Minister of Education Shai Piron, Known for his fondness for magic solutions, he took a brave step and shared with parents and teachers the fact that he also takes Ritalin during the hours when he suffers from attention deficit disorder.
The issue arose when asked about Piron's coping with his years at school, during which he was described as "energetic," but was not diagnosed as suffering from the disorders, because the issue was less well-known and treated in those years.
The minister's admission and the honest conversation immediately raised the morale of the young people and their parents, who until now had been living their lives hiding the fact of their Ritalin use. The issue that many were ashamed of suddenly entered awareness and recognition.
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It is understandable that the fundamental, moral, and practical question related to medical medications for attention deficit disorders deserves in-depth and serious discussion, but it is impossible to ignore the fact that the problem does not lie in Ritalin, but in the disorder itself.
A guy who studied at one of the Lithuanian yeshivahs in Jerusalem told me that he was present to see the head of the yeshiva take Ritalin, as an old man and a regular, before the opening of each 'seder'.
One evening he approached the head of the yeshiva, told him about his difficulties, and asked for treatment, but the head of the yeshiva rejected him: "This is not for you." The young man suffered from a double predicament: the disruption of his studies and the inability to discuss and deal with the issue legitimately.
Later, the young man gathered courage and resourcefulness, purchased tablets and became a secret supplier of the product among the young men, until a situation arose in which the head of the yeshiva began to use him.
In these days, when awareness is expanding, perhaps it is time to open up the issue, talk about it, identify the difficulty among students and deal with them in a professional and acceptable manner, in one way or another.
Meanwhile, there are thousands of restless students, who, although they are manning the benches, have nothing on their minds.
The basic national concept Which flourished among us after the scars of World War II It is that the desired structure for each and every one for its fulfillment, and for the collective as a people and as a society, is the importance of a united nation and a common home. As a natural body to which man belongs, just as he was born to a mother and father, so he was born to his people, and only within its framework, only in the broad context and the connection of the Jew to his unique culture and to others, can our true fulfilling framework as a people be created.
This week, it seems that the vision is coming true in the shared attitude of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic public towards the Passover and Mimouna celebrations. It is very painful that the next day, instigators of strife and divisiveness arose and opened the spring season by drawing clear outlines of offensive polls, rivalry, division of camps and the disparagement of great and good people.
Reasonable procedureMy younger sister called me, terrified, from the plane's belly, a minute before her first takeoff: "They tell us here that in the event of a crash we have to put on the oxygen mask and breathe normally.".
Yes, when you find yourself inside a burning metal box about to explode at 1,000 km/h in the air, that's a pretty reasonable request.
