Past Winners: Global School Twinning Network

The Jerusalem Unity Award is a prestigious award that is done to honor organizations, projects, and even individuals in Israel and beyond the Jewish world in an attempt to promote Jewish unity. The overall goal of this award is to help promote friendship and familiarity between the Jewish people and many of the other ethnic groups that make up the Israeli community all throughout the world. In addition, it can be used to help recognize and provide support to any individual who works towards unification in Israel.

There have been many great recipients of this award in the past, all of whom work hard to push forward some of the values that the Jerusalem Unity Award is looking for. One of the 2016 recipients of this award was the Global School Twinning Network.

This network is amazing in that it is able to provide Jewish schools that are connected back to Israel. While there are many schools around the world that promise to be Jewish, not all of them are going to point back and share all of the amazing things of the Israelis and how they live today. Through the Global School Twinning Network, there are a few things that will happen include:

· Provides the schools and their students with living Israel connections they can rely on for learning and exploration.
· Helps change the way that current Israelis perceive Jews from around the world.
· Encourages a professional exchange that will occur between all of the teachers and professionals of the different school networks.
· Builds real-life bridges so that people of Jewish ancestry can connect, no matter where they are located throughout the world.

Through this Network, each if the Israeli schools that join will be “twinned” up with a Hebrew or Jewish school overseas. These “twinnings’ are very successful, with many of them being active for two decades or more. This forms a strong bond between the two schools as they share information, get over stereotypes, and connect Jews, no matter where they live or go to school.

The Global School Twinning Network became official in 2011, after several years of trying this experience and seeing what a success it could be. It didn’t take long before other Jewish schools saw the benefit and wanted to join. In just three years after becoming official, the Network doubled in size and in 2016 — with funding from firms like Dominion and others — they had 600 schools, which resulted in 300 “twinnings” and continues to grow.

While the schools are allowed to have some of their own curriculum and to add in any requirements that are necessary for the country they live in, they are also encouraged to focus on the Jewish and Israeli identity with the students. This is where the “twinning” can come into play. Students and teachers are able to do trips to each others’ schools, talk through video conferencing, share letters to practice writing, and do crafts that are special for their country. This can help the classroom implement culture and learning all in one!

Background on the Jerusalem Unity Prize

Introduction

The Jerusalem Unity Award and Unity Day honor individuals, organizations, and projects in Israel and beyond the Jewish world that promote Jewish unity. The goal of the award is to support ongoing efforts to increase proximity, familiarity, and friendship among the many ethnic groups that make up the Israeli community and the Diaspora, as well as to recognize and support individuals who are working toward unification.

Who is eligible?

In exceptional circumstances, the Prize may be presented posthumously to a nominee who is no longer alive at the time of the award. The Award may be granted to a group of persons if the group has less than five members. The Prize may be awarded to his or her spouse or descendant in such a case. The Award may be given to an organization even if a representative from that organization has already received the prize. Also, anyone who works with Gesher or has some other connection to the company is qualified to submit a nomination application. The Prize may also be awarded to a person who is a member or employee of a previously winning organization.

Winning Qualifications

The Award is presented to anybody who has made a sustained and/or creative contribution to raising awareness and tolerance among various groups and individuals from various backgrounds, as well as anyone who has made a significant contribution to novel social programs that significantly foster Jewish unity. No individual or organization will be permitted to take any action in order to be included among the nominees, and no contender will be asked to undertake any work or service as a condition of being included among the nominees.

While deciding whether to award the Prize, the Committee will evaluate the personalities, activities, societal achievements, and community standing of the Prize nominee(s), as well as the influence of an organization on society.

Award for Young Leadership

The winner of the Jerusalem Unity Award for Young Leadership will be a person or group of people who are currently enrolled as students in a college or university that has been granted accreditation.

The Prize is open to both men and women across the entire world.

No individual or organization will be allowed to participate in any action in order to be included among the nominees, and no contender will be asked to undertake any work or service as a condition of being included among the nominees.

Conclusion

The Award will not be given to the same individual, project, or organization more than once. The Jerusalem Unity Award Committee comprises representatives from the families of the boys in whose memory the prize was founded. Recipients must additionally work with Gesher on public relations and spokesperson duties related to the Prize and the award event. The Award for Individuals and Organizations does not constitute payment of wages, salaries, or other forms of remuneration to the winners. It is not intended to be a substitute for such payments in any way.

