By Leah Sherin Although the semester is not yet over, we already experienced one of our closing programs as we spent Shabbat together in Ein Gev on the beautiful Kinneret. This Shabbaton was a really special culminating experience, from a meaningful community Kabbalat Shabbat on the beach, to spending Shabbat afternoon swimming in the Kinneret, […]
By Shira Forester "Even in complete darkness, a single light is enough to illuminate an entire room. Just one spark, one flame, has the power to transform total darkness and to allow us to see what we might not have been able to see before." These are the words that another fellow from my cohort, […]
By Harris Mevorah Last week, at the final Shabbaton in Ein Gev, Rabbi Zeff led a session describing "reverse culture shock." Having been on a lengthy Israel program before, I thought I knew what the transition back to the US would be like. However, when Rabbi Zeff began going through the symptoms of what it […]
By Sarah Kusnitz The Torah is written with black in on white parchment. Both the black and the white work together to tell the origin story of the Jewish people. It’s something that is read frequently and studied, by some, every single day. That engagement is usually done from the scroll itself or from a […]
By Shachar Cohen-Hodos Professor Reimer’s session on "How the American Jewish Community is Organized” was probably one of the most important sessions that we’ve had this semester. I believe that to be effective educators, leaders, advisors, clergy, and Jewish community members it is vital that we have a strong understanding of the history of the […]
By Sami Frankel My first time in Israel was four years ago as a participant in Ramah Israel Seminar. After ten harrowing days in Poland, we arrived in Israel on June 30th, 2014, and we knew that we were stepping into a developing war zone. Not five hours earlier, as we were sitting in the […]
By Ami Nadiv This week, we had the pleasure of hearing from Rabbi Leon Morris – the President of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. Rabbi Morris spoke to us about his experiences as a rabbi and as an educator. I was inspired by Rabbi Morris’s daring to craft a religious identity that, although sometimes […]
By Racheli Shafier I grew up in a home that many would call non-Zionist. After all, there was no Israeli flag anywhere, no acknowledgement of Yom Ha’atzmaut, and no HaTikvah. But if you ask me, my family embodies the kind of Zionism that existed long before Herzl and long before the nineteenth century. The Zionism […]
By Eva Bogomolny Prior to our Sunday workshop with career consultant Larry Braman, the cohort had the assignment to complete an online interest report. This report was a lengthy questionnaire which prompted us with a wide variety of interests, which we had to rank. These interests spanned from future career paths to leisure activities. With […]
By Jenna Weberman After an insightful Shabbaton in Alon Shvut, our cohort had the pleasure of meeting with Andie and Noor from “Shorashim,” a grass-roots activist movement aimed at building understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. Shorashim translates to “Roots,” a word which embodies the goal of the organization; as a grassroots movement, Shorashim, or Roots, […]
