[07 July 2010] Once more, the Ilan Ramon Center proudly announces excellent achievements of its students in the "First Steps to Nobel prize in Physics" international competition.

Research projects of high school students from 75 countries worldwide were submitted to the competition. First prize (a diploma and a month-long program at the Polish Academy of Sciences) was awarded to 5 students – from the USA, Japan, China, Singapore and Israel. 4 more Israeli students won an honorable mention. Out of a total of 27 projects that won an award, 5 are from Israel – and 3 of these were prepared under the guidance of the Ilan Ramon Physics Center for Youth:

• 1^st place – Eli Gudinetsky: "Generation of large-scale turbulence with homogeneous wind shear"
• 2^nd place – Evelyn Genis: "NMR study of layered semiconductors"
• 4^th place – Daniel Neimark: "Magnetic properties of nanocrystalline materials"

All three students come from the Amit High School in Be'er Sheva. The Director of the Amit School Network has said that they will get special award in recondition of their remarkable achievements, as models of excellence for young people.

Among the many congratulations received by Prof. Victor Malamud, Head of the Ilan Ramon Center, one was sent by Prof. Rivka Carmi – President of Ben-Gurion University under whose auspices the Center operates: "well done, Victor. This is fantastic! It is history in the making! Thank you so much for your enormous contribution."

Read the Ynet story

[29 June 2010] The Hemed School in Merom Ha'Galil celebrated this week not only the end of the school year, but also the completion of the new premises, which will be opened next September to accept up to 600 pupils.

The school design incorporates many special features: every classroom has large windows with a magnificent view of the Galilee scenery, and an exit to a landscaped yard; there are five laboratories – for science, technology, computers, English and music – as well as sport facilities, advanced communication infrastructure, personal lockers for the pupils (a rare item in Israeli schools) and more. The school has 3 special education classes and a separate wing for the youngest children, grades 1-2.

The project, implemented in partnership between UJIA Britain, Rashi, the Education Ministry and the Regional Council at a total cost of more than 20 million NIS ($5.5 M), is the first stage in the creation of the Merom Ha'Galil Campus, which is intended to raise the level of education and community services and to create a source of pride and identity for the region's residents.

[27 June 2010] Honorary doctorates were granted by the Technion on 14.6.10 to several distinguished persons, among them Elie Elalouf, Director General of the Rashi Foundation. He was awarded the doctorate, among other achievements, for his role in the Foundation's contribution to Israel in general, and to the Technion in particular:

Lifetime Achievement Award - Haim Gouri

Recipients: 

David Bernstein and Paul Zuckerman (United Kingdom)
Albert (of blessed memory) and Elba Cuenca (France and Uruguay)
Dr. Michael Hauepl, Mayor of Vienna (Austria)
Samuel Josefowitz (Switzerland)
The Rashi Foundation (Israel)
Robert de Rothschild (United States of America) 

[18 Apr 10] The Holocaust Memorial Day at the Sheltered Workshop in Dimona - operated by the Yahdav Association - took place in the presence of Mayor Meir Cohen , Rashi Director Elie Elalouf and other public figures. Prof. Benny Gidron of Ben Gurion University spoke about Otto Weidt, a Righteous Gentile who employed blind workers in his Berlin workshop manufacturing brushes and brooms. During the war years, he made many efforts to protect his Jewish employees from persecution and deportation and later provided hiding-places for some of them.

[22 Mar 10] For the third year, students in the Katzir Leadership Group at Tel-Hai College undertake to help elderly residents of Kiryat Shmona get their houses in shape for Passover in an initiative titled "Operation Grandma".

This year, the social leaders have invited all the college students to join them in this effort. The students divide into groups which spread out to different houses to clean, paint, fix leaking taps, change light bulbs – whatever is needed (and witjin their abilities). The activity this year will take place for 3 days during the week preceding Pesach (March 24-26).

Social Leadership groups operate as part of Rashi's Katzir Scholarship Program, with a total of 150 participants in 9 academic institutes

[4 March 10] The Horizons to High Tech program is expanding to south with the opening of a pre-academic course at the Ben Gurion University, in a ceremony attended by Matan Vilnai, Deputy Minister of defense.

Of the 60 students, 70% are from the southern region, 17% come from the north and the remainder – from the center of the country. 40% of the participants are girls and 60% are boys.

