Brianna Hacker, Year Course 19-20, is currently interning at The Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISEES), an initiative promoting environmental studies and ecology in Israel. She recently authored the following article, featured in ISEES’ publication, Zavit.
by Jereme Weiner, Year Course 19-20
As a lifelong Judaean – six summers at Camp Judaea, Hadracha at Camp Tel Yehudah, and participating in Machon in Israel last summer – I feel like I have spent years preparing to having a truly meaningful Year Course experience, ready to connect what I learned at camp with life in Israel.
During my Hadracha summer at Tel Yehudah in 2017, we discussed all kinds of topics during our weekly Shabbat Israel Update. One week, I was frustrated to learn during a talk on gender issues at the Western Wall that women had significantly less rights to prayer at the Kotel and were not able to read from the Torah, among other restrictions. What could I do to get involved? How could I make my voice heard, too?
Last week, on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan (the first day of the new month), I joined seven other Year Coursers and our madricha, Sarah, for monthly prayers at the Kotel with Women of the Wall (WoW), a group whose mission is to “attain social and legal recognition of the right of women to wear prayer shawls, pray, and read from the Torah, collectively and aloud, at the Western Wall.” We joined the group at 7am, ready to show our support, and were amazed by the amount of people who had come to protest both for and against women’s rights at the Kotel. While WoW tried for more than half an hour to bring three small Torahs into the Western Wall plaza, security guards pushed us back and didn’t allow us in, while a crowd had gathered telling us to shut up and go home. It was a disheartening and frustrating experience to feel like my Judaism wasn’t being respected, and that fellow Jews were aggressively pushing us away from praying at the holiest site in Judaism.
After leaving, I thought back to that Israel Update during Hadracha – it felt like my Young Judaea experience had drawn a straight line from education to experience, not only exposing me to important topics in Jewish life and Israel while at camp, but bringing them to life while I live in Israel for the year. On Year Course, my views on Judaism and Zionism are constantly tested, questioned, and evolving. Seeing the issues we discussed at camp first-hand has been an experience I am so thankful for, and I can’t wait to see where my Year Course journey takes me.
Cafe Casbah is a cool little spot in Tel Aviv’s hip Florentine neighborhood, offering a nice and relaxed atmosphere.
Catering to a young and hip (and working on their laptops) crowd, Cafe Casbah’s vibe is best described as “90s counterculture,” with an indoor and outdoor space decorated with plants and a tons of stickers—everything from local bands to Jewish prayers to random websites.
With the Beatles and Rolling Stones playing overhead, we checked out the extensive and vegetarian-friendly menu: tofu stir-fry, veggie burgers, red and green shakshuka, salads, quiche, and more. We all ended up ordering a special deal for croissant or bagels with coffee, and were thoroughly impressed! The coffee was strong but not bitter, the bagels pretty impressive by Israeli standards.
Overall, we would strongly recommend the cafe. It was really nice to explore a different neighborhood through food, and it was definitely worth the fairly lengthy bus ride. We would rate this place an 8/10.
Cafe Casbah is located at 3 Florentine Street, Tel Aviv
Hello! My name is Rabbi Adam Drucker and I am the Director of Experiential Education for Young Judaea Year Course.
In a nutshell, my role involves curating experiences that enable our students to gain a deep understanding of themselves, their people, its history, culture and country, using the wonderfully diverse educational canvas that is Israel. Ever since joining the Year Course team and extended Young Judaea family two years ago, I have been blown away by the passion, professionalism and dedication of my colleagues and find myself waking up each morning with an unbounded drive to give my all to our incredible students.
My personal Israel story started while I was growing up in the UK and was fortunate enough to join my father on school Israel tours. I was instantly mesmerized by the place and have not stopped trying to engaging with the paradoxes the Zionist dream. After spending many years working for different educational institutions in England, I made Aliyah with my gorgeous family 4 years ago and we are now a part of an exciting new community in the southern city of Kiryat Gat.
I have dedicated my life to pluralist Jewish and Zionist education and still cannot believe how fortunate I am to have my dream job working for Young Judaea Year Course. Over my relatively short time as the Year Course Rabbi I have been so lucky to have met some of the most inspirational, energetic and authentic young people and have found something magical about actualizing meaningful moments for each of these students during their Year Course journey. I treasure Kabbalat Shabbat with the sun is setting over the Mediterranean to the journeys through the delicious strawberry fields of Gadera to the seemingly innocuous but life changing conversations that take place in my humble office in Beit Arel and everything in between.
Every student I have had the honor of guiding and teaching has moved me with their humility to open themselves up to new ideas and challenges. I find myself coming back to a famous Talmudic statement when trying to understand what Year Course means to me, “I have learnt a lot from my teachers, more from my peers but most from my students” – Ta’anit 7a . My hope is that students who participate in YC strive for authenticity in everything they do and continue to inspire all those around them (especially me!)