The theme of this year’s Annual Report is af al pi – in spite of...

In spite of terror attacks in Jerusalem, 36 overseas rabbinical students studied at Schechter this year. In spite of terror attacks on the roads, we have continued to attract 70% of our M.A. students from outside the city. In spite of terror attacks all over the country, we have continued to teach Torah at 110 TALI schools and kindergartens and at twelve branches of Midreshet Yerushalayim for Russian immigrants.

In spite of everything, anahnu kan – we are here in Eretz Yisrael, and we are not going anywhere. The Jews of Israel want to know – now more than ever – why they are here and why they should remain. What is our common history and heritage? What texts tie us to Mt. Carmel and Tzippori, to Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon? What laws and customs connect us to all the Jews who have preceded us? What beliefs bind us to the Jews of the Diaspora, past and present? The Schechter Institute, the TALI Education Fund and Midreshet Yerushalayim excel at providing answers to all of these questions, and that is why the year 5762 was a year of steady growth and achievement in all of our programs.

Our Rabbinical School students, led by visiting JTS student Dana Rone Saroken, initiated our Dear Israel/Drishat Shalom campaign through which 14,000 Diaspora children wrote love letters to Israel which were posted all over Jerusalem. Six out of eight recent ordainees are serving pulpits in Israel and Europe. And a record number of Seminario Rabinico students – a full minyan – studied at Schechter this year.

In May, the Graduate School was critiqued by an official committee of the Council for Higher Education, a crucial step towards accreditation as an Israeli institution of higher learning. This past year 94 students graduated from our rabbinical and graduate schools and over 100 new M.A. students enrolled; we anticipate similar numbers this fall. We also plan to add four more tenure-track faculty positions this year. Our faculty have published 17 books in 5762 and many more are slated to appear in 5763.

The TALI Education Fund continues to go from strength to strength. A joint Schechter-TALI-Ministry of Education committee is completing a new 12-year curriculum for the TALI school system. Some fifteen new schools and kindergartens will join the TALI system in 5763 and forty TALI Principals and Jewish studies coordinators will study in the Principal’s Center at Schechter once a week.

Midreshet Yerushalayim in Israel continues to grow, with brand new clubs for young-adult immigrants in Jerusalem, Netanya, Rishon L’tziyon and Ashdod and three more on the way. Midreshet Yerushalayim in Europe continues to expand, with ten TALI schools and one TALI kindergarten in the Ukraine, while Camp Ramah Yahad just celebrated its tenth anniversary. In Hungary, the Jewish University in Budapest has received preliminary accreditation to grant a Ph.D. degree in theology and the new Turetsky Scholarship Fund will allow for regular exchange of students and faculty between the University and Schechter.

The Communications Department succeeded in publishing close to 100 media stories about Schechter in 5762 and our website (www.schechter.edu) now has two “offspring”: www.responsafortoday.com features Conservative and Masorti responsa, while www.pluralisminisrael.com features a wealth of material on that topic, including sources and activities for teachers.

The Development Department raised three major new gifts in 5762: Mr. William Davidson of Detroit has given Schechter a gift of over 1.1 million dollars for M.A. scholarships and faculty development, over and above his previous endowment of one million dollars. This gift has shown once again his commitment to serious Jewish education in Israel and his understanding that academic institutions must serve the population at large. The Jerusalem Foundation has given the Schechter Institute $500,000 to finance the initial stages of planning our expanded campus; the architect will be chosen from among the four finalists right after Sukkot. An anonymous donor gave over $300,000 to the TALI Education Fund for the development of five new TALI schools. This is the single largest gift ever received by TALI and will no doubt serve as a model to other donors.

Thus, in spite of all difficulties, we have continued to teach Torah in an inviting and pluralistic fashion to over 30,000 adults and children in Israel and Europe in 5762. We hope and pray that with God’s help, our schools and academic programs shall continue to expand in the years to come.

David Golinkin
President and Rector

Our Director General of the Schechter Institute, Shimon Arbel, and his family live in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood, an area which has seen no less than ten terrorist bombings and shootings over the past year. With one child already serving in the IDF and another son entering a combat unit in the coming year, he wrote the following message to family and friends.

