A three-day convention of hundreds of chareidi educational
institution directors, rabbonim and communal leaders from
all of Israel's chareidi groups was held this week at the
vacation village of Kinar on the Kinneret. A variety of top-
priority educational and administrative issues were
discussed.
The planning committee was headed by HaRav Benzion Ezrachi,
one of the heads of the Yeshiva Ketana Association and head
of the Atteres Yisroel institutions; Rabbi Yitzchok
Goldknopf, director of the Iggud Hatatim (Talmud Torah
Association;) and Rabbi Yehuda Marmorstein, a member of the
Bnei Brak Municipality and director of the Aleh
institutions.
The seminar received the assistance of the Education
Ministry and the Department for Chareidi Education in the
Jerusalem Municipality. The program opened with a lecture by
Rabbi Mordechai Neugroshal, one of the top lecturers of the
teshuva movement. The convention included seven
sessions.
The first session dealt with the topic, "The Principal as an
Educator," and was led by rabbonim and roshei yeshiva. The
second session involved an open forum for school principals
on the topic, "Educate the Child." The third focused on the
"The Joint Work of the Institutions and the Local
Authorities." This session was attended by heads of the
country's chareidi cities and moderated by Rabbi Yisroel
Eichler and Rabbi Dovid Zilbershlag.
The topic of the fourth session, "State Subsidy of Torah
Institutions," was moderated by Rabbi Shlomo Levine. Several
Knesset members spoke at this session. The fifth session,
moderated by Rabbi Yehuda Marmorstein, centered on ways of
subsidizing the needs of special children. The sixth
session, led by Binyomin Cohen, director of the Chareidi
Education Department in the Jerusalem Municipality, dealt at
length with the crucial topics of school transportation
safety and the "dropout" problem.
The final session, headed by Rabbi Avrohom Yosef Lazerson,
one of the heads of the Chinuch Atzmai, included discussion
on the shmittah year and inculcating an awareness of
this topic in educational institutions.
The participants also enjoyed a guided educational tour of
the North during the convention. The Kinar hotel was
kashered especially for the event, and a special
kashrus supervisor remained on the site throughout the
convention.
