P ‘TACH, a growing and evolving organization, is always looking for the right people to teach our children, run our programs and take us into the future. We are delighted to welcome to the P’TACH team Rabbi Avi Kramer and Rabbi Noson Berman, both specializing in community relations and development.
To better serve more children, P’TACH reaches out to all the groups that have a stake in educating our Jewish children with learning differences: parents, educators, clergy, alumni and those who give. Rabbis Kramer and Berman will spearhead strategies for putting P’TACH at the top of donors’ lists and making P’TACH a household name so that every child who needs special attention will get it.
Rabbi Kramer is a product of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim. “Active participation in learning helps you grow,” he says. “P’TACH gives children with learning differences the same opportunities I had.” Rabbi Kramer has taught in yeshivas, tutored students privately and is enriched by the experiences of his wife, Chana, who teaches visually impaired children.
Rabbi Noson Berman comes from a family of educators, including his sister, Meira Winter, who teaches Judaic Studies at P’TACH. With a penchant for writing, Rabbi Berman will engage with Jewish and mainstream media in the quest to undo the stigma of learning differences and maintain P’TACH’s position at the forefront of special education in the Orthodox community.
Rabbi Berman comes to us after eight years as a rabbinic counselor at “Our Place NY,” a nonprofit for at-risk Jewish youth. Many of the teens he worked with had learning differences that clearly were not addressed. “P’TACH has a program that works, but people don’t know enough about it,” he says. “With greater visibility comes recognition and support. P’TACH needs the community’s support to provide more technology, more space and more scholarships to fulfill its mission.”
With the promise of special events, workshops for parents and the public, and increased communication through email and the organization’s Web site, Rabbis Kramer and Berman look forward to increasing awareness about learning differences and P’TACH’s role in improving the lives of Jewish families. “We will get the word out,” Rabbi Berman asserts with a wide smile. “Expect a phone call!”
