[RBS] YAY Gary & impt info re sayeret horim

[Phil'n'Chanie Rosenfelder]

Why is Sayeret Horim so helpful?

to answer that , we first ask: why is there so much violence / crime/
etc among teen olim whose parents don't speak hebrew?  Decades of
research into crime among oleh populations in which there was NO CRIME
in their culture (in the 50's moroccan  olim, now ethiopian,
anglo-religious, etc etc) have shown that the children of many olim
have lost something that children NEED when growing up - a parental
authority figure

when families make aliya, and the parents have loss their authority
because of the culture gap, language issues, loss of  economic staus
(they may have "more" here, but the parents are more financially
dependent) , or similar reasons, the kids suffer .  they have to help
their parents in any ways.  And their parents do not know what the
kids are going through, which gets in teh way of  really parenting
their kids.  It is so tragic, and so unfair - the parents sacrificed
everything to bring their kids HOME, to eretz yisrael, and then the
being in Eretz Yisrael is "ke'ilu mekalkel" the kids.  The kids aren't
"rebelling" - they are simply LOST.  It's just like a kid who wasn't
spoken to enough at the critical stage will not develop language
skills properly.  Due to "pegiya" in their family situation,  these
kids are not developing their moral cognition corerctly.  not by
choice, but by lack of exposure to the necesasry stimulation at the
critical stage.

WE CAN HELP
when these kids have neighbours / teachers/ sayeret-horim volunteers
who step in and show the kids an example of parenting that understands
them, the kids develop moral cognition.

WHAT DO SAYERET HORIM VOLUNTEERS DO?  We do not enforce law.  We do
not preach or shut anyone up.  We listen to them.  And we talk a bit.
We might tell a girl , quietly, when the guys can't hear her, that by
leaning on a guy's shoulder , she is giving across a certain message.
We would first ask what message she thinks she is giving.  We tell
them that we care. We tell them why we finished high school even
though it was hard.  And we listen some more - cuz it is harder for
them than it is for us.  We hear them, we try to  get into their minds
and their world , in a way that their parents can't , and we help them
feel cared about and valuable.

AND TO DO IT RIGHT, WE LEARN  - the course for sayeret horim is
invaluable, even for people who have "the touch".  And we  tell some
kids that we are in this course, again, to model responsible
behaviour.

and even if our hebrew is not so great, the message of caring and the
modelling of our behaviour gets across.

My friends who live in yishuvim like to tease people who make aliya to
beit shemesh that we "took the easy road" - making aliya to live an
easy american lifestyle.   BH since we moved here, ourfamily has been
involved in projects  that people living in a small homogenous yishuv
might not be exposed to .   We have the opportunity to be Hashem's
messengers for miracles in helping underprivileged kids and adults,
and in that way help expose geula to Am Yisrael B'Artzo.

It is a small investment of time , for  a great return.

Please, go to the meeting Gary arranged - learn how 3 hours out of
your month can save kid's life.   We have seen it happen!!!