HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020 UPDATE The students in the Class of 2020, now proud HAFTR alumni, are still pioneering unprecedented new ways of doing things, including the Israel experience. Although they did not end their senior year the way they had envisioned it, many of the graduates still looked forward to their year in Israel. The yeshivot, seminaries, and programs have done everything they can to make this year happen for the students! The young men and women made their way to the Holy Land, and weathered their quarantines with flying colors. Some schools used their own facilities, and others rented alternative locations for the quarantine to make it more comfortable for the students. After the quarantine ended, students moved into their dorms and began forming friendships and experiencing the country for a few days before the lockdown, as almost every school was able to squeeze in their first tiyul. They have begun classes, and the feedback coming in is that they are loving the learning.
Rabbi Lewis Wienerkur, HAFTR High School Director of Israel Guidance, reached out to the graduates of the Class of 2020 in Israel before Rosh Hashana to give them a little perspective. “I am so proud of you all.
קשות,
כל התחלות
all beginnings are hard. As I’ve told some of you, although this will not be the Rosh Hashana you have
always imagined experiencing in Eretz Yisrael, just remember that our great-great-grandparents would have given anything to live as free men and women in Israel, even in quarantine for two weeks, and could not even have imagined the country we have today. Use this time to reflect on how far you have come. B’ezrat Hashem, you will all learn a lot this month and this year.”
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LEARNING UNDERWAY
ALUMNAE IN ISRAEL
FRIENDS IN FLIGHT RABBI HAMMER
ASERET YEMEI TESHUVA SHIUR During the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, HAFTR High School was zoche to have Rabbi Shalom Hammer speak with the students. Rabbi Hammer, who has lived in Israel with his family for over 30 years, serves as a senior lecturer for the Jewish Identity Branch of the IDF and is the author of five books. Rabbi Hammer’s focus was hope and positivity, a theme throughout HAFTR High School this year. He discussed how hope and positivity can exhibit themselves in our tefilah, as well as other areas of Judaism. Rabbi Hammer tragically lost his daughter last year, and shared how he has been able to hope and find positivity again after such heartbreak. His message was that the Aseret Yemei Teshuva give us an opportunity to strengthen our connection with Hashem and reinvigorate our tefilot.