Background on the Jerusalem Unity Prize

Introduction

The Jerusalem Unity Award and Unity Day honor individuals, organizations, and projects in Israel and beyond the Jewish world that promote Jewish unity. The goal of the award is to support ongoing efforts to increase proximity, familiarity, and friendship among the many ethnic groups that make up the Israeli community and the Diaspora, as well as to recognize and support individuals who are working toward unification.

Who is eligible?

In exceptional circumstances, the Prize may be presented posthumously to a nominee who is no longer alive at the time of the award. The Award may be granted to a group of persons if the group has less than five members. The Prize may be awarded to his or her spouse or descendant in such a case. The Award may be given to an organization even if a representative from that organization has already received the prize. Also, anyone who works with Gesher or has some other connection to the company is qualified to submit a nomination application. The Prize may also be awarded to a person who is a member or employee of a previously winning organization.

Winning Qualifications

The Award is presented to anybody who has made a sustained and/or creative contribution to raising awareness and tolerance among various groups and individuals from various backgrounds, as well as anyone who has made a significant contribution to novel social programs that significantly foster Jewish unity. No individual or organization will be permitted to take any action in order to be included among the nominees, and no contender will be asked to undertake any work or service as a condition of being included among the nominees.

While deciding whether to award the Prize, the Committee will evaluate the personalities, activities, societal achievements, and community standing of the Prize nominee(s), as well as the influence of an organization on society.

Award for Young Leadership

The winner of the Jerusalem Unity Award for Young Leadership will be a person or group of people who are currently enrolled as students in a college or university that has been granted accreditation.

The Prize is open to both men and women across the entire world.

No individual or organization will be allowed to participate in any action in order to be included among the nominees, and no contender will be asked to undertake any work or service as a condition of being included among the nominees.

Conclusion

The Award will not be given to the same individual, project, or organization more than once. The Jerusalem Unity Award Committee comprises representatives from the families of the boys in whose memory the prize was founded. Recipients must additionally work with Gesher on public relations and spokesperson duties related to the Prize and the award event. The Award for Individuals and Organizations does not constitute payment of wages, salaries, or other forms of remuneration to the winners. It is not intended to be a substitute for such payments in any way.

Recipient of Jerusalem Unity Prize

Joint Activity- Bnei Akiva/Hanoar Haoved V’halomed/Dror Israel

Category: National (2016)

When having a global conversation about unity and peace, the youth are often at the center of pushing and shaping strategies around forming longer-lasting solutions. This is largely because the youth form a significantly larger part of the collective global population, thereby making this population an inevitable target for influence when pursuing a political, social, or cultural agenda. This has been known to create divisiveness among the youth resulting in, unfortunately, retrogressive circumstances such as engagement in criminal activities.

Bnei Akiva and Hanoar Haoved V’halomed are two youth groups widely known in Israel for their bold yet distinctly unique world views on both cultural and political matters. While these differing opinions on important global matters world most times than not create a divide between loyal members of either group, these two youth groups found a way to try to work together harmoniously in the spirit of uniting members from both divides and, to some extent, positively influence other populations across the world.

By first identifying common ground as well as some of the ideologies the two groups share, significant progress has been made towards uniting people with typically contrasting views on matters affecting their community. These two groups have shown deliberate efforts towards a united Jewish community, thereby inspiring rivals to engage in compromise and tolerance for each other. A further aim of the joint activities initiated by these two youth groups is to have a chance and platform to learn about each other while spreading new knowledge to help reach a wider audience of members who are otherwise widespread. 

Conclusion

There is a global need for unity and peace during these turbulent times that have heightened the level of uncertainty among different communities across the world. Since its inception, the Jewish community in Israel set in motion a movement that has worked vigorously to promote unity among its community spanning the entire world. There have been deliberate efforts by schools, sporting institutions, youth groups, and societies to try and construct a generational bridge that connects the Israeli Jewish community to the international Jewish community. With the establishment of the Jerusalem Unity Prize befittingly awarded on Unity Day, some much-needed appreciation and recognition are bestowed upon those looking to encourage unity on a global scale.    

Previous Winners of Jerusalem Unity Prize

It might not be the most prestigious or overly glamorous award there is, but its impact on the Jewish community particularly makes it significantly notable and worthwhile. Recognized for their unique contributions towards various humanitarian deeds, previous winners have embraced the essence of Unity Day and established themselves as champions in enabling empowering and healthy environments to nurture an optimally united and loving society. Below are some of the previous winners of the Jerusalem Unity Prize;

Kesher Yehudi

Category: National (2016)

 One of the most divisive factors yet to be entirely gotten rid of within the Jewish community is the animosity and hatred peddled amongst the Jewish people themselves. Kesher Yehudi set out to work on improving the relationship that exists among the Jewish people in both the social as well as religious fields. Creating awareness and educating more and more Jewish people on their sacred spiritual practices as well as the non-exclusivity of the Torah, plays a big role in uniting this community to the betterment of peaceful and joyous coexistence. By helping people get to learn about each other, tolerance and adaptability to different ideologies and practices become more appealing hence creating a united community enabled by understanding and empathy.

