Israel
13,400 Students in OpenDor Media’s Global Trivia Challenge – 198 from Winnipeg
The students, representing 204 institutions across six continents, are answering questions based on Israeli history curriculum. The program was the idea of Gray Academy teacher Avi Posen.
Avi, who is currently living in Israel, still teaches Gray Academy students online while he also works as an educator in Israel.
Avi explains his role in the contest: I’m the Assistant Director of Education at Unpacked / OpenDor Media so I’m instrumental in creating and facilitating all of our educational programs including the Yom Haatzmaut Global Trivia Challenge. I made the challenge itself and am in contact with educators around the world to encourage schools to register and take part. We have over 12,300 students signed up from over 260 schools from 11 countries around the world. We also got Natan Sharansky, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir and the creator of Harvard’s most popular course “Positive Psychology” Tal Ben Shachar to participate by asking questions as part of the challenge.
Here’s the press release from Unpacked Education which explains how the contest works:
April 27, 2020 — In celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, some 13,400 students representing more than 200 middle schools and high schools from around the world are competing this week in OpenDor Media’s Global Trivia Challenge. From April 29 to May 1, the students have the opportunity to participate in an online kahoot quiz with questions based on OpenDor Media’s six-part Israeli history video curriculum they’ve viewed over the previous weeks.
”It’s incredible that so many students from all over the world are coming together during this time to celebrate Israel through learning,” OpenDor Media CEO Dina Rabhan said. “We’re all experiencing such a challenging time and, as an educator, I’m deeply inspired by the enthusiasm with which students from New York to Singapore are approaching our education content.”
The Israeli history curriculum is comprised of video classes that bring together archival footage, original text and analyses, and multiple historical narratives to bring a nuanced perspective on Zionism and Israel’s founding to the students. The six classes are: The Convoy of 35, Women of Zionism, The Yom Kippur War, What Is Zionism, UN Resolution 181, and Israel’s War of Independence. The English-language videos have been translated into 12 languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
The trivia contest scores students based on correct answers and the speed in which they respond. Guest presenters include Israel’s Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett, journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir, human rights activist Natan Sharansky, and psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar.
“Sometimes the best teachers of history are the ones who actually help make it,” said Noam Weissman, OpenDor Media’s SVP of Education. “Our goal is to bring fun and engaging Jewish learning opportunities to students, regardless of their location, language of origin, religious upbringing, or socioeconomic background, and this competition brings us closer to that goal.”
The students with the top three scores will be awarded Amazon gift cards. The winners will be announced on Monday, May 4. Additional information can be found at https://unpacked.education/yom-haatzmaut-global-trivia.
OpenDor Media, formerly Jerusalem U, is a non-profit organization that harnesses the power of media to educate and entertain students and young adults. The organization distributes videos and feature-length films produced in-house to educators through its Unpacked for Educators website that pairs the content with rich educational materials. Earlier this week, the organization streamed its online premier for Sustainable Nation, an award-winning documentary that follows three Israeli innovators who bring water solutions to people all over the world. The film can still be digitally streamed on the Unpacked YouTube channel through Saturday, May 2.
Yom Haatzmaut Global Trivia Challenge
Israel
Join the Masa Canadian Professionals Volunteers Program!
You are invited on a 4-week volunteer program in Israel from October 14th to November 10th. Help rebuild Israeli society post-October 7th over Canadian Thanksgiving, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. Spend three weeks based in Tel Aviv and one week based in Eilat!
This program is exclusively for Jewish professionals aged 22-50, working at Jewish organizations or remotely in any field.
The cost of the program is $150 USD to the organizer and $50 USD to Masa. Participants will receive a Masa grant of $2650 USD that is applied to participation and to cover additional costs. The cost of the program includes housing, meals while volunteering, transportation on travel days, health insurance, leadership training, and more. Volunteers are required to commit to the volunteer schedule, with the understanding that there will be the flexibility to work remotely for 8 specific days during the program. Flights are not included but you get a 15% discount from El Al.
Sign up here: https://www.masaisrael.org/go/canada-jp/ space is limited!
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to make a difference and connect with fellow professionals. For more information, contact Mahla Finkleman, National Manager of Partnerships and Outreach, Masa Canada, atmfinkleman@ujafed.org and/or Sam Goodman, Senior Manager of Israel Engagement, sgoodman@ujafed.org.
Save the Dates for Info Sessions:
- Thursday, September 5th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
- Wednesday, September 11th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
Join us in Israel for a meaningful and impactful experience with Masa!
weeks based in Tel Aviv and one week based in Eilat!
This program is exclusively for Jewish professionals aged 22-50, working at Jewish organizations or remotely in any field.
