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Lost Tribe
Gains New Skills with ORT India: A group of 14 members of the “lost
tribe” of Menashe have graduated from ORT India’s pre-aliyah training
program in Mumbai. Now hopes rest on an
early settlement of their Jewish status so that they can make their new
homes in Israel before they become too comfortable in India thanks to
their newly-acquired skills.
5
Years On, ORT Still Working Hard for Tsunami Survivors: Already
desperately poor, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were very close to the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered the
Asian tsunami of 2004. More than 45,000 islanders,
one-in-ten of the population, were killed. Since then, World ORT’s
International Cooperation Department has been managing the
Andaman and Nicobar Education Quality Improvement Program (ANEQIP) to
support the education infrastructure on the Islands.
Mumbai Terror Attacks:
ORT
India A Year On From Mumbai Massacre: In 2009, documentary maker
Naomi Gryn spent a week at ORT India’s women’s hostel in Mumbai as she
researched a program on India’s Jewish community to be broadcast on the
BBC World Service. “ORT is one of the main non-Indian organizations
keeping the Bene Israel community alive,” Ms Gryn said. “Thanks to
organizations like ORT, India’s Jews feel connected to the rest of world
Jewry and at the same time feel like there’s life in their community so
they don’t have to leave.”
ORT India's
Response To Terror: Despite the challenges of devising and
implementing hitherto unnecessary security initiatives and finding the
money to pay for them, ORT India National Director Benjamin Isaac found
the time to praise Sharon Galsurkar, the Head of ORT India’s Jewish
Education Resource Center for an outstanding performance under difficult circumstances.
“He has been on the front line from the beginning to the
end, personifying the ideal of a Jewish response to such a tragedy,"Mr.
Isaac said. "He
has given of himself to the point of exhaustion and sought nothing in
return. His spirit of solidarity is one that has made us all at ORT
India very proud and, as an organization, we have been happy to support
him in his efforts.”
Terror in
India: Jews Are Targeted For First Time: When terrorists seized the
Chabad House in Mumbai and murdered Rabbi
Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, the couple’s 2-year-old son,
Moshe, was rescued by his nanny and rushed to the ORT boys’ hostel for safety.
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ORT India: ORT serves over 3,500 Jews in Bombay and its outlying areas, providing raining courses in Jewish education, computer literacy, graphic design, electronics and mechanics and office software, as well as Jewish education, hairdressing and early childhood education.The program also serves as a vehicle for the Jewish community to demonstrate its commitment to social justice and economic development in the spirit of tzedakah.
Sri
Lanka/Tsunami Recovery: After the 2004 tsunami that
devastated mush of southeast Asia, ORT implemented post tsunami training
and trauma counseling to areas of India and Sri Lanka as part of the
recovery effort. Over 5 years later, ORT is still on the ground, still
meeting social, vocational and educational needs of the local
population.
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ORT programs across South Asia, like ORT programs in other parts of
the world, are not only about vocational training and are not limited to
classroom environments. ORT also serves as a vehicle for the Jewish
community to demonstrate its commitment to social justice and economic
development in the spirit of tzedakah.
