ADDRESS BY MISS TAMI BEKRITSKY
A CAHAL GRADUATE, AT HARMONY 3 CONCERT

Hello, my name is Tami Bekritsky. I’m 15 years old and was in the first graduating class of CAHAL. I was about 5 years old when my mother and father started to notice that I might have a problem in learning. I had no problem with comprehension but I had difficulties learning to read. When my parents spoke to my teachers about this they were told, “Don’t worry, she is immature,” “ You worry too much,” and the best line was, “Don’t worry, she’s pretty and with G-d’s help she will marry someone who will take care of her.” My parents didn’t take that too well. They believed you could do anything if you put your mind to it.

You see, what I have is not very uncommon – it is just that no one wants to talk about it. What it is, is a learning disability. Many people want to hide it under the rug because of the stereotype that all Jewish children have to be wonderful learners or child prodigies. By ignoring or hiding children with LD’s we might be turning away some of the greatest minds.

When my parents sent me to elementary school, the teachers couldn’t understand why I could not do the work they would give me. Teachers would call me LAZY, DUMB AND A TROUBLEMAKER because I was asking for help. It wasn’t just the teachers, but it was also kids in my class who called me names and those ever-popular dumb blonde jokes that made me feel even worse. Need I go on?

One of my Hebrew teachers in 1st grade went to my parents and told them that I might be L.D. When my parents heard that, it helped to answer a lot of their questions. From 1st through 4th grade, I fooled my teachers into thinking I could read. During this time Mrs. Naomi Nadata was my resource room teacher and she told my parents about CAHAL. In 5th grade I was sent there. When I was in 6th grade I met Mrs. Melody Harris who taught me how to read. I could understand material I was reading but I just couldn’t decode the words. She started me off with beginner books until she felt I could be on par with the other kids in my class. Let me just say that when she made me start, at the beginning, I fought her tooth and nail but she still made me do it and for that I thank her. Most other people would have given up after my first few temper tantrums, but not her. At the same time I was in mainstream social studies, science and some Hebrew classes. I was treated as part of the school. I would go to all the girls’ Bat-Mitzvahs and all school activities. If you think that was just to keep us from feeling left out, you’re sadly mistaken. SOME OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS ARE FROM THE MAINSTREAM CLASS.

Because of the years I spent in CAHAL I was able to go to the Torah Academy of Suffolk County, a mainstream high school, where I’m happy to say I run a high 90’s average with the help of a great resource room teacher. You might think I’m here to pat myself on the back with all that I have done, but I am not. I’m here to say that there are many kids out there that people might call lazy or dumb but that can do so much, if you would just give them the chance and help them. And this thank G-d is why CAHAL is here, to help kids like me who need a chance.

I can’t say what I will be doing in a few years from now, but what I can say is with the love and support of this program and my family, I can go ahead and follow my dreams, and not just have them given to me on a silver platter. Giving me the power to take on the world is a gift I will always hold dear to my heart. Like what my parents always say, if you have a mountain in your path and you can’t go over it, you have to go around it or through it or under it, just to find an alternative way, like CAHAL.

I would like to thank some people: Mrs. Melody Harris, Mrs. Geri Mansdorf, Rabbi Dovid Sternberg, and Dr. Norman Blumenthal, but most of all Mrs. Naomi Nadata. Thank you.

Testimony From a CAHAL Graduate

Dear Mrs. Nadata,

I am now a senior in high school and I just got word that I was accepted into New York Institute of Technology. At this point I would like to thank CAHAL for all it has done for me. They helped me by mainstreaming me in my strong subjects and helping me in my weaker subjects.

The fact that I am very good in math only helped in my career choice. A strong mathematical background will be helpful for an Architectural and Design degree. I have applied my math skills in the woodworking course given in my high school. I have assisted my woodworking instructor with creative projects with wood. I helped the students learn how to use the array of tools necessary to build a successful project on their own.

The success that I see now would not have been possible if I did not get the strong foundation that I needed from the dedicated teachers in CAHAL. I am forever grateful for the care and concern that CAHAL provided me.

With much Hakoras Hatov to all of you,
A Graduating Senior

Most of our children who enter Yeshivot follow the ordinary course of learning and accumulating knowledge. But more students than we care to admit encounter profound difficulties in absorbing that same knowledge that comes naturally and easily to others. Struggle, pain and frustration may lead to the identification of mild to severe learning disabilities in a particular child.

A learning disability is nothing to be ashamed of. It can appear in any family, regardless of the professions practiced by the parents, their economic status or their spiritual states. A student with learning disabilities may be brilliant and have a very high I.Q., yet still experience difficulties in reading, writing, and processing information. But with the proper coaching, with the support of special teachers who understand and have the training, and with small classes, these children can see success. They can achieve, learn and soar.

CAHAL has undertaken to serve the needs of these children with dignity, professionalism and caring. CAHAL means community. CAHAL crosses the lines of all schools. It embraces all hashkafot, world views. It demonstrates what heights can be achieved through unity of effort and intensity of purpose.

CAHAL is every shul, every school, every family. CAHAL is every mother, every father, every child. CAHAL deserves the full support of every individual in the entire community. Can anyone stand idly by while some are excluded from the symphony of a Torah education? In our united commitment, there is strength. May Hashem support us when we unite as a community to do the Avodat Hakodesh of CAHAL.

Rabbi Hershel Billet
Young Israel of Woodmere

CAHAL is an organization with which I am personally very familiar. Jewish lives are in their hands each and every day as they educate children with learning disabilities who may otherwise not have a place in yeshiva. CAHAL operates self-contained special ed classes in the yeshiva building where the children get the chinuch they need and deserve while allowing them to attend the same yeshiva as their friends, neighbors and siblings.

In an outstanding display of unity, 9 schools participate in the CAHAL program.

As a resident of the Five Towns / Far Rockaway community, I have personally experienced the professionalism, dedication and warmth of the CAHAL staff, and have seen their successes first-hand. They deserve your generous support.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Pesach Lerner
Executive Vice President, National Council of Young Israel