Haifa University Law Students Find Home at Suffolk
By Matt Lebovic
The Jewish Advocate
Haifa University law student Kiril Shefer enjoys debunking stereotypes. A Russian Jew who immigrated to Israel in 1991, Shefer lives and works with Israeli-Arab students on a daily basis. This interaction has permanently affected Shefer's perspective and future goals, he said during a forum on Tuesday.
"It takes a melting pot like Haifa University to break the pattern of hatred generated through constant hostility," Shefer told community members at a discussion sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. "Programs like [JCRC's] Open Apartments allow Jews and Arabs to live together in Haifa and learn to see things from the other side."
Shefer, along with fellow Haifa University law students Noam Mastboim and Sarit Yakuti, is part of the first-ever Boston-Haifa Connection law student exchange. The three young Israelis are spending six weeks as guests of Suffolk University Law School, where they take classes and participate in the clinic program. Local Jewish families are providing home hospitality and a taste of Jewish communal life in Boston.
The students credit Haifa University's emphasis on co-existence with steering them toward helping disadvantaged people access vital legal services. Boasting legal clinics in areas ranging from Arab minority rights to prisoners' rehabilitation, Haifa University offers Israel's most proactive legal program, said Yakuti.
"The University is making an effort at having students talk to each other on a daily basis," Yakuti said. "One example is a proposal I worked on to help Israeli-Arabs become better integrated into the media."
Community members leading the Boston-Haifa Connection say programs like the law student exchange are an essential layer of the Connection, helping Israelis and Americans form long-lasting relationships.
"These three students and the program they are part of typify the amazing commitment to social justice and creating civil society, both in Israel and the U.S.," said Jane Matlaw, chair of JCRC's Haifa Social Justice and Civil Society Committee.
