The official school day
ends at 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., depending on the age of the pupils, stated Ms.
Krasnova. However, various activities
are offered until 4:30 p.m. in order to accommodate the work schedules of
parents. Bus transportation is provided
to all youngsters.
Ms. Krasnova observed that the school works
closely with Beit Tsindlicht and is developing programs that will ease the
transition from Beit Tsindlicht to School #144 for both children and
parents. Relations between the school,
machon, and yeshiva katana also are very good, said Ms. Krasnova.
Principal Elena Krasnova came to the
Levi Yitzhak Schneerson Ohr Avner Jewish Day School after successful
administrative experience in several city schools.
Photo: the writer.
The school is
instituting a Bar/Bat Mitzvah program that engages the entire seventh
grade, said Ms. Krasnova. Thus all
youngsters are enabled to participate in this ritual, even if their families
are not comfortable in synagogue-based programs.
In response to a question
about student plans for education following grade 11, Ms. Krasnova said
that many graduates attend various post-secondary institutions in the
city. An increasingly popular option,
she stated, is the Lauder Business School in Vienna, a small college
established with the assistance of Ronald S. Lauder. Instruction is in English and financial
assistance is available to students who agree to study Jewish subjects along
with business courses. Many remain in
Europe after receiving a Lauder degree, said Ms. Krasnova.
The spaciousness of the school, its
modernity and cleanliness, and its central location enable it to host many
city-wide seminars for teachers, Ms. Krasnova stated proudly. In recent months, School #144 had been the
site for seminars in the teaching of science, mathematics, and the Russian language. Its ORT computer rooms host frequent seminars
for teachers of com-puter technology.
A portion of one of the three ORT
computer labs at School #144 is seen at right.
Natalia Medvedova, the ORT director in Dnipropet-rovsk, is observing
student work. See also page 8.
Photo: the writer.
In a separate meeting, Zelig
Brez, Executive Director (Исполнительный
директор) of the Philanthropic
Fund of the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish Community (Благотвор-ительный фонд Днепропетровского еврейского общины), which supports
Chabad interests in the city, stated that School #144 has achieved measurable
academic gains, especially in mathematics and physics, since Ms. Krasnova assumed
the role of school principal. Independent
internal testing has been employed to rigorously monitor student progress, and
grade inflation had ceased. He believes
that Ms. Krasnova has introduced a "spirit of innovation" into the
school.
4. As noted, the girls' machon and boys' yeshiva
katana each enroll about 80 youngsters.
Rabbi Reuven Chupin, dean of the yeshiva, observed that
enrollment in the upper grades had decreased because boys from religious homes
now attend the residential yeshiva (equivalent to grades 7-10, see below)
established last year near the city of Zaporizhzhya. About 60 percent of the curriculum in
the day yeshiva covers secular subjects, he stated, a majority proportion
reinforced by the addition of a computer lab with 10 workstations at the
beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.
The yeshiva recognized, he averred at a previous meeting, that IT skills
were necessary for all students, including those in religious
concentrations. Also, it was clear that
some of the boys would not continue in yeshiva study after eleventh grade; it
is essential that they be prepared in computer technology for further education
in secular studies or for the labor market.
The writer was unable to observe any classes
in the girls' machon or to speak with any senior administrator
there. As in the boys' yeshiva, classes
are small and include pupils from both religious and secular homes. Additionally,
youngsters from unstable families who live in residential facilities (see
below) sponsored by the Chabad community also attend the yeshiva and machon.
The machon
has its own small fitness studio. Girls
in the photo at left practice a form of rhythmic gymnastics.
Photo:
the writer.
5. A residential yeshiva katana opened
at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, initially enrolling eight boys
(later joined by a ninth boy) in the equivalent of eighth grade. The yeshiva is adding both younger and older
pupils, having established a mechina or preparatory year for seventh
graders and advancing the 2013-2014 eighth graders into ninth grade. The total enrollment during the 2014-2015
academic year was 18, which included six boys in the preparatory, pre-Bar
Mitzvah class, three in the equivalent of eighth grade, and nine in ninth
grade.