The program targets high-potential post-army young people from the geographic and social periphery, who for various reasons don't meet the university admission criteria. Through an extended pre-academic course, the program allows them to qualify for competitive academic studies in engineering and science, and then to complete them successfully and to join Israel's high-tech industry.

The first group of 72 students in the program started the pre-academic course at the Technion in November 2008. 55 successful graduates are now starting their academic studies, while 79 new students entered the Technion's pre-academic course.

Horizon to High Tech was initiated by Mr. Yehuda Zisapel, President of the RAD-Bynet Group and Chairman the Israel Association of Electronic & Software Industries. It is supported by the Society for the Advancement of Education, the Unit for Discharged Soldiers (Ministry of Defense), Gruss Fund, Technion Alumni Association and the academic institutes.

[22 Dec 09] The Minister of Education welcomes a new initiative of Rashi and JDC Israel to establish a support system for schools based on the Full School model.

The experience accumulated in recent years by Rashi and the JDC in conducting comprehensive interventions in elementary schools, and the successful partnership with the Ministry of Education in these ventures, has led the two organizations to initiate the establishment of a national school network. The project – under the title "Revadim" (levels in Hebrew) – will provide professional and organizational support for schools with the goal of leading broad change within the public elementary education system. Our intention is to create a broad coalition of partners for an extensive, long-term involvement.

The initiative was presented to the Minister of Education and his senior team in a meeting with representatives of the founding organizations last month. The Minister welcomed the initiative, which could help to close the gap between "strong" and "weak" schools, and said that the government will work alongside the foundations to secure funding for its realization.

Read more about the Revadim initiative

[20 Dec 09] Students in the Mefalsim Elementary School in Kiryat Haim prepared and tasted health food in a workshop taking place within the "Healthy Lifestyle" program. The children also learned about proper nutrition and decided on the components of the "Health Kiosk" set up for the parents' day. By the school's report, the process was exciting and the Kiosk was received with enthusiasm.

Mefalsim is one out of 10 schools selected to participate in a unique program pilot to designed promote healthy lifestyle choices among Israeli children and youth in order to prevent obesity and diabetes. The program includes school-based activities – focusing on schools in the Lunch Program – as well as family and community outreach. The partners in the initiative are the Education and Health Ministries, the Rashi Foundation and D-Cure, with evaluation by the Gertner Institute for Health Policy Research.

[20 Dec 09] A conference for students participating in the Academia program will take place at the Academic College of Emek Yezreel on Thursday, December 14 2009.

Prof. Ada Yonath, 2009 Nobel laureate in chemistry, will be the honorary speaker and will talk about "The ribosome – an amazing life machine".

[17 Dec 09] Over 150,000 pupils benefit this year from the nationwide program opertaed by Rashi on behalf of the Education Ministry:

School Lunch Program includes at this point around 121,000 pupils, which is the maximum scope that it has ever reached. Following the winning of the tender, a one-year contract has been signed between the Education Ministry and the Association for Change in Education.

Milat Includes currently around 28,000 pupils (18,000 in kindergarten and 10,000 in schools), and is expected to reach shortly the capacity defined in the work plan of 34,000 pupils.

We have succeeded in somewhat reducing the cutback that was in effect at the beginning of the school year and gained additional budgets that are allowing us to respond to many authorities that were hit by the cutback, such as Upper Nazareth, Be'er Sheva, Jerusalem and others.

"Last Hurdle" program:

• In 2008/9 the program included 894 students from 34 schools in 20 localities in the Negev and Galilee, including the Bedouin and Druze sectors
• 94.9% of the students passed the exam in their "obstacle" subject, which threatened to prevent them from gaining a full matriculation
• The final average mark (including those who did not succeed) was 74
• A total of 710 students graduated high school this year with a matriculation diploma after participating in the program in 11^th or 12^th grade

[9 Dec 09] In December 2008, with the outbreak of Operation Cast Lead in the south, Rashi opened an Emergency HQ to coordinate and execute requests for assistance that was not covered by local resources or government aid. As part of these efforts we renovated community bomb shelters used by residents of low-cost apartment blocks, and recruited partners for the renovation of additional shelters when the conflict ended – the MetroWest NJ Federation (Ofakim) and the Gandel Charitable Trust (Netivot).

The newsletter about the war activities that we sent out found its way to the Beth Jacob Congregation in Los Angeles, leading them to make a contribution from their charity fund for renovation of six shelters in Sderot. The project consists of basic repairs and improvements - fixing up the electricity, lighting, water supply, entrances and windows, metal frameworks, signage, ventilation etc., as well as cleaning and repainting. The idea is to make the shelters comfortable and functional, should the emergency need to use them arise again.

