Tichon Ramah Yerushalyim (TRY) , February 2020

by Renee Ghert-Zand

“The first thing I did was cry. I had tears streaming down my face for hours after Jonathan told us we were going home,” said 16-year-old Lucy Schneider.

The rest of the students participating in Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY), Ramah Israel’s high school semester program in Jerusalem, reacted similarly upon learning in mid-March that they would have to leave Israel immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I felt the sadness of having to walk away from an experience that was unfinished, and where I knew I still had great memories left to make,” said Yoni Kagal, 15, from Toronto.

Sending the students home was a difficult decision for TRY’s professional leadership, but it proved to be the correct one. The students’ parents agreed with the decision, and were grateful for the quick and safe return of their children to their homes in the US and Canada. Students and parents were also impressed by TRY’s ability to pivot within days to a successful distance learning program to continue academic coursework, and also keep the students connected to one another and Israel.

“I wanted to do everything I could to keep the students in Israel, but once the Israeli social distancing directives dictated that there could be no more than 10 people in a room, we knew we couldn’t continue the program,” said TRY Director and Head of School Jonathan Madoff.

According to TRY Director of Teaching and Learning Aliza Zeff, the program’s administration was forced to make a decision immediately after Purim. Other study in Israel programs were closing, and Israeli schools were ordered to shut their doors.

Lucy’s mother Ronna Schneider said she was comforted to know that Lucy and her twin brother Will would be sent home to Cincinnati on a chartered flight out of Israel. Yoni’s father Allan Kagal was grateful for the clear communication from TRY on these unexpected travel plans, as well as for the presence of Ramah staff at the New York airport to assist the arriving students with connecting flights.

“As I had already vetted the TRY staff and chosen to trust them with the well being of my daughter, I trusted them equally with this decision. And now with hindsight, I feel indebted to Jonathan and his team for their sound, swift, sage decision making,” said Marci Greenberg, mother of Pazia, 17, from Pacific Grove, California.

Families received a partial refund of tuition, with many choosing to donate all or part of the refund to Ramah Israel.

According to Zeff, all of the students who were in Israel with TRY opted to continue their academic year through online learning organized and delivered by the TRY staff. Fortunately, the staff were able to take the week and a half that the students would have been on their Poland Journey to get the online program up and running. This included professional development for teachers on how to adapt their instructional style and syllabi to online classrooms for students in different time zones.

“In addition to coordinating teachers’ and students’ schedules, we also had to move to a hybrid educational approach combining classes held using Zoom with individualized project-based learning for the students,” Zeff explained.

“By March 26, I was already teaching online,” said TRY English teacher Stephanie Ginensky, praising how quickly and smoothly the program shifted to distance learning.

“Although I had used a Google online platform to teach at the college level before, this is the first time I am using Zoom,” she said. She has put emphasis on texts and assignments that help the students stay emotionally connected to Israel even while they are now physically far away.

This is the first time math teacher Peter Abelow has done online teaching. “There’s been a learning curve. I’m gaining experience in real time with the class in front of me,” he shared.

Like Ginensky, Abelow has had to adjust his goals as a result of the reduced time he now has with his students. It’s about getting the lessons across as concisely and effectively as possible in the given time. The students are helping by making sure to be prepared for the online classes.

“The kids are also reaching out to me on FaceTime for extra help when they need it,” Abelow said.

The students may not love sitting in front of their computer screens for many hours, but they are grateful to TRY for enabling them to finish out the semester academically. They are even happier to have this opportunity for ongoing, daily contact with their friends.

“I miss the community more than anything. Being able to spend time with my new friends 24/7 [in Israel] and do everything together as one group was amazing. Now I am able to have the same friends to talk to and keep in touch with, as well as the same teachers who I am comfortable around,” Lucy said.

TRY community life has continued through online Kabbalat Shabbat and holiday programming. Madoff meets regularly online with members of the student council, and work has begun on a year-end art project and the production of a yearbook and class t-shirt design.

Madoff reported that at this point, there are hopes that TRY will resume in spring 2021 in Jerusalem with a new group of students. There are also initial plans to reunite the 2020 cohort in either Israel, Poland or both as a means of creating closure for the students “who will always remember that they were in Israel with TRY having the time of their lives when the coronavirus hit,” as Madoff put it.

“I would definitely send Will and Lucy back within the next year or so if a reunion program is arranged. I think the Ramah programming is excellent,” Ronna Schneider said.

“Absolutely, in a heartbeat,” Marci Greenberg said about sending her daughter Pazia. “And I believe she and the others will appreciate it in a deep way, seeing it as a gift and not taking a moment of it for granted.”

Pazia is excited at the prospect of reunited with her TRY friends again, but she has learned from the recent months of self-isolating at home to take things one day at a time.

“I am looking forward to getting to see my people again soon, but for now, let's get through this pandemic,” she said.

Renee Ghert-Zand is a Jerusalem-based freelance journalist and communications consultant to the National Ramah Commission and Ramah Israel. @ReneeGhertZand

TRY Moves Online in Response to COVID-19