News from JBH

Dear Matanel Foundation,

Yaakov just had his fifth child. He lives in Beitar, a city outside of Jerusalem. He wears traditional Hasidic garb. When Yaakov was 25 years old, he began his path to support his family. First, he enrolled in a “mechina,” a preparatory studies program, at a leading college. After completing a year of preparatory studies, he started studying computer science, which took him 3 and 1/2 years. During the time that Yaakov was studying, his family struggled financially.

Finally, in January 2021, almost 5 years after starting his journey, he completed his BSc in Computer Science. But, there was a problem. Despite his good grades, Yaakov didn’t have any job offers. He spent almost a year looking for work, but he couldn’t even get interviews. Every employer was looking for programmers with experience.

In October 2021, Yaakov joined JBH’s new course to help junior programmers land their first job. After completing a short coding course at JBH, Yaakov began an internship at one of JBH’s partner companies. During the internship, he started learning about time management, competing tasks, etc. Tomorrow, on February 1st, 2022, Yaakov will begin his first day of work as a real employee. After almost 6 years, he will get his first paycheck.

We feel proud and honored that we were able to help Yaakov land his first job. This is what JBH is about, enabling Haredi men to support their families. We will do whatever it takes, but we want you to know that we aren’t able to do it without you. Thank you for your support and partnership, for enabling us to do what we do.

JBH has some exciting updates.

• We opened our 10th cohort in Jerusalem!
• Students in Bnei Brak took their high-school matriculation exams last week, and this week, they started learning how to code. Check out this recording (Hebrew) of a Bnei Brak student who couldn’t believe how far he had come in such a short time period.
• The coding curriculum is being enhanced by a new member of the JBH team, Professor Shlomo Kipnis, a leading tech authority and expert in curriculum development.
• A new program developed by JBH, in partnership with the JDC, has already helped Haredi men who completed high-tech vocational training programs and computer science degrees at other institutions find their first job in high-tech at leading companies.

In 2022, we plan on opening two additional cohorts, doubling our impact. We feel honored that we have the opportunity to enable hundreds of Bnei Torah to put bread on the table to support their families. There is no way that we would be able to continue to grow without your partnership and support.

Best regards,

Aharon Safrai