For more details and for ordering candles or other craft items produced in sheltered employment centers, contact Galit Cohen at the Yahdav Association.

[07 Sep 09] Along with other communities bordering the Gaza Strip, Kibbutz Nir-Am has suffered recurring rocket attacks in recent years, which affected the lives of its members in many ways – emotionally, socially and economically. As part of our activity to support the residents of the region, Rashi joined forces with other partners, among them the IDB Group headed by Nochi Dankner and the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, in renovating the swimming pool at Nir-Am. The pool, which is used by the inhabitants of the kibbutz as well as the visitors using its tourist facilities, required a major upgrade in order to meet safety and health standards.

The project is now completed, conveying a message of partnership and identification with southern residents beyond its actual contribution to their quality of life. In the words of Avi Kadosh, the community director of Nir-Am: "We found partners for our hopes for the future, strengthening us in our dreams with lots of love. They deserve very big thanks."

[26 Aug 09] The cornerstone ceremony for a new library at the Kinneret Academic College on August 20 was attended by senior representatives of the college, the Jordan Valley Regional Council and the Rashi Foundation.

The project is funded jointly by the Sklare Family Foundation, the Council for Higher Education and Rashi, which also manages the construction. The new library will serve the students as well as the general public and will hold more than 100,000 titles in the fields of social science, humanities, engineering and tourism, and 100 computer stations. Its unique architectural design, with a magnificent view of the Kinneret through open spaces, stresses the strong link between the college and its surroundings – both physical and social .

[24 Aug 09] Thousands of teenagers coming to Eilat in the summer from all over the country enjoyed a safer vacation thanks to the "Hafuch on the Beach" project, operated for the fourth year by the Elem Association for youth in distress with Rashi's support, in cooperation with the Anti-Drug Authority, the Ministry of Public Security and the city of Eilat.

The program operated for 3 weeks during July-August out of a tent located near the boardwalk, which was open every night until the wee hours. Youth counselors, social workers and trained volunteers interacted with the youth dropping by, while also going out to find them on the boardwalk and other popular haunts and offering support in situations of high risk such as heavy drinking or sexual harassment. Professionals and volunteers alike gained the teenagers' trust with an open-minded, non-judgmental approach combined with high competence.

The activity was enhanced with a mobile radio studio, an outreach drug prevention unit and an IDF information and guidance center for soon-to-be drafted youth.

[17 Aug 09] The cornerstone ceremony for a new home for the Start-Up Center in Be'er Sheva – a guidance and empowerment center for young people – took place recently with the participation of representatives of the Jewish Community of Montreal, Canada.

Start-Up serves approximately 5,000 young adults aged 18-35 per year, with an emphasis on those from immigrant families, discharged soldiers, students and young couples. The new premises will enable it to reach out to the entire metropolitan area of Be'er Sheva, offering opportunities in higher education, employment, housing and leadership in order to bring more young people to make their permanent homes in the region.

The construction of the new center is expected to be completed within a year. Like the community center for Ethiopian youth that was dedicated last May in Be'er Sheva, this project is being implemented by the Rashi Foundation by the request of the Montreal Federation.

[30 July 09] The first group of youth from the periphery completed the Gal Pre-Army Preparatory Program in Acco, operated by IsraCorps.

30 high school graduates from across the country experienced ten intensive months of volunteering, enrichment studies, leadership training and living together as a group. This is the first round of the program, named after Michael Gal – one of the founders of the Mandel Leadership Institute. It was launched this year by the Initiative of IsraCorps in partnership with Aharai! (Follow Me), and with the support of UJIA Britain, Orion Foundation, Morningstar Foundation and Avi Chai.

The moving graduation ceremony was attended by the directors of the frameworks were the participants volunteered during the year, and by the lecturers who taught the exciting and enlightening courses.

And the parents were also there of course – proud and pleased with their children's success in passing this challenging program.

Israel Ben Ezra, senior advisor to the mayor of Acco, thanked the graduates for their major contribution to the town, and especially for the Tourist Patrol they initiated to promote tourism in Acco.

Meir Elmaliach, deputy director of the Rashi Foundation, told the young people: "You are the leaders of tomorrow. I am glad and proud to see youth like you, who take time to give to the community, learn and develop. We are happy to support this program and will continue to do so."

