By Albert Kohn It is fair to say that there is a certain idealization of Israel amongst American Jews. While this is in part a reaction against the vitriolic rhetoric critical of Israel, it also a result of the time Jews—particularly youths—spend in Israel. From Birthright trips to gap year programs, thousands of Americans Jews […]
By Daniel Albert We see maps of Israel and we think of the smallest county in the world surrounded by these huge Arab nations on three sides and the Mediterranean Sea on the fourth. Right across the Mediterranean Sea, the Greek island of Cyprus, less than 200 miles away. I have a cousin living in […]
By Ilana Sandberg So here we are on Nachshon, a program made up of “camp people.” Let’s borrow a game from camp and play “word association” and all the sudden, we arrive at “campfire.” We also find ourselves using a great word for all of us Ulpan students: kumzitz. For those of you who are […]
By Daniel Livingston We had the opportunity to attend arguably the game of the year in Israeli basketball, Hapoel Jerusalem vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli basketball games are an interesting experience for an American sports fan: after all, the arena is half the size, and to be honest, well, the players half as good. Yet our […]
By Jamie Spock As American students, none of us on the Nachshon project can say that we met a founding father of our country or any country for that matter. So you can imagine how excited we were, as a cohort, when we found out that we would be meeting with former President and Prime […]
By Jonathan Marx How do we balance an emphasis on inclusion and diversity with the importance of finding a strong community which reflects one’s values? After spending a Shabbat in the beautiful town of Alon Shvut, my thoughts centered not on the varied political opinions about the Jewish communities of Gush Etzion, but on this […]
By Betty Soibel Growing up in secular Jewish household, Israeli literature was my most consistent and significant connection to my Jewish identity. I remember sitting in my suburban home in Los Angeles going on adventures with David Grossman in Someone to Run With and crying with A.B. Yehoshua in The Lover. But most of all, […]
By Ari Friedman Upon our arrival to Israel we knew that the Nachson Project was all about taking extra steps to give us unimaginably unique experiences during our semester. On Sunday, April 10th, our small group of 25 individuals had the honor of meeting a founding father of Israel for a private session. Shimon Peres […]
By Emily Rebenstock Last week we had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Stephen Arnoff, who recently stepped down from his position as the CEO of the national JCC organization. Although he touched upon his experience working for the JCC, his main goal was to help us develop our understanding of possible careers the Jewish […]
By Carly Abramson Stereotypes act as metaphysical borders that separate people from one another. When I think of a Jewish settlement, I automatically think radical, violent, underdeveloped; I could go on and on with negative assumptions. Once I became aware that we were going to stay on a Jewish settlement for Shabbat, I had immediate […]
