Soul | Boys Town Jerusalem

A FATHER’S TERROR

By Sarit Newman | February 8 2021 | 0 Comments.

Jake suffers from serious learning disabilities. When the pandemic first closed the schools, Jake was given a laptop, but he needed more personal connection. That’s when he was assigned to the special-ed classes.

JOSHUA’S TRAUMATIC HOMELIFE

By Sarit Newman | October 20 2020 | 0 Comments.

12 ½ year-old Joshua heard the police siren growing louder as the officers reached the door of his father’s girlfriend’s apartment. Joshua fled there to be with his dad, even though the court ordered his mother major custody of the children. You see, Joshua and his mother fight a lot. “Before the pandemic, Joshua’s father […]

LOSING TRUST IN EVERYONE

By Sarit Newman | September 14 2020 | 0 Comments.

Only 12 years old, Haim, a new seventh-grader at Boys Town Jerusalem, has already lost his faith in humanity.

THE DRUM BEAT THAT CHANGED YOSEF’S LIFE

By Sarit Newman | July 13 2020 | 0 Comments.

Recent Boys Town Jerusalem High School graduate Yosef Ben-Shabbat’s life changed with the beat of a drum. Last year, within the framework of the school’s community service project, Yosef began volunteering with special-needs children. His assignment: to teach four groups of boys, grades 2 – 9, to play the darbuka, an ancient Mid-Eastern goblet drum. […]

SHARING NOAM’S SECRET LANGUAGE OF STRUGGLE

By Sarit Newman | June 21 2020 | 0 Comments.

Long before the coronavirus struck its blow to “normal” life, Noam,* now a seventh grader at Boys Town Jerusalem, was out of control. At home, his widowed mother had essentially lost control over his frequent tantrums, serious behavioral issues and near-total lack of boundaries. “Quite simply, Noam needs a father,” says BTJ social worker Hadas […]

SUMMER CAMP FOR GABI IS A LIFESAVER

By Sarit Newman | June 8 2020 | 0 Comments.

The recent coronavirus crisis took a painful toll on 13-year-old Gabi* and his family. Both parents lost their jobs, leaving Gabi and his siblings to face a new reality locked down at home where gnawing tension, lack of food, and their father’s harsh anger outbursts became a tinderbox for domestic violence. Gabi’s teachers and social […]