[28 July 09] Prizes for excellence in social involvement were awarded on July 12 to institutes and students by the Council for Higher Education in its annual convention titled "Academia at the Heart of Community". Of the 13 students who received the award, two participate in Rashi's Katzir Scholarship Program.

Nathan Pal from the Social Leadership group at the Tel Hai College tutored this year a group of special-needs children from the Renanim School in Kiryat Shmona, a group created by the initiative of college students. Last year he worked with new immigrant school children from Ethiopia, also in Kiryat Shmona.

"Nathan has a captivating spirit of initiative and volunteering, yet he always works unassumingly, with great love and desire to give to the community."

Aviva Adonia, an Ethiopian student from the Ashkelon College, tutored a learning-impaired girl from a troubled family.

"Thanks to Aviva's caring approach, hard work, strong motivation and warm heart, the pupil changed from a neglected, insecure girl into a flourishing and happy child."

And one more of "our" students, Yarden Sabla from the Safed Nursing School, received together with another student an award of Shahak – a community service program for new immigrant students. They initiated and operated an enrichment program for girls from the absorption center in Safed focusing on issues relevant to teenage girls.

[14 July 09] Hadas Tzaban won the first prize in the international competition for high school students First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics. The annual competition takes place in Poland with participants from over 70 countries worldwide. Hadas, who submitted a paper on "Turbulent Convection in Nature and Technology", won a month-long research stay in the Institute of Physics, Warsaw.

Hadas is one of 14 girls from the small southern town of Netivot who chose to take physics in high school at the highest level – 9 study units including a final paper. And she continues a family tradition of excellence, following in the footsteps of her sister Mor who won an honorable mention in the same competition two years ago.

Two other students who submitted research papers prepared under the guidance of the Ilan Ramon Physics Center received an honorable mention in this year's competition – Olga Medvedev from Be'er Sheva and Evgeni Shneidman from Kiryat Gat. Moreover, Olga's paper was accepted for publication in the major scientific Journal Applied Magnetic Resonance - an outstanding achievement for a high school pupil. Well done!

A Faily's Law of Physics: Jerusalem Post story on Hadas Tzaban and the Ilan Ramon center

[6 July 09] To mark the first year since the passing of the founder of the Rashi Foundation and a true friend of the State of Israel Gustave Isaac Leven z"l, a memorial was held on Thursday 16 July, 2009 at the Foundation's Offices, Ben Shemen Youth Village.

From the speech of Gustave's grand-nephew at the service:

"Gustave was the grandson of Narcisse Leven, who was one of the founders of Alliance and also served as its president for many years. Narcisse was known as a very cautious, modest and reserved person, characteristics he passed on to his elder son Georges and to his grandchildren, among them my grandfather Raymond and his younger brother Gustave.

But the France Narcisse idealized and used as a model in setting up the huge network of schools for Alliance all around the Mediterranean, was not the same Gustave was so disappointed with, seeing how its population and government treated the Jews during the 2^nd World War. For him, only Israel could safeguard in the long term the future of the Jewish people.

And safeguarding Israel was urgent, there was no way he would set up a foundation that would start operating after his death like so many wealthy people did. The security of Israel’s borders and of its population could not be put off to later. As soon as he had the means to act, he did and never stopped, being only saddened when he could not do enough or when he couldn’t do it fast enough.

When he saw a Jew suffering, he suffered and would never accept that this had to be. Like his grandfather, he knew that only education could lift the poor out of poverty; but this didn’t exclude direct and immediate intervention and support, providing basic needs.

He cared for Israel more than he cared for himself, and being able to strengthen the country as well as its population brought him more satisfaction and reward than all the industrial and financial successes he ever had.

Gustave did not look for recognition, he did not want people to know nor to hear about what he did. The important was that what should be done would be done.

I am proud to be his family and I am confident his legacy will be preserved.

May his memory be a blessing."

[24 June 09] 40 students from the 3 high schools in Eilat came to the Institute for Marine Science on June 17 for an end-of-year event of the Access to Higher Education program.

The day started with hands-on experience, when the students made observations in the Red Sea and gathered data which they analyzed afterwards in the Institute's laboratories. Later they were joined by their parents, school principals, program coordinators and the director of the municipal education department for a ceremony, receiving a certificate and a small gift each.

Access to Higher Education, operating for the 7^th year as part of Madarom, offers educational support at school and introduction to academic studies at the university for high school students in the southern region. Over 1,000 students participated in the program in 2008/9.

