Mr. David and Rivka Muller of the Donald Berman Foundation and Mr. Shmuel Weinglass of the Bituach Leumi Foundation for the disabled, honored us at the inauguration ceremony of the Children’s Library at Achiya, revealing the dedications to the foundations who gave Achiya their generous support needed to establish this Read more…

Children at the Elad Talmud Torah are  expanding their young horizons with an Achiya program that is a collaboration with JDC-Ashalim and the Ministry of Education. Representatives of JDC-Ashalim and the Wohl Foundation enjoyed first-hand insights into the program’s success in the Haredi city of Elad. The program provides teachers Read more…

When well known blog writer Sharon Altshul, writer for the Baltimore Jewish Life comes to visit at Achiya –  this is the outcome. Thank you Sharon! http://www.baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=37&ARTICLE_ID=77033

Cultural Attaché, Michele Dastin van-Rijn, and Cultural Specialist, Risa Levy, visited the U.S. Embassy funded English Enrichment Program for ultra-Orthodox male teachers studying at Achiya’s Teachers’ Training College. The teachers-in-training learn basic ESL skills while learning about life in the United States. For man of the students, this course is Read more…

  Mr. Yitzchak Levin, Director of of Achiya and Mrs. Tzivia Greenberg, Director of Development at Achiya, attended a reception in honor of the approaching New Year at the home of Mr. Daniel Shapiro, the United States Ambassador to Israel.  

Communication isn’t just talk. We communicate through our facial expressions, our movements – or lack of movement – and our body language. Children with social difficulties often have difficulty deciphering non-verbal messages, which often leads to difficulties in many different areas of their lives. What can we do to help Read more…

 “You can’t imagine how I felt,” says Tzivia Greenberg, Director of Development at Achiya. “I couldn’t believe that after so many years, not only did Yisrael’s mother remember us, but was still so intensely grateful for how Achiya helped her son.”   Mrs. Cohen (name changed to protect privacy)  phoned Read more…

  The forum, which consists of the Educational Psychologists who head the Department of Education’s Psychological Services in Beit Shemesh Netivot, Elad, Haifa, Petach Tikvah and Jerusalem, visited Achiya to learn about its many activities.   Rabbi Yaakov Weingarten, supervisor of the Learning Center’s Gemara Program spoke to the forum Read more…

Ten year old Rafael Cohen is the third Cohen boy to get help at the Achiya Learning Center.He’s the youngest of ten kids, and although he is intelligent, he needs specialized tutoring to master reading.   Rafael’s father is a talmid chacham who devotes his days and nights to limud Read more…

“For as long as I can remember, I was never capable of sitting in one place for more than a few minutes. I never, ever stayed for an entire minyan. It was impossible. But I felt guilty for running away in the middle and couldn’t understand why I was different Read more…

The Directors of the Faculty for Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa bestowed a Certificate of Appreciation to the Occupational Therapy Department of the Achiya Developmental Center in Elad. In the certificate they expressed their appreciation to Achiya for the excellent instruction they provided the OT students during their Read more…

On Tuesday, November 18, Achiya held a one day conference on ADHD for 240 Talmud Torah Principals. The conference’s impact was immediate. Following the conference, one of the principals told Rabbi Levin, Director of Achiya, “This morning I came to a very difficult decision. I realized that I had no Read more…

Achiya is presently registering participants for its Special Morning Initiative for mothers of children with Down syndrome. The program consists of weekly fun and relaxing pool activities, workshops with Sharon Moscowitz, social worker and parent educator, and light refreshments. The program is highly subsidized by Achiya and offered as a Read more…

Nechama Peldini, a Music Therapist at Achiya shared the following story with us. The story is about a little girl named Rachel. But instead of me telling the story, I’ll let Rachel tell it: “I…I…don’t know.” That’s all I could say two weeks ago, when, during my therapy session at Read more…

On September 10, 2014, just two weeks before the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Achiya had the honor of hosting a delegation of trustees and representatives of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, including Marc Mateheru, Michael Feigelson, Julia Neuberger, Jacqueline Tammensoms-Bakker, Steven Kaempfer, Sam Worthingon, and Andre Betting. Over Read more…

    Nir Seri, a music therapist at the Achiya Emotional Therapy Department in Bnei Brak was honored with giving a presentation at the prestigious International Conference of Music Therapy, this year held in Vienna Austria (http://www.musictherapyworld.net/WFMT/World_Congress.html).   The topic of this year’s conference was Cultural Diversity in Music Therapy Read more…

