Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

December 4, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Israeliness, Life, Profiles 

While Israeli kids are as much a part of the global “mall culture” (where kids hang out a the mall for endless hours) as any place else, kids still join youth groups in droves here. By “youth groups,” I mean groups of younger kids getting together at a clubhouse once or twice a week, where (some) educational and (mostly) fun activities are led by an older (16-17 year old) teenager. It’s informal education – actually, socialization – at its best, giving kids something to do other than watch TV and IM each other.

There’s a “flavor” of youth group for everyone’s taste, from the generally Zionist Tzofim (Scouts) to the Labor/kibbutz affiliated No’ar Oved Velomed , the socialist Shomer Hatza’ir, and the modern-Orthodox Bnei Akiva. Bnei Akiva (which my kids belong to) this past weekend celebrated the culmination of a month long frenzy of play, song and dance production (“Chodesh Irgun”), in preparation for Saturday night’s presentations, which parents and graduates around the country came to see. Because it was such an intensive weekend – following an intensive month – most state religious elementary and high schools gave the kids a day off on Sunday.

Nearly all the youth groups (except for the Scouts, for the most part) are affiliated with a political movement that kids are expected to graduate into, and those movements are of course affiliated with political parties. Even though there are major differences between these movements, it’s easy to get confused, because on paper, all espouse very similar ideologies, activities, programs, and ideals. For example, the decidedly non-religious Shomer Hatza’ir prominently features on its web site a commentary on the Weekly Portion read in synagogue. All the groups sponsor trips and hikes around Israel, with kosher food for all the kids, and the Sabbath is generally commemorated by each group in its own way. As an Orthodox group, Bnei Akiva adheres to Halacha, with the major difference between it and the others being that most activities are not co-ed. All the youth groups are eligible for public funds, and membership is encouraged, with Scouts organizing inside state high schools, and Bnei Akiva holding activities in state religious schools.

Cynics (there are always going to be some!) would attribute Israel’s encouraging of youth groups – with “troops” organized around a “leader,” who answers to a “secretary” – as preparing kids for Army life. There is definitely a bigger push to “belong” here than there is among kids in the U.S., but preparation for the IDF it ain’t – it’s more about finding a place in society, meeting new kids (which you get to do on major hikes and activities that include kids from around the country), and just feeling comfortable with others their own age. Not that I have anything against the mall, but this is a lot cheaper – and healthier!

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Small belts

December 1, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Life, Sports 

Israeli children participating in a karate activityOne of Israeli schoolchildren’s favorite methods of exercise is martial arts. Thai boxing, kickboxing and judo are enormously popular, and karate is also huge. For most Israeli karate instructors, the teen and adult sets represent a tiny minority of their teaching time, with littler ones taking up the lion’s share.

A recent piece in Ha’aretz examines the phenomenon in depth, exploring the question of whether children aged four or five truly have much to gain by studying the martial arts. Also noteworthy is a list of potential benefits from martial arts training, which include increased self-esteem, increased levels of fitness, development of a sense of competition, fostering a sense of self-discipline, garnering a healthy outlet for letting out aggression, and other types of increased spiritual grounding.

The article also notes that according to the 2000 Sport Law, all phys-ed instructors must be licensed as sports instructors, which has increased the demand for certification courses like those offered at the prestigious Wingate Institute. Located near Netanya, Wingate offers instructors’ training on a high level, with an emphasis on educational techniques (the institute also houses training programs and facilities for Israel’s internationally exported athletes, including our Olympians).

Picking a good teacher, though, can be as important a decision as choosing when to get your kid started – check out these guys:

“After one or two training sessions I can tell parents about their child’s problems if there are any,” says Arthur Gribetz, the chief Tora dojo trainer in Jerusalem, a method based on Japanese karate. Gribetz notes that karate training “is very systematic and it teaches students to feel the body and the breath,” and therefore also helps decrease excess muscle tension, improves motor skills, teaches distinguishing between left and right and more.”

Shalom Avitan, chairman of the Karate-Shotokan Association in Israel, says that any sport in which there is correct training, with the appropriate trainer, contributes to a child’s development, but the acquisition of self-confidence is not to be taken for granted. “Self- confidence is built up over time,” says Avitan. “It is necessary to train for at least a year and a half or two years to start to see results, and that on condition that the trainer is a professional and aware of the children’s needs. If you throw a small child into combat with children who are bigger and more experienced than he is, this isn’t going to contribute to his self-confidence,” he says.

So no, you can’t just force your children to wax the car, scrub the floor, paint the fence and hope that they’ll be champions after a few weeks.

Image courtesy Tomer.Gabel from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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