Meet Hani

Hani Ovrutski, a 22-year-old biology teacher, has not only benefited from our Federation’s investment in Israel, but she has passed that benefit on to others in need.

Hani was fourteen when she first enrolled in Heznek L’Atid, an educational program for economically disadvantaged youth in Israel which the Federation supports. Like so many other kids who grew up in the periphery regions, Hani—the child of Russian immigrants—was getting less than an adequate education. Her school in Kiryat Malachi, a poor city in the southern region, did its best to educate a diverse population, but Hani knew that if she wanted to get ahead academically, she’d have to look elsewhere.

When her mother heard about the Heznek L’Atid program, Hani didn’t let the opportunity pass her by. Seven years and a Hebrew University degree later, Hani volunteers her time as a teacher in the very program that helped her to soar. Every Friday, Hani travels an hour by car from her home in Eilat to the Johanna Jabotinsky Youth Village in Be’er Yaakov, where she tutors kids who are in the same situation she once found herself in. Hani said that she was inspired to become a teacher because of the support she received in the Heznek program.

“I don’t know where I’d be now if I hadn’t gone to Heznek,” she said. And where she is today isn’t where she’s stopping. Her ultimate goal? To become the Israeli Minister of Education. Having come this far, she knows there’s no limit to what she can achieve.

The Federation funds Heznek L’Atid as part of its commitment to equal opportunity and social change in Israel. Even as Israel’s economy booms, the gap between rich and poor—one of the largest of any Western nation—continues to widen. By providing educational opportunities to economically disadvantaged Israeli youth, we are helping to build a more equitable society.