A New Year of Hope: Honoring Our Educators as We Enter 5786

Dear Friends, Women of WIZO,

The school year in Israel began this week, and our institutions have once again taken on a festive atmosphere in preparation for their return to activity. The children and their parents, filled with dreams and concerns, have brought with them new energies, much joy and anticipation for the new year.

Even though it is not an official “holiday,” the opening day of the school year is an important milestone moment for us, one that fills with joy and energy not only our day care centers and youth villages, but also the heart of WIZO and ours, as these educational frameworks teeming with life are an important source of strength for it.

Against the backdrop of this excitement, we have decided this time to address our educational staff in our opening remarks – in the day care centers and youth villages: the caregivers-educators, the instructors, the teachers, the supervisors, and the administrative staff. Only those who visit them in their daily work know how to appreciate just how precious these people are, and how complex and demanding their craft is. Every visit to a WIZO institution is accompanied by admiration for the professionalism, knowledge, sensitivity, and strength of spirit of teachers, instructors, or caregivers.

The educator holds in their hands the key to the future – they bear great responsibility for the Zionist mission, for the national revival enterprise, and for connecting the new generation to the ancient Jewish tradition, of which the centrality of education has always been an important part. In the face of the worrying shortage in Israel of educational workers – a shortage we also experience within our organization – the state must take upon itself as a national mission improving the status and prestige of the Israeli educator, in order to attract additional quality young people to this field. The basic condition for this is to remember, remind, and repeatedly emphasize how much the state needs them skilled and strong, and how great their influence is on empowering the individual on one hand, and also on Israel’s resilience as a society and as a state.

This is the message we wish to convey now, during this celebratory week, when everyone is talking about the meaning of education and the importance of caring for it. Especially now, it should be remembered that whoever cares for education and equal opportunities – promotes and nurtures the educator, and raises their stature and prestige with every tool at their disposal. This is how WIZO operates with its over 5,000 educational employees, and in this spirit we must act regarding all educational system workers in the country.

Since this is our last newsletter for the year 5786, we will not forget to bless you all, our members, with a good year. After a difficult year on the national level, a year of war with all its costs, the appropriate blessing is for a year of peace, growth, and national prosperity. And this is of course also what we yearn for, in WIZO institutions and in the country as a whole: a successful and tearless year, of achievements and successes, on the battlefield as well as in civilian fields, the return of all the hostages, and with them also the return of Israeli unity. And to each of you, personally, we wish the very best that you wish for yourselves, and that together we will act to strengthen and reinforce our shared enterprise – WIZO.

With great gratitude and appreciation to all our partners,

Anat Vidor, World WIZO President

Anita Friedman,  World WIZO Chairperson