USY
David Keren, Israel Director

Today, USY Israel is responsible for facilitating various youth programs including: USY Pilgrimage, Nativ, Neshama, and various Jewish Day School trips to Israel.

Listen as David Keren explains about USY Israel Programs.

USY Israel Pilgrimage 2009 concludes another successful summer! There were 300 teenagers and staff in Israel this summer. Some groups went to Eastern Europe, Poland, and Italy prior to their arrival in Israel.

On one Shabbat we had four of our groups, with a total of over 200 people, at the Fuchsberg Center enjoying and using the entire facility. All of our USYers see the Fuchsberg Center as their "home away from home."

On July 16th, USY Israel Pilgrimage held its annual "mega event" which brought together all USYers and staff for an afternoon of competition, games, and a concert! Each team with its own color, cheered and worked together to have an amazing afternoon.

Several NOAM teens (the Masorti Youth movement) joined our Pilgrimage groups and spent a week with them as part of our desire to introduce American and Israeli teenagers in Israel.

Some of our groups helped David Fox, a Nativ 26 alum, who developed a special organic garden project for the kids at Yerucham, a development town in the Negev.

Plans are underway for for USY Israel Pilgtimage 2010.

Jewish Day School Trips To Israel 2009- 2010
coordinated by Jacob Jonah(J.J.)
Director, Youth Dept. Operations

Lev V'nefesh- Solomon Schechter 12th grade trip to Israel
Lev V'nefesh is a 2 month trip- 1 week in Poland and 7 more weeks in Israel during the months February March.
The trip in Poland is based on preparation they have done in their school. The kids plan and carry out ceremonies at each one of the camps.
The trip to Israel is an EDUCATIONAL trip. This means that the majority of the trip is learning the history of the Land of Israel. The students have special teachers who teach them in a class framework for an hour in the morning and then they go out and implement what they learned in class in the "field". There is also special programming and tiyulim that are also part of the trip. There is also a focus on learning about Israeli society through meeting Israelis, participating in cultural and other Israeli events and also through volunteering.

Chicagoland- Solomon Schechter High School in Chicago 12th grade trip
The Chicago trip to Israel is around the end of December and the first 2-3 weeks of January. The trip is EXPERIENTIAL based on themes per day. They enjoy a lot of fun, tiyulim, volunteering, learn about Israeli society and also go through the history. They spend one week in Jerusalem, one week in the south and week in the North.

Solomon Schechter Long Island 12th grade trip to Israel

The Long Island group comes for 3 weeks, at the end of May through the beginning of June. Their trip is also EXPERIENTIAL and spends short amounts of time in the North, South, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Hillel day School of Tampa and B'nai Shalom Day School of Greensborough
8th grade trip to Israel
Students from the two schools from the southern US join together for their first "taste" of Israel. They come in mid- May for 10 days with their teachers and accompanied by some parents. The trip consists of a lot of fun stuff for the kids as well as visits to historical and Jewish sites. It's a much "lighter" trip than the ones we have for the 12th graders and it has also a taste of the North, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Massada and Ein Gedi.

8 Agron Street, Jerusalem
Telephone (02) 625 - 6386, Fax (02) 623 - 4127
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7456
Jerusalem, 94265
E-Mail: Rabbi Ed Romm
www.uscj.org.il
© 2009