Ort Conclave to Deal with the Gap Between the ‘two Israels’

Elements of what was described as a “social revolution” by Joseph Harmatz, director of ORT Israel, were the focal points of a report prepared for presentation to the more than 750 delegates expected at the three-day national conference of the American ORT Federation this weekend at the Hotel Americana.

The gap between the “two Israels,” those of Western and those of non-European origin, continues to be one of the most anguished sores on the social fabric of Israel, the report noted. Harmatz noted that over 60 percent of the youth being trained in contemporary occupational skills in the ORT schools throughout Israel, come from families that originated in North Africa, Iran, Yemen and similar pre-industrial countries.

While this effort is not a solution to what remains the single most aggravating problem on Israel’s “home front.” Harmatz described the presence of “tens of thousands of poverty and near-poverty level youth in the ORT schools as one of the great hopes that this youth generation will assume quite a different place in Israel than could their fathers.”

WILL NEED $25 MILLION IN 1976

Contrary to the American and European pattern, Harmatz reported that “last year at least one out of two adolescents of high school age were studying in vocational and technical high schools rather than academic. This is one of the best ways we have of steering this most viable and energetic segment of the population into productive segments of the economy. Our schools are refineries, converting raw, still only partly formed youth into the finished product, skilled manpower.”

Harmatz stated that ORT Israel graduated 12,135 students last year. Somewhat more will complete their specialized technical training this year, he predicted. Thus far, ORT Israel “has sent into the Israel economy” over 125,000 persons, forming “a major segment of the nation’s qualified technical corp,” he averred.

Looking ahead, Harmatz reported that ORT Israel will require over $25 million during 1976 to provide educational and training services to a student body numbering some 50,000, who will be studying in 84 ORT schools throughout the country. He announced that ORT now contains seven technical colleges within its network and this spring will open the ORT School of Engineering, at the college level, in conjunction with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.