Hapoel “Katamon” Football Club

Category: Local (2016)

Sports are one of those social activities that have a global unification impact. Its diversity and entertainment factor make it hard to focus on divisive and damaging aspects such as crime. Football has been an exhilarating part of the sport for centuries and has been known to bring entire populations of people together regardless of their origins. The Hapoel “Katamon” Football Club is a sporting establishment in Jerusalem, Israel, that has tremendously united football-loving spectators since its inception in 2007. The club has been working with a group of talented individuals to come up with competitive teams made up of different age groups, from children to adults and from male to female teams. It not only brings together spectating fans but also residents of the community who engage in the various activities set up by the club to serve different purposes, including educational purposes. The establishment of this football club continues to play a major role in uniting people from various communities impacting a wider population in doing so.

Global School Twinning Network

Category: Global (2016)

Part of the reason there are misunderstandings and friction between the Jewish community in Israel and their global counterparts would be the limited amount of knowledge there is amongst either of the communities. This, in turn, limits the optimal chances that could potentially unite the Jewish community on both a local and international stage. This establishment has endeavored to eliminate the global boundaries there are between the local and international communities by making it possible for interaction and learning opportunities. 

The Global School Twinning Network is a schooling program officially established in 2011. It involves pairing, otherwise referred to as twinning, Israeli schools with Jewish or Hebrew schools from abroad with the aim of learning how information or knowledge is passed down to students and how effective each of the schools’ methods are. The program is steadily growing and has so far seen more than 500 schools being paired since the establishment took flight. 

This program has effectively bridged a gap that existed between the international Jewish community creating unnecessary misunderstandings when it comes to both social and religious

Background on the Jerusalem Unity Prize

Throughout the history of humanity, there has always been a significant event that has ultimately brought people of an impacted community ever so close together. Regardless of the significant event, which could be anything from a natural disaster to a generationally inspiring sporting event, people committedly pull together to either celebrate the success or progress of one of their own joyously or mourn a tragic loss. These are the moments that define humanity and its highly versatile ability to be resilient during historically significant times. This is the background of the Jerusalem Unity Prize, which was established to acknowledge similarly significant moments and the people or institutions behind the successful enabling of growth and prosperity in the community.

Background

It has become common practice in numerous communities to have deliberate efforts towards improving the livelihoods of those in disadvantaged circumstances honored and acknowledged. Jewish people from Israel and across the world have in recent years established an award, the Jerusalem Unity Prize, handed to individuals, initiatives, and organizations alike to mark and celebrate their efforts in the community aimed at alleviating unfortunate social or economic circumstances such as extreme poverty and domestic violence as well as child abuse.

The families of Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Iftrach, and Naftali Fraenkel Z”l, collaborated with the then Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat to establish the Jerusalem Unity Prize. This came after the tragic and traumatizing kidnapping and subsequent murders of Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Iftrach, and Naftali Fraenkel Z”l. the horrifying ordeal that took place in the summer of 2014 plunged the entire Jewish community into shock, anguish, and despair led to the establishment of this prize which is issued on Unity Day to deserving parties carrying out selfless humanitarian activities not just in Israel but beyond as well.

The 18 days of excruciating uncertainty that hovered over the Jewish community due to what had befallen those innocent boys ultimately had a profoundly uniting impact. Different came together, joined their hands and set aside their differences and came together in support of the family as well as the community at large. While such horrific acts tend to destabilize and turn a whole community’s population against itself, this particular ordeal appealed to the empathic side of the Jewish people and culminated in the Jerusalem Unity Prize being established to further promote the progressive attitude of togetherness. 

Given the significant presence of the Jewish population worldwide, celebrating Unity Day and awarding the Jerusalem Unity Prize has quickly caught on and is further being embraced due to its notable contributions towards having a more united people. Since its inception, Unity Day has impacted the lives of over 1.5 million people who celebrate this day across more than 25 countries in the world. A considerable number of institutions and organizations, such as youth groups, social movements, and schools, have been brought together to promote unity among individuals from different regions with diverse cultures. This globally renowned endeavor has served to not only unite the Jewish people but as well to bring down crime levels significantly by appealing to the community to shun crime-triggering stimuli such as extremist agenda peddling.