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Twice a week, Matanel Oren, a tenth grader at OTS's Jacob Sapirstein High School for Boys in Ramot, plays the piano for senior citizens in a Jerusalem retirement home. "It's humbling to realize how much the residents look forward to my visits," he says. "I watch their faces visibly relax as they enjoy the music, and I see what a difference one person can make in their lives of so many."

Developing a sensitivity to the needs of others and an appreciation for diversity" - students at the Jennie Sapirstein Girls' High School in Ramot.

Rabbi Motti Ben-Shushan of the Jacob Sapirstein High School explains, "The school experience generally encourages teenagers to be concerned with themselves - getting good grades, exploring their own interests, thinking about their plans for the future. In a way, these are very self-centered years. That's why it's especially important for students to spend even a small part of their week being involved in the lives of others."

Community responsibility is a cornerstone of the educational philosophy in all of the OTS high schools. Each student participates in special training seminars provided by OTS's Susan Resnick School of Social Work, and receives close personal guidance from teachers and counselors. Boys and girls alike volunteer in a range of settings with the elderly, children with disabilities, disadvantaged youngsters or immigrant families.

Eden Marcus, an eleventh grader at OTS' Neveh Chana High School for Girls explains, "Becoming an adult is about taking responsibility for things beyond your own immediate surroundings. It's not just an idiom -- the more you give to others the more you receive in return." Eden should know; she is one of half a dozen students at Neveh Chana who are teaching senior citizens how to use computers. "We show them how to access information on the Internet, how to use email and how to transcribe their personal histories," she relates. "Mastering these skills has opened up a whole new world for them. And at the same time, we're learning the importance of patience, commitment and planning."

Reuven Werber, coordinator of educational technology at Neveh Chana comments, "The computer project enables our students to meet people of all ages, from all walks of life. In the long run, they develop a sensitivity to the needs of others and an appreciation for diversity, even while they are having an impact on others' lives."

In fact, with the skills and awareness they absorb from the school, many young students are initiating additional projects of their own. At OTS's Jennie Sapirstein High School for Girls, an eleventh grade class instituted a unique way of celebrating Rosh Chodesh: on the first day of every new month, they visit a different community facility. According to Michal Yoviler, a teacher at the school, "One month they volunteered at a soup kitchen; preparing, packaging and distributing food to families in need. The following month they decided to spread cheer and assist staff at a local hospital. The girls themselves initiated the project, they decide where to go and create an appropriate program of activities."

"Our students have internalized the importance of taking responsibility," continues Michal. "They are aware of events surrounding them, and resolve for themselves what needs to be done." Thus, last year, when a tenth grade class at the school was looking for a novel theme for its end-of-year party, they divided themselves into four groups, each of which conceived of and realized a different project. "One group cooked food, which they distributed to the hungry," recalls Michal. "Another painted a huge mural on the wall of a group home for disadvantaged children. The third group organized a sing-along at a school for children with special needs, and the fourth planned an arts-and-crafts project for physically disabled kids. The girls filmed themselves "in action" and screened the film at their end-of-year party."

Neveh Channah's Werber sums up the OTS student's philosophy toward communal responsibility: "I am constantly surprised by the maturity, the patience and the imagination that our students bring to their voluntary activities. They're consistently going above and beyond the call of duty."

Making a DifferenceOne recent Friday night, 17-year-old Itamar Eizik was sitting down to Shabbat dinner with his family when his beeper sounded. "It was the local station of Magen David Adom," recalls Itamar, "telling me to report for duty at once." When he got there, he was told that Palestinian terrorists had opened fire in the dining hall of a yeshiva in Otniel, some 15 km south of his own home in Efrat.

Neveh Shmuel student voIunteers Itamar Eizik and Neria Sofer

"I will never forget the scene that awaited us in Otniel," he says. "Four students had been killed and about one dozen wounded."Itamar, a twelfth-grader at OTS's Neveh Shmuel High School for Boys, has been volunteering at Magen David Adom for almost two years and has undergone intensive paramedical training. He attributes his motivation to his school: "As soon as you enroll at Neve Shmuel, you are encouraged to take responsibility, to show initiative and to respond to the needs of the wider community," he says. "We're taught that learning and action go hand in hand." Itamar also devotes one afternoon to keeping a young blind boy company, and is a popular and energetic youth counselor for local 12-year-olds. His friend David Azoulay, also a twelfth-grader, found an alternative outlet for his desire to perform public service: he became a member of the civil guard, a voluntary body which supplements the Israeli police.

"The police is so over-stretched at the moment," explains David, "that the civil guard has become even more important." David is stationed in the Old City of Jerusalem, an area which is often a flashpoint of tension and demands a great deal of sensitivity and restraint. Despite his youth, David has risen through the ranks of the civil guard and was recently placed in charge of an entire patrol squad. "Who says that just because you're young you can't make a difference?" he says. "Our school taught us that we don't have to wait for adulthood to effect change and give back to the country."Both David and Itamar spend as much time in the library as they do in their volunteer jobs. "It's hard to find time for the extra-curricular activities," says David, "but it's important." Itamar agrees: "The studies are less meaningful without the community work, and vice versa," he says.

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