OTHER VIE \A S
Consider The ORT Difference
T
he IN Editor's Letter on
Feb. 2 ("Israel's Future
Dangles," page 5) was the
second article in two weeks
about education shortfalls in
Israel. This letter, like the JTA
article of Jan. 5, "Struggling To
Make The Grade" (page 35), did
not mention the network of 167
ORT schools in Israel and the
financial support Women's
American ORT and American
ORT contributors have provided
to ensure high quality education.
We agree wholeheartedly that
education in Israel is vital to its
future economic and social secu-
rity, and that more support from
those individuals and institu-
tions dedicated to Israeli well
being is critically needed. But it
is also important to recognize
the work being done and the
funds that are being raised to
make up for the government
money diverted from education
to security. ORT schools have
been educating Israelis since
1948. Currently, 25 percent of the
Israeli workforce has been edu-
cated in an ORT school.
ORT operates schools from
junior high to high school as well
as four colleges in Israel. In addi-
tion, there are industry schools
that work in specific areas, such
as aeronautics. Israel's Ministry
of Education has called on ORT
to provide its model to many
schools. Several municipalities
have turned their schools over to
ORT so their students can expe-
rience the ORT difference. Also,
by tapping into the ORT global
network, students can connect
with ORT students at schools
around the world to compete and
learn from each other. For exam-
ple, a group of six Israeli stu-
dents recently won the Young
Entrepreneurs contest for invent-
ing an environmentally friendly
bib and now is privileged to
compete internationally.
An ORT education is highly
sought in Israel because as a non-
profit, non-government organiza-
tion, ORT can provide enhance-
ments that make a difference in
helping borderline students move
up the educational ladder.
ORT provides computer labs,
technology education and hands
on experiences, which enhance
student learning. Programs such
as "Climbing the Math Ladder"
help students achieve higher
scores on math exams so they can
become eligible for the better col-
lege programs that fuel Israel's
economy. Values educa-
tion is taught by having
students volunteer in, for
example, our
"Sunflowers" program,
which provides tutoring
to children with cancer
at 17 hospitals. After
school programs help
students with homework
and English skills.
"Learning Skills Centers"
at schools all over Israel
work with learning chal-
lenged students to help them
achieve. And the list goes on.
The Detroit Federation has
been an important and valued
partner in supporting ORT's pro-
grams in Israel. When the cur-
rent siege of terrorism began five
years ago, Federation allocated
special funds for families and
schools facing security and other
emergency issues. Students who
dealt with terror on a daily basis
were provided with counseling
services. And Federation's newest
initiative to aid 640 students in
the Central Galilee is of vital
importance to ORT Israel.
Throughout Israel, there are
100,000 ORT students. More than
30 percent of them live below the
poverty line. ORT is responding
Robert Colburn and
Sandra B. Shecter
Community View
with another new
initiative: the Student at Risk
(STAR) project, which ensures
that a student in need has all of
the things that make the school
experience a good experience: a
hot meal, clothing vouchers,
transportation, school supplies,
etc. Students are less likely to
leave school, more likely to get
along well and perform academi-
cally well when they feel equal to
other students.
Schools like the ORT Rogozin
Comprehensive High School in
Detroit's sister city, Migdal
Ha'Emek in the Central Galilee
represent a beginning of a new
era in Migdal Ha'Emek. Together
with the town's new high-tech
industrial park (locally known as
"the Israeli Silicon Valley"), ORT
Rogozin has taken a central role
in Migdal Ha'Emek's social and
economic renewal, and has set a
bench mark for excellence in
education throughout the Galilee
region. This school campus of
1,250 students in grades 7-12
offers innovative training pro-
grams in industrial management,
software engineering, graphic
design, electronics and computer
engineering in addition to
humanities programs. Students
are also offered practical experi-
ence with the cooperation of the
town's high-tech companies. This
is just one example out of hun-
dreds that illustrate how ORT's
work is making a difference in
the Israeli educational system.
The reason that ORT schools
are so successful is because of
the support of federations and
donors around the country. Let's
let the community know that
their support is making a differ-
ence in the education of Israeli
students.
❑
Robert Colburn is president of
Michigan Chapter, American ORT.
Sandra B. Shecter is president of
Michigan Region, Women's American
ORT Members of ORT America, Inc.
History More Potent Than Censorship
Rothe
D
avid Irving's arrest and
3-year jail sentence for
having denied the
Holocaust has been met with a
chorus of cheers in the Jewish
community. A notorious liar, he
was once considered a prominent
historian. Many people were
delighted that prison would now
house a man who has called Jews
cockroaches, believes black
newscasters should be relegated
to reading news of criminals and
drug busts, and asked a survivor
how much money she had made
from having a number tattooed
on her arm.
At long last, justice seemed to
prevail. In the immediate after-
math of the verdict, my blog
34
March 2 • 2006
(Lipstadt.blogspot.com ) was
flooded with expressions of
delight. Most people assumed I
was dancing the hora.
But I was not.
I fought this man's libel charge
against me for six years. For over
three months, I had to silently sit
in court in London listening to
him say the most horrible things
about Jews, people of color and
survivors. He made fun of those
who talked about gas chambers
and sneered at survivors'
accounts of what they endured.
He was full of bluster about how
he was going to demolish the
myth of the Holocaust.
Quietly and meticulously, rely-
ing on the stellar work of a
dream team of historians, we
showed that every one — not
many, not most, but all
people on the
— of David Irving's
Internet as a "distori-
claims were complete
an."
rot. They were based
During my trial,
on lies, distortions and
Irving kept trying to
fabrications. They
introduce evidence
were, as the prominent
of a world Jewish
historian Richard
cabal or global con-
Evans and the leader
spiracy against him.
of our research team,
Deborah Lipstadt He described me as
said, "A tissue of lies."
Special
"the gold-tipped
In no way, Evans
Commentary
spearhead of the
continued, could this
enemies of truth': his
man even be thought of as a his-
euphemism for the Jews.
torian.
He laughed at survivors,
Some people have argued that
declaring them liars or psy-
since he has written more than
chopaths. And he called the
30 books on historical topics, he
judge — in a very telling slip,
is a historian. If I wrote books on "Mein Fuhrer."
building bridges that would not
He suffered an overwhelming
make me a structural engineer.
loss. When the judge, in a 350-
Irving has been dubbed by some page judgment, said he "per-
verts,""distorts,""lies," and that
his conclusions are a "travesty,"
Irving's reputation was left in tat-
ters. When two different courts of
appeal concurred, he faced
financial ruin.
Protect Freedom
Why then was I not delighted with
the court sentence handed down
in Vienna on Feb. 20? I am writing
this sitting in the shadow of the
Vatican, preparing to teach a
course on the Holocaust at the
Pontifical Gregorian University,
the Jesuit university affiliated with
the Vatican. For centuries, the
church censored Jewish books,
forcing Jews to remove anything
the church authorities deemed
objectionable to Christianity.
Even prayers were censored.