rescue dogs. These dogs are used all around the country in search and rescue missions. The unit is ready to travel anywhere in the country in order to save lives, anytime. The search and rescue dogs can identify the smell of a person in distress or a dead person (up to 48 hours after death). The canines have been trained to separate the scent of the people on the search team from the scent of the missing person. When the dog identifies the smell, he will lead his handler to the place and sit down and start to bark. The dogs are let loose at the scene of the search. The canine’s handler is behind the dog as he searches the grounds. The handler keeps track of the path that the dog is following. These canines can locate a dead body in just five minutes in a five-hundred square meter area. The dogs can even locate the body if the terrain is difficult and inaccessible by the search and rescue team. In conclusion we see that Zaka helps not only in Israeli disasters, but also when there are catastrophes overseas. Whenever there is any disaster, Zaka is there to help. Every Israeli knows and believes that Zaka will make every effort to assist in any disaster of any kind. Zaka upholds what they wrote on their home page " Save when you cansave...honorwhen only honor is left"

Profile
For my interview, I chose to interview Alissa Harbater. Alissa is my neighbor and I knew she works with the new immigrants. So when the interview had to be about someone who has helped someone else, I immediately thought of Alissa. I wanted to find out exactly how she helps the new olim.

Alissa was born in October 1967 in Brooklyn, New York. In 1981 when she was 13 years old, her family immigrated to Israel. Alissa says that her family came with no family but they had supportive friends. Only because of the support her family received, was their aliya experience so successful. When Alissa's family made aliya, she had just finished 8th grade and was starting to attend "Pelech" high school. In "Pelech", Alissa had wonderful support when she started school. There was a large group of olim who had also started when Alissa had. The principal understood the help the olim needed and did everything he could to get the olim the necessary help so they could succeed. He had given the olim help with the Hebrew grammar etc. due to the help she got when she was in school, she understood how important it is to give attention and help the olim. Alissa is the "Efrat Olim Coordinator” and has been working with the new immigrants for six years. She is employed by the Religious Counsel of Efrat. At first it was a volunteer job, but after a while they offered her a full time paying job. She did not go through any training but she says she should have. It would have helped to go to courses but instead she met with other olim coordinators and learned from their experience about how to help the olim. In addition, she did was ask the olim what kind of programs they would like and thought were good to have. First she meets with potential olim during their pilot trip (when they come to check the place out). Alissa helps the potential olim by telling then about Efrat, the people who live there, the housing, etc. She meets with the staff of the schools, so after that the parents can also meet with the school staff. Alissa is not allowed to recommend certain schools, but she is allowed to give an idea to the parents according to what they are looking for. If they mind girls and boys learning together then Alissa would tell them that "Aseh Chail" is not the school for them. If their child does not like the rigid, demanding and strict learning then Alissa would tell the parents that "Orot Atzion" would not be good for their child. For the high school olim there are programs that help them with high school entry exams. Alissa also assists the olim socially. She arranges play dates with children of all ages who live in Efrat. She finds families with children the same age as the oilm and arranges “buddies” so the olim are not completely lost when they arrive. There are many educational programs (learning the language, Israeli music etc.) so the olim can learn about the love of Israel (ahavat Israel) and our history. There are many trips that are organized to different places such as the sound and light show, theater and more. Those trips are to teach the olim about the Israeli culture When the olim first arrive, they might have trouble connecting to other children, have trouble in school and other problems. For that reason, they have many support groups like “survival skills for teen olim”-the olim meet with a psychologist and talk about their adjustment issues: culturally, socially and educationally. There are also programs for the families of commuters and what issues they have when the father is not home or when he is home. The programs that they have are not just for the children, there are some programs for parents. In some groups they help the parents learn how to budget their account in Israeli banking, teach them about the health and education system. The parents have to find time to sign certain papers, passports, the identification cards, so in August there is a summer camp for the younger children when they first arrive. They teach the children some of the games that are played in the school yard so the children would not be lost at recess when school starts. Throughout the years, the program’s budget has grown and in every group/program there are a different amount of olim (it depends on how many olim come). This year, Alissa said that they have over 30 programs. Alissa sees that when some of the olim do not go into the programs they offer, they have a harder time adjusting. Alissa said that her biggest accomplishment was when the parents and the child told her that they no longer consider themselves as olim. When I asked Alissa how he work has affected her, she said it has enriched her life. She feels satisfied when she has had a productive day then she feels because she knows she helped someone. On the other hand, when the help she gives is not taken advantaged of or is not wanted then she says it is annoying and does not give a feeling of satisfaction. She is grateful that the parents of the olim often feel so comfortable that they invite her to their celebrations. Alissa said she has some ideas that could advance the program. She would love to create more programs to close the gaps between the olim and the Israeli kids and the population. The olim do not totally acclimate to Israeli society, they live in a parallel sub culture of their own. She says that they are trying to put those ideas in action but so far unsuccessfully. It is not something she can do alone. It would take help from the schools, the youth counselors, and the population and society of the community. They try to explain to the parents as well as to the children how important it is to youth programs such as Bnei Akiva, the youth center etc. What would help would be if both the Israelis and he olim would want it-to take place in activities together. She gives examples of how the community (mostly the younger children) can help with the olim. She says that most of the Israelis might be intimidated by the Americans because of what they come from (larger homes, the fact that most of the kids have x boxes and wii etc.) and the Israeli feels like what they have to offer is not good enough but Alissa says that is not true! Most of the olim children would rather just kick a ball around and have a friend. What the Israelis own does not mean much to them. It is how they are treated that counts. Alissa has a goal for the olim-“to click”. And she has a message for the Israeli and American teenagers. To the Israelis, Alissa asks them to reach out more, to be kind and patient with the olim. To the teen olim, Alissa says "hang in there". She says to speak Hebrew even if you think you might be saying it wrong because it will all come in time. We see how important it is to assist the immigrants. We can tell that they do need the help and that there are many ways to make them feel welcomed.