The cost of the program is $150 USD to the organizer and $50 USD to Masa. Participants will receive a Masa grant of $2650 USD that is applied to participation and to cover additional costs. The cost of the program includes housing, meals while volunteering, transportation on travel days, health insurance, leadership training, and more. Volunteers are required to commit to the volunteer schedule, with the understanding that there will be the flexibility to work remotely for 8 specific days during the program. Flights are not included but you get a 15% discount from El Al.
Sign up here: https://www.masaisrael.org/go/canada-jp/ space is limited!
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to make a difference and connect with fellow professionals. For more information, contact Mahla Finkleman, National Manager of Partnerships and Outreach, Masa Canada, atmfinkleman@ujafed.org and/or Sam Goodman, Senior Manager of Israel Engagement, sgoodman@ujafed.org.
Save the Dates for Info Sessions:
- Thursday, September 5th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
- Wednesday, September 11th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
Join us in Israel for a meaningful and impactful experience with Masa!
Features
New website for Israelis interested in moving to Canada
By BERNIE BELLAN (May 21, 2024) A new website, titled “Orvrim to Canada” (https://www.ovrimtocanada.com/ovrim-en) has been receiving hundreds of thousands of visits, according to Michal Harel, operator of the website.
In an email sent to jewishpostandnews.ca Michal explained the reasons for her having started the website:
“In response to the October 7th events, a group of friends and I, all Israeli-Canadian immigrants, came together to launch a new website supporting Israelis relocating to Canada. “Our website, https://www.ovrimtocanada.com/, offers a comprehensive platform featuring:
- Step-by-step guides for starting the immigration process
- Settlement support and guidance
- Community connections and networking opportunities
- Business relocation assistance and expert advice
- Personal blog sharing immigrants’ experiences and insights
“With over 200,000 visitors and media coverage from prominent Israeli TV channels and newspapers, our website has already made a significant impact in many lives.”
A quick look at the website shows that it contains a wealth of information, almost all in Hebrew, but with an English version that gives an overview of what the website is all about.
The English version also contains a link to a Jerusalem Post story, published this past February, titled “Tired of war? Canada grants multi-year visas to Israelis” (https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-787914#google_vignette) That story not only explains the requirements involved for anyone interested in moving to Canada from Israel, it gives a detailed breakdown of the costs one should expect to encounter.
(Updated May 28)
We contacted Ms. Harel to ask whether she’s aware whether there has been an increase in the number of Israelis deciding to emigrate from Israel since October 7. (We want to make clear that we’re not advocating for Israelis to emigrate; we’re simply wanting to learn more about emigration figures – and whether there has been a change in the number of Israelis wanting to leave the country.)
Ms. Harel referred us to a website titled “Globes”: https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001471862
The website is in Hebrew, but we were able to translate it into English. There is a graph on the website showing both numbers of immigrants to Israel and emigrants.
The graph shows a fairly steady rate of emigration from 2015-2022, hovering in the 40,000 range, then in 2023 there’s a sudden increase in the number of emigrants to 60,000.
According to the website, the increase in emigrants is due more to a change in the methodology that Israel has been using to count immigrants and emigrants than it is to any sudden upsurge in emigration. (Apparently individuals who had formerly been living in Israel but who may have returned to Israel just once a year were being counted as having immigrated back to Israel. Now that they are no longer being counted as immigrants and instead are being treated as emigrants, the numbers have shifted radically.)
Yet, the website adds this warning: “The figures do not take into account the effects of the war, since it is still not possible to identify those who chose to emigrate following it. It is also difficult to estimate what Yalad Yom will produce – on the one hand, anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews and Israelis around the world reminds everyone where the Jewish home is. On the other hand, the bitter truth we discovered in October is that it was precisely in Israel, the safe fortress of the Jewish people, that a massacre took place reminding us of the horrors of the Holocaust. And if that’s not enough, the explosive social atmosphere and the difference in the state budget deficit, which will inevitably lead to a heavy burden of taxes and a reduction in public services, may convince Zionist Israelis that they don’t belong here.”
Thus, as much as many of us would be disappointed to learn that there is now an upsurge in Israelis wanting to move out of the country, once reliable figures begin to be produced for 2024, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that is the case – which helps to explain the tremendous popularity of Ms. Harel’s website.
Features
Message from a Palestinian in Gaza to protesters: “You’re hurting the Palestinian cause”
A very brave Palestinian who was willing to put his name to paper and write an article for Newsweek Magazine has exposed the utter hypocrisy of all those students – and others, who have been setting up encampments across the U.S. – and now Canada, too.
You can read the article at https://www.newsweek.com/message-gazan-campus-protesters-youre-hurting-palestinian-cause-opinion-1894313
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