When Hope Kessler was hired as executive director of Women’s American ORT last July, she had no idea she would be overseeing a merger with its brother organization, American ORT.
The merger of the two organizations was announced in January, and Kessler will serve as executive director of ORT America, as the new entity will be known.
“I think it’s an empowering name,” Kessler said, on a recent visit to the Bay Area to meet local activists in the organization’s Bay Area chapters.
ORT was founded in the 1880s to provide a network of schools teaching vocational skills to Jews. It now operates schools throughout the world, with a focus on technology.
Francoise Rothstein, who is on the national ORT board and lives in Marin, said ORT’s largest presence in the Bay Area is in Marin and on the Peninsula. The San Francisco chapter has been absorbed by Marin. The number of members locally is in the low thousands, with minimal presence in the East Bay.
And while there used to be a men’s chapter in the 1980s, the women became much more powerful. The men’s chapter disbanded, and the women’s chapter opened up to allow men to join. Most men who get involved are the husbands or sons of women who are.
For as long as ORT has been in existence, it’s been known as the two organizations. But at the same time the organization was celebrating its 125th anniversary, it had to face the sobering fact that Jewish membership organizations are suffering from longtime members dying with not enough new members replacing them. The boards of the two agreed that merging would be in the organization’s best interest.
“This gives us more opportunity to speak as one organization,” said Kessler. “It eliminates any kind of confusion. Now we can speak with one voice.”
Women’s American ORT has some 40,000 members, and American ORT has about 10,000.
But its network of schools serves about 275,000 students annually around the world.
Kessler believes that ORT is actually a very easy sell.
“The program is so compelling that once people hear about it, they are engaged and want to hear more,” she said. “ORT helps kids with challenges, whether they be financial or emotional and they are in danger of dropping out. It is aimed at helping them stay in school.”
With Israel recently cutting its hot meal program for impoverished children, Kessler said that whether funds are going for hot meals, bus transportation or clothing, “This is a very compelling program, to help a young person stay in school and have a future.”
Kessler recently returned from Argentina, where she saw 7,000 children being educated in ORT schools.
In the capital city of Buenos Aires, she said, “there are more kids who want to come to the schools than they have room for.”
Several Jewish schools had to close in 2001 when Argentina had its financial crisis, she said, and since then, ORT schools have become the first choice of many Jewish parents.
“Unfortunately, lack of space has precluded them from accepting all the kids who want to come,” she said. “They have a capital campaign to enlarge the school because the families want it.”
The ORT network in Israel consists of 160 schools with some 90,000 students. While ORT has traditionally focused on lower-income Jewish students, more recently it has been offering programs in Israel’s Arab sector, allowing Bedouins, Druze and Arab Christian students to mix with Jewish students, something that rarely happens in Israel. Another program brings together Orthodox and secular students.
Kessler attended one such program, and was greatly impressed by what she heard.
“These kids said the best thing was their ability to sit and talk to each other,” she said. “They don’t get that chance on a regular basis.”
The next ORT Bay Area regional meeting is 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 23 at a private home in Novato. New members are welcome. Information: Francoise Rothstein, (415) 383-1937.