The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Meet: The Heroic Young Heroic Community in Herzliya - Walla! Judaism

2020-02-12T10:55:13.773Z


Josh and Margo's life at Atwinic was pretty clear. Both are from the US, he is from New York and she is from New Jersey. After studying abroad and a year in Israel, they were about to return to the US ...


Meet: The Turbulent Young Hutsan Community

Josh and Margo's life at Atwinic was pretty clear. Both are from the US, he is from New York and she is from New Jersey. After studying abroad and a year in Israel, they were already going back to the US and developing a career, but then something happened that stopped them. Here's their surprising story

Here is a home here is a heart (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic)

Community Joshua and Margo Batwinic (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic, courtesy of the photographers)

The life of Joshua (Josh) and Margo Batwinic was pretty clear. They are both from the US, he is from New York and New Jersey. After studying abroad and a year in Israel, they were already going back to the US and developing a career. They knew at some point they would be immigrating to Israel, but did not think it would happen so soon A random encounter here in Israel with some religious students from Florida who studied in the IDC Herzliya painfully told about the strange situation here in Israel because of their loneliness and because they do not have a supportive community they are considering returning to abroad, giving them the recognition that their mission may be in Israel. .

"Jewish students from around the world who come to study in Israel are at once torn apart from their life experience," explains Josh. "Abroad, the community has a very central place in human life. When they arrived in Israel, they suddenly found themselves without a Sabbath atmosphere, without a holiday and without any enveloping family setting. The guys we met approached the American Orthodox OU and asked for help. "

Always together (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinik)

Community Joshua and Margo Batwinic (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic, courtesy of the photographers)

We said yes and the rest is history

OU has a student program on 23 campuses abroad. The program is centered around host families. The guys who studied in Israel came up with an idea to set up a similar project in Israel for students from abroad who study in Israel. The organization picked up the glove and Josh and Margo were the couple who accepted the proposal to be the first family in the country to concentrate on a student community. This is how the program was founded: Mizrachi OU-JLIC at IDC Herzliya.

"We decided to say 'yes' and everything else is history," Margo says with a smile. "On the first Saturday, we announced that there would be a Sabbath reception for us in the apartment. We debated if there would be a quorum. But then, like nowhere, 40 guys showed up. We were in the market. And not only us, the students themselves were in shock when suddenly they realized how many of them were looking for the same thing. 70 students arrived by Saturday, and we are in the third year of the project with more than 400 students from all over the world who are a community in their own right and participating in some or all of our activities. Their feeling is not that they found a home, but that they are a community founder and are its pioneers. People are not looking for technical solutions for prayers or banquets, they are first and foremost ".

Fun and love (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinik)

Community Joshua and Margo Batwinic (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic, courtesy of the photographers)

Most guys grew up religious, but today most don't

Where do the students come from and what is their nature?

"The students come from many countries in the world," Josh says, "Although the program itself is conducted in English, there are also guys from Spain, Brazil, Portugal and other countries. They all live more or less all over Gush Dan: Herzliya, Ra'anana , Givat Shmuel, Tel Aviv, etc. Some study at Interdisciplinary and the rest at other academic institutions. There are boys and girls here. Most of the guys grew up religious but today 70% of them are not quite like that. In the community. So maybe not everyone is observing Shabbat, but still the majority of them want to come to the Shabbat dinner for us at home to be with everyone. "

How do people reach you? How are they exposed to the project?

Margo: "The truth is that we don't have to advertise. The guys' excitement and enthusiasm by the fact that there is such a thing as a community for students from overseas in Israel spreads the word of mouth with madness. We always have inquiries from guys who want to join. Every week, we receive lots of phones from overseas students studying in the US and are now thinking of moving to study in Israel at interdisciplinary or other institutions, given the fact that there is such a community. There are also quite a few who have moved from Jerusalem or other places to be close to the community. There are also alumni in the group who have already graduated and decided to stay to continue to be part of the community. Recently, the IDC also understands the positive effect and that the community is actually attracting students to come and study in Herzliya. "

Guilty of all good (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinik)

Community Joshua and Margo Batwinic (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic, courtesy of the photographers)

Running to stay together

What does your agenda look like as a family around a community?

Margo: "This is a full-time job. We receive a salary from the OU and the World East Organization, so we can be net free for this. We hold three daily prayers every day on the interdisciplinary campus. We founded an open midrash in the mornings. Lesson and there is another lesson in the evening on topics like: Bible, Faith and more. We hold social events throughout the week. Last week, we made Tu B'Shvat with us in the apartment and reached 60 guys. Every Saturday there are dinners with us in the apartment. On average, we have 100 students for meals. This is also the case for holidays and even more. Purim has a Megillah reading that reaches hundreds of people and so on. We see them a few times a week because they take part in some slots, and there are some that we see mostly on weekends.

Where does funding for the program come from?

Josh: "We raise 100% of the funding, and when I say 'we' I mean students. Beyond our salaries paid by the OU and the Mizrahi world, there is almost no regular funding for the program. This project is personally important to him and he is incredibly involved and caring, but most of the funding comes from the mobilization of the students who want this project to continue growing. The marathon is a significant part of the funding for the activity, meals, class Two Saturdays, we invited Moshe Pedelon, the mayor of Herzliya, to join us for a Shabbat reception, and he was surprised to learn that under his nose a young and unknown community was growing in his city and was very enthusiastic about its potential. Uncoordinated answer: "Build us a synagogue. To our delight the answer was positive. There is no doubt that something huge is happening here. The growth of a group at such a great pace does not happen unless it is a real and big need. There is a stone here for immigrating to Israel with the opportunity to participate in the community. Wraps. "

Community is life (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinik)

Community Joshua and Margo Batwinic (Photo: Joshua and Margo Batwinic, courtesy of the photographers)

Source: walla

All news articles on 2020-02-12

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.