Dear Family and Friends:

"Annus horriblis". Remember? 1992 was a terrible year for the British royal family. Sarah Ferguson was photographed in the throws of an extramarital affair; Princess Anne strayed from and then divorced Captain Mark Phillips; and Charles and Diana's marriage sadly disintegrated before the cameras, ending in separation by the end of the year. After Windsor Castle suffered the most devastating fire in its long history, the Queen addressed the nation stating, "1992 is not a year that I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. It has been ... my annus horriblis".

In reflecting upon the past year, the last person I would have guessed would come to mind is Queen Elizabeth the Second. But I can't think of any other expression of heartache and pain more appropriate to the Jewish year 5762 than the Queen's angst sigh.

What a difficult and trying year this has been for world Jewry! We Israelis have been traumatized by an ongoing terrorist campaign reinforced by a sustained assault upon our legitimacy and just cause. Our war on terrorism has resulted in a steep decline in foreign investment and tourism. This downturn, coupled with declines in world stock markets and the high technology sector, has resulted in a reduction in our social services; increase in inflation and direct taxes; sharp fluctuations in the shekel; erosion of our salaries, savings, and pensions; rising unemployment; and slower immigration.

The ongoing war has also resulted in the erosion of visions for Israel on both the right and the left of the political spectrum. The moderate right has practically abandoned its vision of Israeli sovereignty and settlement from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river, while the moderate left has seen the Oslo process buried amidst the lies and duplicity of the Palestinian leadership. Part of our national depression is the absence of substantive, inspiring, alternative visions that hold promise and hope and can replace those ideologies that have dominated public debate over the past decade.

World Jewry has also endured a challenging year, defending Israel's case while facing rising, and sometime violent, anti-Semitism. Beginning with the Durban conference one year ago, this year has seen expressions of anti-Semitism around the world not witnessed in the recent past. Faced with internal and external dangers, world Jewry approaches the New Year with no small amount of uncertainty and discomfort.

In reflecting upon the past two years of Middle East violence, and the relative large number of incidents that have occurred in walking distance of our Jerusalem home, more than one family member and friend in North America has asked, "so why don't you return home?" Few can understand that any American or Canadian would willingly put him/herself and family in harm's way.

Despite the terror and tragedy around us, I have not lost my faith in the ability of the Jewish people to overcome and achieve greatness. I still believe that Israel is the focal point of Jewish life in the modern age, and that it is a privilege to be alive in this generation and to live in Jerusalem. With apologies to all our Diaspora friends, I am ever more certain that while Diaspora Jewish life is a fact, Jewish life in Israel is a value.

I still believe that Israel is the epicenter for the renaissance of Jewish identity and Jewish learning, and that the success or failure of Israel will primarily determine modern Jewish history. Israel ultimately exists to ensure the future of Judaism itself. Any ideology that does not recognize Israel as the center of Jewish life runs counter to normative, historic Judaism; dismisses two millennia of Jewish hope and prayer; and undermines world Jewry's responsibility as Israel's irreplaceable strategic partner.

I still maintain confidence in Israel's ultimate ability to obtain peace with her neighbors and exist as an active and welcome partner in building a better Middle East. If we believe in a Jewish future in the land of Israel, we must believe that peace and coexistence with the Arabs are obtainable goals. This current dark period in our history will pass. Our most glorious years are still ahead.

I still believe in an Israel that can be loyal to the loftiest of Jewish and democratic values, where our non-Jewish citizens are guaranteed full and equal rights, and that their respective cultures are allowed to thrive in a just society.

I still believe that aliyah is the highest form of Jewish commitment, and living in Israel is the fulfillment of generations of Jewish hopes and dreams. There is no Diaspora community that was ever meant to be our last stop in history.

I approach the New Year with no small amount of uncertainty, but with no small amount of confidence as well. It was Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion who said; "it is not as important what the non-Jews say as much as what Jews do". Much of Israel's future and success, including her ability to persevere and achieve security and peace will depend upon our collective will.

Oh, about that question of "so why don't you come home?" We came home at the close of the nineteenth century, and we will never leave home again.