We are living in very difficult times. In less than a week, from Tuesday July 8 to Monday, July 14, some 1,000 missiles have fallen in major population centers throughout Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israeli children are living with constant fear.Sharon Moskowitz, a Social Worker for the Achiya Developmental Read more…

    Here is Israel, where June 30 marks the end of the school year, everyone’s busy with school parties and graduations. It’s a time to look back at our accomplishments, and learn from our mistakes. The Developmental Assistants at Achiya’s Maagan program came together on Sunday, June 29 for Read more…

In response to community pressure, Achiya Teachers’ Training College opened a new three year evening course. We wish the thirty young men working toward an accredited degree in education much hatzlacha and bracha.   

Thursday, we were surprised to receive an email from the principal of a school in Mitzpeh Rimon, which, for those of you not familiar with Israeli geography, is hours away from Bnei Brak, literally the far end of the country. “One of my students,” wrote the principal, “is having a lot Read more…

Thursday, we were surprised to receive an email from the principal of a school in Mitzpeh Rimon, which, for those of you not familiar with Israeli geography, is hours away from Bnei Brak, literally the far end of the country. “One of my students,” wrote the principal, “is having a lot Read more…

 Each month, Achiya’s Pedagogical Library sends over 1000 emails to teachers throughout Israel and beyond, containing relevant pedagogical material according to the teachers’ specific needs.    The project, brainstorm of Rabbi Chaim Rosenstein, head librarian at the Achiya Pedagogical Library located at the Bnei Brak branch of the Teachers’ Training Read more…

Even though I am no longer working with this particular teacher, he continues to hone his teaching skills, much to the children’s benefit.”

Do you know why birds can sleep on a wire, and never fall off? I don’t, but that’s because I did not participate in any one of Achiya’s 16 mother-child learning events in Holon. Amidst laughter and giggles, with hands smeared with glue and paint, the children learned about the Center Read more…

On Monday, May 26, 2014, Achiya initiated a 12 part parenting course for  mothers at the Achiya Center in Bnei Brak. At present, Achiya is sponsoring FOUR weekly parenting classes: a fathers’ class for fathers of children with ADHD; a mothers’ class for mothers of children with ADHD, a mothers’ Read more…

      On Thursday, May 1, 2014, Achiya was honored to have its Language Skill Program featured at a nationwide conference attended by some 450 department and region supervisors from the Department of Education.  Mrs. Ruth Elmaliach, coordinator of nationwide Haredi Education, opened the presentation with a few words explaining how Read more…

Rivka Aridan, head of the Department of Early Education for immigrants and Hareidim at JDC Israel- Ashalim sent Achiya the following birthday wishes:   We, at the JDC Israel- Ashalim wish to express our appreciation at being partners with Achiya in developing and implementing innovate programs for the advancement of Read more…

The Municipality of Bnei Brak is working  together with Achiya to provide therapeutic psychodrama groups to children aged 8 to 11 with severe social problems. The groups take place within the ultra-orthodox boys’ schools, during school hours. Many of the children participating in the groups are victims of abuse. In Read more…

This week, Achiya opened two new eight session series of Parenting workshops specifically for parents of children with ADHD. Rabbi Chaim Brandwein, an educational counsellor specializing in learning disabilities and ADHD, facilitates the Fathers’ workshop. Mrs. Sarah Fruchter, a renowned Parenting Education specializing in ADHD facilitates the Mothers’ workshop. The Read more…

Chaim Zaivald, Assistant Mayor, Holon, sends Achiya his birthday blessings. We invite our readers to send us their blessings to debbie@achiya.org.il for publication.  On behalf of the city of Holon, I wish to express our gratitude for everything you have done to improve education in Holon. Working in unison, we Read more…

Children Travel up to Four Hours

Every Friday, mothers with their babies come to Achiya’s Hydrotherapy Center to participate in a fun Baby Water Exercise Class. Babies have a natural affinity to water and can play and exercise in water safely and with confidence from birth. It is the ideal starting point for turning your baby Read more…

As part of the Land of Israel course, students at Achiya’s Teachers’ College Neve Yaakov- Jerusalem branch spent a full day exploring the Dead Sea region, with an emphasis on activities appropriate for the annual end-of-the-year school trip. This is the first in a series of field trips to explore Read more…

