By current Year Course participant, Eden Harir

So much has happened so fast.

I’m overwhelmed by the abundance of people,

Not by their numbers,

But by their warm genuine souls.

The tiny African children,

Who yell as we walk past, 

Muzungoo! Muzungoo!

Crowd all around us, grabbing our hands,

Smiling so proudly, 

Just because of our presence.

The Agahozo children,

Welcome us kindly

Eager to learn all about us,

And take care of all our needs.

They are so ambitious,

Yearning to learn,

Willing to work hard,

And upholding responsibility.

They understand the importance of loving yourself,

Confident in their bodies,

And comfortable with their peers.

Their affection is unconditional,

And spreads to all those they interact with.

Their dreams stretch far and wide.

They hold so much hope and optimism,

Guided by their aspiration

To make this world a better place.

Their beautiful rich voices,

Lost in a sea of song,

Ringing and bouncing of the hills,

Purify the fruitful land

That once shed blood and war.

They live each day with very little,

Remembering that some people have less.

Thankful for every grain of rice they consume,

And humble with their possessions. 

They remain loyal to their culture,

Submerged in song and dance.

Talent flowing out of them,

And connecting them to their past.

They are each other’s support system,

Casually reciting inspirational quotes.

Treating Agahozo as their home,

And each other as brothers and sisters.

Despite their difficult backgrounds,

They are among the happiest of people.

Their spirit so uplifting,

And energy that emulates warmth.

Their passion is endless,

More honest and virtuous than anyone I know.

I can see the bright road ahead of them,

Guiding them to their immaculate futures.

Everyday I wonder more and more,

Why am I here?

They have everything they need right here.

And are clearly thriving off the opportunities they’ve been given.

What values can I possibly offer,

That they don’t already embrace?

These kids are brighter, happier, smarter

Than I will ever be.

And I am utterly overwhelmed.

They’ve taught me many things,

Through who they are.

I have no right to complain.

No right to be lazy.

No right to have spite.

And no reason to feel sorry for myself.

I came here thinking,

I could help them to succeed.

But instead they’ve helped me.

Their existence will remind me,

Everyday of my life,

Of the type of person I wish to be.

