This was the Lookstein Center’s and ORT's first educational videoconference with Russia and was made possible by the generosity of David Gradel, a trustee of Bar-Ilan University. The lecture was offered as part of a five-day teacher training seminar under the auspices of Hephziba (Israel Ministry of Education), The Lookstein Center and Machanaim, the Jewish Heritage Center for Russian-speaking Jews. This lesson, broadcasted from the Gradel studio at the Lookstein Center and hosted by the ORT Technology Center at National Jewish School No. 1311, allowed approximately 50 Jewish CIS educators to interact with renowned Russian/Israeli educator, Dr. Dashevsky.

"The beauty of this encounter is that it is interactive," said World ORT's Acting Head of Education and Technology, Judah Harstein. "Its success opens up new possibilities for teaching Jewish education in the former Soviet Union. This is a region which doesn't have enough quality Jewish education teachers, so videoconferencing gives us a chance to bring the best people in the world to their classrooms in a very cost effective way." One of the participating teachers, Natalya Kameneva, said that this technology offers them the unique opportunity to improve the quality of their work. Her colleague, Zalman Vishnevsky, added: "This type of interaction is fast, efficient and inexpensive. The possibility of personal communication makes for an exciting atmosphere. It would be very good to have such videoconferences on a regular basis, perhaps twice a month.” Mr. Harstein said the next step would be to use this platform to teach students as well as teachers.

David Gradel, who funds the ongoing Lookstein Center program which provide videoconference Jewish studies’ lectures to five British Jewish high schools, said he was delighted with the success of the pilot project with the CIS. "This is just the beginning of the beginning," he said. "It's very exciting because the potential is enormous and the need is immense." Mr. Gradel said he hoped to extend the videoconferencing programs to benefit North American Jewish schools and, in conjunction with World ORT, to other Jewish schools in the former Soviet Union and Latin America. "I want to reinforce to Jewish communities around the world that they are not alone - they are part of something bigger," he said.

This lecture was the first in a pilot program initiated by the Lookstein Center and designed to enrich Jewish education in the ORT schools in the CIS and Argentina.

Dr Dashevsky is a renowned astrophysicist, who had to abandon his scientific endeavors in the Soviet Union when, at the end of the 70s, he chose to pursue his study of Judaism and applied for aliyah to Israel. Now, living in Israel, he teaches Judaism at a number of universities , writes and runs distance-learning courses for the Machanaim Internet site, and travels and lectures all over Israel, Russia and Ukraine.

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