A reader from England wishes to know more about Rabbi
Zobin's FRAMEWORK program. Here it is:
THE FRAMEWORK PROGRAM has been developed over the past 20
years to deal with most of the problems which arise in
"yeshivishe" education, from pre- kindergarten to kollel and
after.
Much of the regular remediation is based on secular, non-
Jewish sources and therefore, either misses the mark or is
unnecessarily tedious and time- consuming and is usually not
suitable at all for older talmidim over the age of
12.
For example, recently FRAMEWORK was called in by a famous
Jerusalem cheder to help 15 children in grades 1-3
who could not read and/or were not participating with their
classmates in class. After about only 8 hours (average) of
remediation per child, all the children were mainstreamed
and reading well enough to join in their lessons.
A twenty-year-old bochur had been told that he would
never be able to read and he was rejected by all except one
yeshiva because of his very low level of learning. He
applied to FRAMEWORK for help and after two sessions of
guidance in how to learn gemora, he was sitting in
the beis hamidrash learning by himself, and after
three more sessions devoted to reading remediation, he could
read selichos with total accuracy.
A central feature of the FRAMEWORK program is a
comprehensive screening schedule which takes only about 30
minutes yet surveys reading efficiency, educational profile
and side issues which might be interfering with the
students' ability to "learn to learn." The schedule
is non- psychological but is based on solid, well
established physiological and data-processing principles.
Remediation is based on relating to each person's
"educational profile" and dealing with the
cause rather than trying to improve the
effect. The techniques are stimulating and
challenging even for older people and so enjoyable that when
the remediator called out boys from the cheder
mentioned above, he was besieged by other children asking to
be taken and complaining bitterly about being left out of
the program.
Rabbi Zobin can be called in Jerusalem at 02-537-3340 for
more information. His e-mail address is:
Zobin@usa.net
Another reader from England showed interest in our article
on graphology for a specific problem child. The expert
interviewed was Rabbi Noam Stern from Bnei Brak, but we are
sure that there are chareidi graphologists in England as
well. His phone number, incidentally, is: 03-619-6896.
And a letter from Devora Piha:
Two words to describe the Home and Family articles are IN
DEPTH. These articles contain rich words that are tools to
inspire us to think about areas in our lives that have been
passed over or forgotten.
I have personally been affected and redirected for the good
after reading articles by Rabbi Zobin, R. Chadshai
[translated from Bayit Ne'eman], the open forum on children
with Down's Syndrome, readers' points of view and fiction
and non-fiction writers. The Home and Family section is very
alive with ongoing back-and-forth dialogue and encouragement
between the editor and readers.
Wow! Thanks, Devora. You deserve a good word, too, for
enhancing our CREATIVITY CORNER with your excellent ideas on
beautifying our lives through Torah- and mitzva-content!
And as a reminder, readers, we LOVE your mail. Can be sent
directly to Weinbach at Panim Meirot 1, Jerusalem, or FAXed
to 02-538-7998. And if your comments are seasonal, get them
in early enough.
An important note: Send your name and address/phone number
on all material, especially on FAXed material, since things
go haywire sometimes. And check with us if your FAX did come
through. To date, I cannot contact some of the authors of
articles I WOULD have used...
And a third reader signals a red light about the wording in
our Teaching Love for Torah series, where the mother ASKS
her husband to prepare Table Torah.
She suggests we do our guiding much more subtly and not tell
our husbands how to lead the Shabbos table. A point that
another reader made as well -- not to make the atmosphere
contrived or tense, but much more natural and cozy. True,
the table is not a classroom.
LOPSIDED PRIORITIES
Another reader offers her thoughts upon her reaction to an
urgent call that went out in her neighborhood for a certain
type of blood. "I wanted to drop everything, to respond, but
was disqualified as a nursing mother."
And then she gets to thinking if her priorities are not
lopsided. "If I loved my fellow Jew so much to make a
dramatic gesture, what had happened to me the night before,
when I was furious with one of my daughter's teachers, ready
to go on the warpath... (Was it MY pride that had been
hurt?)
"In a split second, I realized how small I was, where I
could try to improve, to look at myself squarely in the
mirror." She prays to go away from the Festival of Mattan
Torah with an ongoing attempt to include all of Klal
Yisroel in her "one person, one heart", especially those
close to us, in our daily lives.
SHABBOS TABLE ART PROJECT
Another reader:
A simple project for enhancing a Shabbos table: take an
empty bottle or jar, preferably with an interesting shape,
soak to remove label and help children decorate in either of
the following ways:
VERY SUPERVISED: You will need wax crayons and a long
candle.
Light the candle and hold the crayon over the flame until it
begins dripping onto the bottle. Rotate the bottle and
alternate the colors to get a very beautiful effect.
OR: Use ready made stickers of different shapes and sizes,
colors -- of course, and paste all around the bottle. You
can use fabric swatches or cut out your own shapes from
colored paper of different types. You can cover with a layer
of Elmer's glue to get a shiny glaze on the bottle.
You've got your Shabbos vase. Now:
Take a nature walk in your own neighborhood, to HEFKER lots
where things grow wild. Pick interesting branches and leaves
for your Shabbos table and change each week. Pine branches
with cones, wild thorns, wild "wheat" stalks. Once you
start looking, you will see a beautiful new world with your
old everyday eyes. A great exercise in appreciation! A
project children will wish to perpetuate, changing the
bouquet each week. With or without water.