The Goodman Family Foundation, which has supported many valuable projects in Be'er Sheva over the years, was Rashi's partner in the establishment of the Child and Family Center in town. As an extension of this partnership, and in awareness of the impact of the Acting School on the culture of the city, we have agreed to manage the project even though it does not fall within our fields of activity, without participating in its funding.

The participants in the ceremony included Mayor Rubik Danilovitch, the previous mayor Yaakov Terner, the General Director of the Rashi Foundation Elie Elalouf, and other public figures from Be'er Sheva and the Negev.

[10 June 09] David Tsurkov, a participant in the High School Academia program of the Rashi Foundation, won an award for social activity from the Jerusalem Education Authority.

David, a 10^th grade student, is busy studying in the highly demanding program which will give him access to higher education by the end of high school. But he still finds time for social activity in the framework of the Youth for Social Change project of the Van Leer Institute, which encourages social involvement and entrepreneurship among youth.

David won the award for his active participation in the initiatives he undertook, such as the improvement of public transportation in the city. The ceremony took place on May 17, in the presence of the Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat.
Well done!

Prof. Katzir with Mr. Gustave Leven, the founder of the Rashi Foundation

The bulldozers on site at Renanim this week

"Do you live in the movies?" From Technoda's flyer

From Nitzana's flyer

[19 Feb 09] High school pupils from Jerusalem took a tour in the AVX Israel high-tech company as part of a new project in cooperation with the Jerusalem College of Engineering.

This unique unique project to promote excellence and leadership brings together pupils in 9^th-10^th grades and students tutors from the college who help them with their studies in science subjects – math, physics and chemistry – so that they their matriculation grades will open the door to higher education.

Through the project the pupils also visit high-tech companies and work in the advanced laboratories of the College, which were equipped with Rashi's assistance. This experience will hopefully lead them eventually to a career in science or engineering.

In the tour last month they learned about the manufacturing of microelectronic components for wireless communication. The resonse was enthusiastic: "It was amazing, we didn't know these things even existed"; We can't wait for the next visits".

[12 Feb 09] Commitment to joint projects was a central theme during a tour of joint projects of Rashi and the municipality of Be'er Sheva

A few months after taking office, new Mayor Rubik Danilovitch has accepted the invitation of Elie Elalouf, Director General of the Rashi Foundation, to visit joint projects in his town. The tour took place on February 5th and included the Madarom Science Park, currently under construction, as well as programs operating with Rashi's support – the Ilan Ramon Physics Center for Youth (part of the Madarom project), the Sheltered Workshop, Inbal Center for victims of sexual assault and the Goodman Child and Family Center.

Throughout the tour, the Mayor and his senior team emphasized the municipality's commitment to cooperation with Rashi, and especially its firm support of the Science Park, with an allocated budget of $4 million.

Welfare Ministry Director visiting the Community Anchor Village

[25 Feb. 09] While the preparations for the science camps of 2009 are underway, it is good to know that 77% of the high school students last year said the camp inspired them to study science at university.

The feedback from the participants in 14 centers of activity proves that the program succeeds in achieving its main goal – whetting the appetite to learn more about science and technology subjects. 89% of the children in all the camps said they will use the knowledge they gained at the camp in school; 75% would like to come back to the same camp next year; and the program as a whole won a high average rating of 8.5!

The science camps, operated by Rashi for 10 years, are part of the activity of Madarom – a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education to advance science and technology education in the southern region. Nearly 4,000 children of all ages benefited from the program in 2008, learning about a wide range of subjects in ecology, physics, biology, astronomy, zoology, medicine, biotechnology, robotics and more - and also just having fun.

Visit us soon to learn about the summer camps of 2009.

Read the evaluation report of the summer camps of 2008

The Rashi Foundation believes that now more than ever, partnership is the best strategy for investing philanthropic funds. Over the past two years, a number of foundations have chosen to make use of the Rashi Foundation's administrative and operational infrastructures rather than create their own independent mechanism in Israel. These foundations take a keen interest in the cost-effective use of their resources, without compromising on their own philanthropic vision and identity.

During this time, we are intensifying efforts to build partnerships. We offer partners our expertise and infrastructures to develop, operate and monitor programs (including capital projects) that fall within our area of proficiency in return for a minimal administration contribution.

We invite philanthropists who are seeking to become active in Israel to  contact Ronit Segelman, Director of Partnerships: +972-50-8855998 or ronits@rashi.org.il