Located in
Novoaleksandrovka, a small town close to Zaporizhzhya, the yeshiva occupies a
rented property originally designed as a guest house. Study halls and bedrooms are located in this
facility. Several small trailers/caravans
have been placed in its backyard to accommodate classrooms for the non-resident
seventh grade boys. An adjacent small
courtyard is used for pick-up basketball games, and a neighboring field
accommodates informal soccer games. Supporters
of the yeshiva have financed a small conditioning room in the guest house basement
that contains fitness apparatus.
Additionally, boys are taken to a swimming pool in Dnipropetrovsk on a
regular schedule.
Five of the six boys in the preparatory
class live at home in Dnipropetrovsk and commute to Novoaleksandrovka on a
daily basis, said Rabbi Chaim Chazan, director of the yeshiva. The sixth, a son of a Chabad rabbi in another
town, boards with a local Chabad family.
Clearly disappointed with the small size of the eighth grade class,
Rabbi Chazan explained that this cohort had been small as it moved through the
yeshiva day school in Dnipropetrovsk and that competition from comparable
yeshivot in other cities had deterred non-local boys from enrolling. Additionally, Rabbi Chazan had rejected two
applicants whom he and his associates considered unsuitable for intensive
religious study in a residential program.
A native of Australia, Rabbi Chaim
Chazan attended yeshiva in England and was senior educator at a boys' yeshiva
in New York before founding the yeshiva in Novoaleksandrovka. He was recruited for the Ukraine position by
Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, Rabbi Meir Stambler, and Rabbi Rafael Rutman (a
British-born businessman in Kyiv).
Photo: the writer.
The purpose of the
yeshiva, stated Rabbi Chazan, is to educate boys for a "commitment to
religious life". It does not
prepare youngsters for further secular education and, accordingly, offers no
general studies classes. Its main
constituency is the Chabad population in Ukraine, most of which is of Israeli
origin. However, when space is
available, the yeshiva accepts boys from Chabad families outside Ukraine and
even from interested non-Chabad families.
The main teaching language is Hebrew.
Boys are taught as
individuals and in small groups so that different learning styles are respected
and no youngster is humiliated by being taken aside for special
instruction. Rabbi Chazan and another
rabbi are the primary instructors; they are assisted by three younger men
between the ages of 20 and 22. All
reside in the yeshiva or in close proximity to it. The yeshiva might benefit from the addition
of several rabbis from the large Chabad community in Dnipropetrovsk as
part-time teachers, stated Rabbi Chazan, but the isolation of Novoaleksandrovka
makes commuting between jobs in the two locales difficult.
In response to a
question, Rabbi Chazan said that he expected enrollment in 2015-2016 to be at
least 25 boys. He was anticipating that
all current pupils would return, that a new cohort of local boys would join the
mechina class, and that additional boys would enroll in the eighth and ninth
grade groups. He was already considering
a number of new applications, he stated.
Prospective non-local students are interviewed by Skype.
In her travels in
Ukraine, the writer asked several rabbis whose sons were enrolled in
Novoaleksandrovka if they were satisfied with the level of study and the
general atmosphere of the yeshiva. All
responded affirmatively, commending Rabbi Chazan's understanding of the
intellectual capacity and psychological/social needs of boys in this age group.
6.
Under the sponsorship of Tzivos Hashem (Heb., The Army of
G_d), a Chabad children’s organization, Rabbi Yossi Glick manages
several children’s programs in the city.
The best known of these are separate residential facilities for
Jewish boys and girls from troubled home situations. Often referred to as “social orphans,” most
of the youngsters are from single-parent homes in which the custodial parent is
unable to provide adequate childcare due to substance addiction,
impoverishment, or other problems. Some
parents are imprisoned. A few youngsters
were previously cared for by aging grandparents unable to cope with the needs
of active, growing children.
Rabbi Yossi Glick, a native of
Australia, has been in Dnipropetrovsk for many years as manager of several
Chabad children's programs. He also is
the business manager of the Novoaleksandrovka yeshiva.
Photo: the writer.
At their peak some time
ago, the boys' dormitory accommodated about 40 boys in very crowded conditions
and the girls' residence enrolled about 28 girls; with few exceptions, the
youngsters are between six and 17 years of age, that is, ages consistent with
the Ukrainian public school system.
Almost all of the children study in the Chabad day school.
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