By Year Course participant, Hannah Solomon

After two tiring plane rides, and a five hour layover in Ethiopia, our group finally landed in Rwanda. We were all exhausted, but ready to dive headfirst into the three weeks that lay ahead. Stepping out of the airport, we were immediately greeted by the overwhelmingly beautiful scene of the green landscape filling Rwanda. It was extremely refreshing compared to the arid Middle Eastern climate we were all used to, but the blaring heat was just as bad. A small day trip through Kigali opened our eyes up to a completely new and exciting culture (we sampled a “Rwandan Chipotle”). The streets are busy, and buildings fill the skyline, showing glimpses of the rolling hills just beyond the horizon. Kigali bustles with a strong variety of people. Motorbike taxis zoom past, children walk to and from school pushing through the groups of adults, and some women carry themselves tall, while balancing belongings on their heads. Even the local shopping center was packed with souvenirs special to Rwandan culture. We all piled into our minibus, and settled in for the hour long journey to the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. As we drove, the scenery gradually changed from metropolitan men and women in their city, to children walking along the dirt road, with large mountain cliffs showcasing the countryside. Small clay houses stood at the ends of dirt paths, with families waving to us muzungus. We arrived at the village on Monday afternoon, and were warmly greeted by many smiling faces, handshakes and conversation.
The overwhelming day past quickly, and on Tuesday we were thrown right into volunteering, following a 6AM breakfast consisting of maize porridge, Rwandan tea, and one sweet roll. The 11 of us joined the Senior-4 class for their tikkun olam project, taking place in the neighboring village of Rubona. We left the village and walked along a dirt road, not really knowing what to expect. The kids walked in one large group, together in a general mix of excitement. I began a conversation with a few kids, and they told me what “tikkun olam” truly was. They educated me as if I had never heard of the Hebrew phrase before, and were so passionate about every word. These kids are filled with positive attitude, intelligence, and motivation aimed towards themselves and the world that is so strong and unique. I learned about how, in order to achieve tikkun olam, you must first do tikkun ha’alev. Repairing and mending your broken heart is the first step to repairing the world. I was very inspired by their words, but was still not entirely sure what we were doing…
We arrived to a small mud house, and walked far behind it, down a hill to a small clearing. The kids started overturning the dirt and laughing at each other in Kinyarwandan. They brought down jerry-cans full of water and poured it onto the dirt. Five barefoot girls sprung up and began stomping on the water, making mud. Wanting to get in on the action, we all quickly unlaced our shoes and took off our socks, diving feet-first into the mud piles. After making all that mud, we saw the boys and girls taking chunks of mud back up to the house. I
grabbed a pile of mud and made my way to the top of the hill, following in step with our bare and muddy feet. I walked into a scene filled with goats, chickens, and the kids throwing mud at the walls of this house! The project was re-surfacing this small house with a new layer. An assembly line began to form, and I took my position by the house, throwing small chunks of mud against the house, and smoothing it out. We all joined together, singing, laughing, dancing and occasionally hitting each other in the face with mud. Mud was splattering everywhere, and I was definitely the target of more than one mud-pie. We worked for an hour, and the progress was visible. Almost the entirety of the house was covered. The owner was a thin old man, sporting a cane, who had been watching us work the whole time. On my way out, I shook his hand and said, “nishimiye kuba menya,” (nice to meet you) showcasing my newly-learned Kinyarwandan skills, which had taken me almost the whole hour of working to learn. Even though it took me so long to learn, the kids never stopped trying to teach me. “Try and fail, but never fail to try” was the motto that almost ten different kids told me that day– on separate occasions. It was so eye-opening to be able to see the kids of the village use their resources to help anyone they can. I’m glad I got to be a part of it.
The tiring walk back to the village, caked in mud at the end of the day was definitely worth it.

Yael Sahar is the Year Course Bat Yam City Coordinator

This year will be my second year staffing one of the Olami trips on Year course. I believe that the trips around the world give our Year Course participants an opportunity to break out of their routine for a week and explore Jewish life in a different country and a different culture. This year we will be going together to Morocco, and the trip will focus on the experience of the Moroccan Jews who lived under Muslim rule since the 7th century and created a unique and rich heritage. In my opinion Morocco as a country has the best combination of colors, music and taste and at the same time have a rich Jewish history that we can learn about and a Jewish community there that we can meet. We will visit Casablanca, Morocco’s largest metropolis, and will go to one of the biggest mosque, Hassan II mosque. In Marrakesh we will stroll around the colorful markets and in Meknes we will walk through the Medina to search for the childhood home of Moshik’s (the executive director of Young Judaea Israel) great grandfather. On the last day we will hike down to see the breathtaking waterfalls of the Atlas Mountains.

This is a once in a life time opportunity and I’m so great full to be a part of it!

By Alisa Itskova, WUJS Fall 2014 Participant

Tel-Aviv, 31 January 2015

A week from now my Masa programme will be over and I will open a new chapter of my life. But as I’m writing these lines, I realize that the understanding of this fact hasn’t quite been processed by the right side of my brain. Ironically it feels like things have just got familiar, but time for a change has already caught up with me. Today I woke up with this confusing sensation of… sadness perhaps? I guess it’s always a little hard to break those habits and routines that we took a while to establish. I will miss those Tuesday tiyuls (trips) together with my WUJS group, our cozy evenings with the girls in Merhaviya apartment when we’d tell each other about our day, our amazingly delicious Shabbat dinners that would tear to pieces any hope of ‘becoming healthier and eating little portions’. I will probably even miss a little things that I’m certainly not fond of now, like waking up at 8 a.m. to the volcano-like sounds of drills downstairs as the municipality of Tel-Aviv is relentlessly working towards improving the quality of asphalt in our beloved Florentin neighbourhood.

Yet I know that this momentary melancholy will pass away. Eventually the fresh wind of change and novelty will blow away these nostalgic impulses like the mighty dark waves of the Mediterranean wipe away a lonely wanderer’s footprints on the sand.