Creative Connection
I decided to choose the song "Jerusalem of Gold" by Naomi Shemer because I feel like it is the perfect song to describe Jerusalem. The song describes Jerusalem as a city full of gold, bronze and light. In my opinion, the choice of words paints a picture in your head. You imagine how Jerusalem looks and it is a beautiful site. I chose to draw a few pictures which are mentioned in the song.In the first verse, I drew bells because in the song it says the scent of pine tree was carried in the wind with the sound of bells.The choice of words describes Jerusalem as a place with a reviving smell and melodic feeling to it. The melodic mood also appears in the chorus. Jerusalem is a city full of light and full od songs. In the sixth verse I decided to draw an angel because in the song it says that saying the name of Jerusalem burns the lips like an angel's kiss.Throughout all the song you get a feeling that Jerusalemis a holy, beautiful place and that it will always be.

Reflection
After I was finished writing my project, I realized how much I learned from it. I really learned something about the Zaka organization. I never knew exactly what they do. Whenever I head about them I knew they would assist if there was ever a disaster yet I never knew that they also worked over seas and had many teams and volunteers in their organization. After I researched about the Zaka organization, we had to interview a person who assists others. I chose Alissa Harbater who is my neighbor and I knew she worked with the olim who made aliya and were moving to Efrat. But she told me many things that I never even thought about. She told me there are at least 30 programs for the new olim. And I always thought that there were programs for the language but there is also for problems, and even or the parents. In addition, Alissa told me that she is very involved with the programs and is in charge of organizing many of them. The last part of the project was making a creative work that describes our connection to Israel or Jerusalem. I thought of the song by Naomi Shemer, "Jerusalem of Gold" because I think the song has a lot of meaning to it. I feel like it really describesJerusalemas a holy, beautiful place full of light and gold. When I read over the song a couple of times, I really started to picture Jerusalem. The song is known and I have read it before but now I really focused on the song and felt very connected to the song and Jerusalem.

I understood the importance of the project. I found the researching part very interesting. After I was done researching, interviewing and typing everything up, I felt a great feeling of satisfaction. I felt like I had really accomplished something. That gives you an amazing feeling.