  Rabbi Moshe Blinder, shlita, one of the senior teachers at Achiya’s Remedial Gemara Learning Center published a Gemara workbook for young boys. The workbook focuses on punctuation and comprehension and guides the boys in learning through the Gemara to arrive at the Halacha.   Teachers who have used the Read more…

  Nir Sari has been working as a Music Therapist at Achiya’s Creative Expression Therapy department for the last four years. Since the majority of his clients are Haredi boys, he felt it was important to learn more about Haredi children’s music.   As part of his Master’s thesis, under Read more…

A screening tool needs to be culturally adapted to the population it’s screening, otherwise, it just ain’t gonna work right.  And if the screening tool is easy enough for laymen to use, well, that makes it even better. Dr. Yaffit Gilboa, OT, a lecturer at the University of Haifa’s Department Read more…

   On March 15, as part of Achiya’s Creative Thinking Program, 15 melamdim attended a workshop to learn how to teach basic scientific concepts to very young children in the Heder system. The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Shmuel Adler of the prestigious Karev organization, who worked with the teachers Read more…

  Each week, over  980  children come to the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg  Center in Bnei Brak to receive the help they need to succeed in life.     387  children receive therapy at our Developmental Center, located on the first floor.      388 people use out therapeutic pool in the lower Read more…

  Because I grew up in Northern California, I associate decorating an egg with a certain non-Jewish Spring holiday. But for Israeli children, a decorated egg conjures up images of a beloved, well-known children’s book, The Egg that Disguised Itself.    On March 4, Achiya’s Creative Thinking program in Holon Read more…

 Thursday, February 13, a delegation from the Philadelphia Jewish Federation visited the Chassidi Klali Talmud Torah in Beitar Illit to see Achiya’s Language Skills program in action. Since September, 2011, the school’s administration and kindergarten teachers have undergone intensive training to learn how to enhance children’s language skills, with the Read more…

Monday, Feb 10, the women of Bnei Brak enjoyed a dynamic workshop on toys as keys to child development. Dr. Gilboa, head of Occupational Therapy at Maagan Achiya, Bnei Brak gave a quick overview of the different types of toys most appropriate for each stage of a child’s development. Afterwards, Read more…

        Laughter, good food, mothers rocking infants – the morning had all the ingredients of an informal social get-together, except that it wasn’t. Instead, thirty experienced mothers of Down Syndrome children had come to Achiya to learn about how they could best help their children succeed in their Read more…

This is an adorable picture, but the story behind it is anything but cute. Seven year old Yanky (not his real name) used to be a popular, happy child, and then, suddenly, his whole personality changed. He became aggressive, and went from being a top student to a child who Read more…

  It’s important for all educators to attend a professional enrichment  program, but in the Haredi Talmud Torah system, where most male preschool  teachers have little or no professional training, it is absolutely crucial. That’s one of the reasons that as part of our Maagan program (which provides screening and Read more…

We’ve been spending a lot time researching what devices we need to purchase for our new, accessible children’s library. In the last few weeks, we visited Beit Chinuch L’Ivrim, a school for blind children, the Mesillah Braille Library in Bnei Brak, and Milbat, an amazing organization that finds solutions for Read more…

Maccabee Healthcare services is now referring its policyholders with suspected learning disabilities to Achiya’s Learning Center for comprehensive didactic evaluations.   Achiya – Learn That You Can is unique in that both the professional and secretarial staff understands and identifies with the specific needs of the Hareidi community, and is Read more…

Achiya received the following letter from the Maccabi Health Fund:   Dear Rabbi Levin,   Re Thank you   I would like to express my appreciation to you and your dedicated staff for hosting representatives of the Central District of the Maccabi Health Care Services in your new, magnificent building. Read more…

 The Institute for National Security, an organization of IDF officers and elite security units, recently visited Achiya’s Learning Center in Bnei Brak to get an inside view of Haredi life in Israel. Rabbi Gombo and Yitzchak Levin were present to greet the guests and show them around the new building. Read more…

  Friday, November 22, 2013, Mr. Uri Schneider MA CCC-SLP, a clinical speech pathologist at Schneider’s Children Hospital who specializes in treating stuttering disorders among children and young adults gave a three hour workshop on the treatment of stuttering among school age children. Miri, a speech therapist at Achiya commented, Read more…

“This kid’s a real serious problem. In class, he sits like a stone, staring at the ceiling. At recess, it’s no better. He’s always alone. He never plays with the other children.” The principal looked down at the desk and signed. “I really don’t understand what’s going on. In preschool, Read more…