I remember that soon after I came to Israel five months ago, we sat in a circle on the floor with my new WUJS friends and as we dipped apple slices into honey, we talked about what we wanted to wish each other and ourselves in the new year (a beautiful tradition on Rosh Hashanah that I hope I will not forget). Then I wished to become a more accepting and optimistic person, who’s embracing her experiences and looks bravely and with gratitude at the past, present and future, whatever they may hold. And while this is something I’m continuously working on, I’d like to take a moment and look back at my time here in Israel and recall the brightest moments of this beautiful journey.

One of the best things that came my way is definitely The Stage, an English speaking community theatre group in Tel-Aviv. I was introduced to The Stage by Jessica, a former WUJS participant who stayed in Israel after her Masa programme and eventually made Aliyah. At the meeting with Young Judaea alumnus, Jess mentioned that on top of her start-up business and her day job she was also involved in the Production Committee of The Stage and they always welcome new volunteers into the organization. The idea of being a part of an actual theatre group seemed thrilling to me, especially as I was about to intern for a film production company and I was eager to get as much hands on experience as possible. Soon after this lucky encounter I was participating in the Production Committee meeting for an upcoming production (One Act plays) that The Stage was putting on for an Arts Day in Tel-Aviv under the slogan “Art in unexpected places”. I was coming to every single rehearsal and learned a lot about how The Stage operates and organizes itself in order to produce amazing shows. My first role was working with Lighting and as a member of the Front of House team. Soon after that show, our creative Arts Committee came up with a new idea of Miscast!, a musical where all the parts are performed by singers who have been deliberately miscast. I joined the production team as an Assistant Producer and I was involved in every single stage from planning to auditions to rehearsals to the final two days of show, which was a great success. We sold out and received a great deal of positive reviews from the audience. As a result there’s going to be Miscast! “Part 2” in April with new performances and I’m very happy, honoured and excited to be once again a part of the amazing team who will bring this show to life.

On top of this project I’m about to start working on a new original production, a play by an Israeli author Hanoch Levin that we translated to English as well as assisting our Business Development team in importing the infamous musical Rent from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv (for the first time ever!). None of us is making any money at The Stage, it is a fully non-commercial volunteer-run community project, but I’m extremely proud of dedication and professionalism of our group. It is a wonderful feeling to be a part of it, to see how the efforts of your continuous work bring such great results, to meet talented and inspiring people, to hear how much the audience has enjoyed the show…

Besides the shows, The Stage is also running a number or workshops in acting, singing, musical theatre etc. During the last couple of months in Israel I’ve fulfilled one of my long-forgotten dreams and finally joined the acting workshop. We are about to have our last class soon followed by a final performance showcasing the skills we learned during these amazing eight weeks. It’s OK that I won’t be getting an Oscar any time soon, but I’ve definitely had tons of fun, made new friends and I feel like I’ve become much more confident when it comes to speaking in public.

There was also another great thing that happened to me here in Tel-Aviv. Exactly one month after I had landed in the Holy Land I found myself sitting at the table with some amazingly talented and inspiring women discussing contemporary issues that female leaders have to face in their everyday professional and personal lives. The organization or rather the community that’s organizing these meetings is called Lean In Circles. In a nutshell these are small groups for women that gather once a month “to encourage and support each other in an atmosphere of confidentiality and trust”. The goal of these circles is to empower women by providing them with tools and know-how to achieve their goals through “an open exchange of ideas and information”. Sometimes our organizers host a successful female guest speaker to lead a round table, other times we simply share some personal stories with each other on a given topic. Through these short narratives of moments in life we “lean in” or “lean back”, supporting and inspiring each other to achieve bigger and bolder goals. After every such meeting I find myself truly empowered, no matter what is happening in my life at that moment. I come back home with a bright flame of hope in my heart.

