ORT - Roots, History and Growth
In 1880 a group of prominent and wealthy Russian Jews, influential in government circles, petitioned Czar Alexander II for permission to start a fund to assist Jewish trade schools and establish new colonies, agricultural schools and model farms in order to help lift Russia's five million Jews out of lives of crushing poverty. The success of the appeal led Russian authorities to create the "Society for Trades and Agricultural Labor," for Jews of Russia. It is from this original name—Obschestvo Remeslenovo i. Zemledelcheskovo Trouda—that the word ORT is derived.
Farming, tool and industrial cooperatives were formed. Jews were trained as artisans in sewing, handweaving, gardening, mechanics, basket-weaving, glass blowing, cabinet making, and furniture design. ORT became a pioneer in teaching, using new techniques to raise standards, while always giving attention to those with the greatest need. In its first 25 years, ORT provided training to 25,000 Jews in 350 towns within the Russian Empire, vastly improving their quality of life.
A fundamental principle of ORT, from the beginning, was to train Jews in crafts, factory work, and other productive labor and occupations necessary not only for them to be employed, but for the survival of Russian Jewry. With training came employment, escape from poverty, independence and dignity. The occupations were often determined by the times, geography and social conditions where Jews lived.
ORT’s organizational framework was created in 1906 when the rise of industrialization in Russia created a need for artisans—a gap ORT training filled. In 1909, ORT began providing courses for electricians in Vilna because the city was introducing electric streetcars. Courses in car mechanics and driving were offered in St. Petersburg when the automobile was introduced there in 1910. Books were published by ORT on economic self-help, tinsmithing, mathematics for artisans, as well as furniture making and tailoring.
As time marched on, ORT’s training programs evolved to meet the changing needs of Jews as reflected by politics, war and industrialization. After World War I, ORT’s character and focus shifted from Russian Jewry to an organization that linked Jews from across the globe—first in Europe and later on other continents. ORT opened vocational and agricultural schools, encouraged agricultural expansion, provided seeds, tools, and training.
In 1921, the World ORT Union was formally established, followed by the founding of the American ORT Society (forerunner of American ORT) in 1922. The organization continued to offer education and relief throughout Europe during both World Wars.
During World War II, ORT’s center of activity moved from Berlin to France and, in 1943, to Geneva. Local ORT organizations were established in various countries. ORT continued to serve Jewish communities during Nazi occupation as well. In the Warsaw Ghetto, the German authorities gave ORT—and only ORT—permission to open vocational training courses which existed up until the liquidation of the Ghetto. This was also the case in Lodz, Kovna, and several other Jewish centers.
When World War II ended in May 1945 and the extent of the Nazi atrocities became clear, ORT was called into action. Against a background of deep despair, efforts at rehabilitation and redemption began. ORT set up vocational training centers in 78 DP (Displaced Persons) Camps, educating nearly 85,000 people. Refugees acquired professions, adopted new values and rebuilt their pride as human beings and as Jews. A shining period in ORT’s history, this was both a professional and spiritual accomplishment.
A new chapter began with the proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948. The country’s gates flung open to Jewish refugees, now immigrants. ORT began operations and created workshops in Jaffa and Jerusalem to rehabilitate and train wounded soldiers. It was during this period that ORT’s activities intensified in North and South America, northern and southern Africa, Western Europe, as well as Iran, India, and other countries where Jewish refugees fled or lived in jeopardy.
The fundraising of American ORT and Women’s American ORT became a vital resource that supported ORT schools and training programs, especially in Israel, which evolved into the largest ORT operation in the history of the organization.
During the second half of the 20th century, ORT established itself as a leader in education and relief services in Israel, South America and around the world. Today, ORT works to offer skills-training and self-help projects to some of the world’s most impoverished communities. With the assistance of its supporters, ORT helps communities meet the demands of the workplace, now and in the future, through its global network of educational institutions, which deliver state-of-the-art education in technology and science, as well as traditional academic courses.
The World Bank, USAID and other international development agencies work with ORT to create educational programs in developing countries. ORT returned to the former Soviet Union and the Baltic States in the early 1990s, establishing programs that now serve 27,000 students per year in 58 schools and educational institutions.
In addition, ORT has created number of projects focused on improving the quality of life for its students by filling gaps left by economic crises. ORT now offers basic nutrition, clothing, books and school supplies, counseling and services that address the growing emotional needs of students. ORT also offers "values education" projects, such as Sunflowers, which brings students together with young cancer patients at local hospitals to give them access to educational computer programs and the Internet.
ORT America, established in 2007, is an affiliate of the World ORT and raises funds for ORT schools and programs in the United States and around the world. ORT America was created from the merger of American ORT, formed in 1922, and Women’s American ORT, formed in 1927.
