פורסם ב: ד' סיון תשע"ז

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The Chai Ro'ei program combines academic studies with yeshiva studies in the Yeshiva for Post Army Students. Part of the program is a set of special days of enrichment outside the formal academic structures during which members participating in the program meet personally with actual sectors of public service and people who work on social projects. It's an opportunity to learn of the various public and social projects going on in Israel by meeting the people on the ground actually involved.
On Thursday (May 25) we went to a day symposium in Jerusalem. We opened the day at Yad Sarah, one of the largest volunteer organizations, that provides a wide variety of assistance to the public, from baby playpens to wheel chairs. We saw their Visitor's Center with the exhibit called "The Israeli Experience of Giving". There we learned about the breadth and width of the organizations activities and about the creativity that brought about this wide variety of activity. The organization has about 6,000 active volunteers.
From there we continued to the Israeli Conference Center of Jerusalem (ICCJer), for talks with key people in the public sector. We met with Ro'ei Dror, director of the department for government reforms in the Prime Minister's Office, and with Gen. (Res.) Yiftach Ron-tal the chairmen of the Israeli Electric Company. They both emphasized the importance of working in the public sector, the difficulties encountered and the personality traits required of someone who wishes to serve and lead in the public sector.
Afterwards we met with and heard a lecture from Avi Chaliva (graduate of Bnei David, 7th annual class), who is deputy director of administration and personal resources in the Interior Ministry. He described his work when he was deputy director in the Office of Religious Affairs and the revolution that took place in that office.
We met Ro'ei Harel (11th annual class) who is a law-advisor in the Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Services. He laid out before us the different branches of the public sector and the different offices and administrations.
Beyond the fact that the content of these talks was interesting was the fact that two of the speakers were themselves alumni of Bnei David. This was an opportunity for the present students in the Chai Ro'ei project to meet with alumni of Bnei David and hear about their impressive absorption into the public sector, people who were in the same Beit Midrash just a few years before and are now engaged in meaningful public service.
During the day we held a small going away event for eight of our friends who are now graduating from the program after three years. Rabbi Ofir Vallace, the head of the program, gave the graduates a book written about Rabbi Shlomo Goren called "B'Oz ve'Ta'atzumot" which describes the unique figure of the rabbi who fulfilled with all his faculties and powers the slogan that is part of the core belief of Bnei David: "People of Emunah in the world of doing".

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