I think that feeling of interconnection with people around me is what made me fall in love with this unique country in the first instance. Surely there are plenty of wonderful organizations, movements and communities in other places around the world to feed my mind and soul. But only in Israel I found this amazing feeling of belonging, which is growing stronger and stronger every day. I think we all did. As I discover more interesting initiatives, movements and groups of people, I am always surprised to find out that already a few of my friends from other circles are also a part of it. Whether it’s a political panel discussion, a lecture in a bar, a yoga class or a group hike in the desert I keep meeting familiar faces and it doesn’t stop to amaze me. My local friends joke that Israel is one big village or a kibbutz if you like it. No matter how diverse we all are, what countries we come from, what views we have on political matters, what being Jewish means to each of us, we all feel somehow connected to one another. What unites us even more is that we all want the best for this country. I haven’t made Aliyah yet (although I’m about to), but I already find myself preoccupied with the future of Israel and its people, and even more so now in the view of upcoming elections. I started to feel the continuous urge to follow all the news related to Israel, to understand its social and political intricacies. And despite all the complexities of life here, all the differences in people’s backgrounds and their stances, I am deeply fond of the warmness that so many Israelis have for one another. I mean in what other country you get invited for a cup of tea when you buy your camping gear or receive hugs and high fives from your boss? I also admire Israelis’ reverent relationship to their land, nature and environment, their universal love for good and healthy food, their true care for one another in times of hardship and even their amusing need to always tell you that they are going to pee now (yes, you can definitely add this point to the list of common Israeli features).

As expected, I’ve also fallen in love with Tel-Aviv, and just like Carrie Bradshaw with New York, I am happy to say that I’m enjoying a very unique and fascinating relationship with my city. I love its beautiful beaches and cozy bars, its creative graffiti scenes and green boulevards with colorful arty benches, its dog-friendly… everything really and its countless cats that give the city even more character. I love its randomness, its free spirit and its hidden surprises many of which I am yet to discover. It’s been hell of a ride, full of discoveries and revelations and even though I don’t know what future might hold for me, I’m now embarking on this new journey more inspired than I’ve ever been in my life.

 

 

By Sarah Silverstein, current Yama participant

This past week in Jerusalem, Benjy’s Comparative Religions class explored the contemporary Jewish community. Our class spent the last two sessions learning about the physical presence of Judaism in Jerusalem. This session’s theme was The Bookends of Jewish Jerusalem- from Reform to Haredi. We focused on what led to the creation of the different streams of Judaism. We learned about the Ultra Orthodox (Haredi), Modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements and their communities. We focused mostly on the Reform community and the Haredi community. Both communities have distinctive qualities and different views on how to practice Judaism.

We began our day at the Kol Haneshama Community Synagogue where the Rabbi spoke to us about the Reform Jewish movement. From this discussion the class began to understand that the Reform community aims to find a peaceful combination of religion and modern concepts. I felt this type of outlook was easy to relate to. As a teenager growing up in the 21st century, it is refreshing to see religion evolve along with society.

The group then headed to the Belz Synagogue to learn a bit about the Hasidic Belz community. The Belz Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Israel, was an extremely impressive and beautiful building. With fourteen floors, the shul was capable of accommodating thousands of people in regards to all of the sectors of Jewish life. Rabbi Yeheskel, a Rabbi of the shul gave us a tour of the building and opened up a dialogue with the group. We all asked questions about the Hasidic community and its traditions. As a graduate of a Modern Orthodox Yeshiva, I did not feel extremely phased by what Yeheskel was telling and showing us. While I personally accept modern values and traditional Halacha, I can understand why the Ultra Orthodox community shies away from modernity. Modernity can bring about change and the Haredi community is uninterested in altering their level of commitment to the written Torah and its Halacha. Most of the students found it difficult to understand the Haredi world but felt fascinated to have had the opportunity to learn about it.

Growing up in a Zionist household I was always told that Israel was the Jewish homeland. This siyur gave the Chanichim of Year Course a direct opportunity to see the people that make up the Jewish homeland. While we each practice Judaism in our own way, it is interesting to learn more about the streams of Judaism to see where we as individuals fall on the spectrum.