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!)

Tucked away on Gordon Street, between the bustling thoroughfares of Dizengoff and Ben Yehuda, the always-packed Cafe Xoho offers patrons a funky and delicious blend of American-Israeli food with a relaxed and brunch-y vibe.

As North Americans transplanted to Israel, we’ve been on the hunt for good bagels and Cafe Xoho did not disappoint! We also tried a great burrito (who could imagine a great burrito in Tel Aviv?) and the chips and guacamole tasted as good as at home. We didn’t get a chance to try the amazing-looking pancakes and baked goods, but there’s an extensive and creative drink menu and we can report that having the option to add haloumi cheese to just about any dish is definitely worth the extra splurge.

With a fair amount of seating inside and out, solid service and decent prices, we’ll be happy to make Cafe Xoho one of our top spots while living in Tel Aviv!

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Cafe Xoho is located at Gordon Street 17 in Tel Aviv, easy walking distance from lots of buses on Ben Yehuda and Dizengoff and nice and close to the beach!

Much has been written concerning the Jewish calendar and the tapestry of meaning it weaves throughout the year, with the months and their festivals calling us to examine the relationships in our lives, each at the opportune time. We now find ourselves in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, that moment of the year when our relationship with the self is brought to the fore. From the shofar blasts that ring out from the start of Elul, all the way until the end of Yom Kippur, we are urged to shake off the cobwebs of complacency and reset ourselves onto the path of self-actualization. Yet, often we can make resolutions that don’t stick and committing to personal changes that don’t last. There are of course several reasons for these missteps, with many books on how one can create combat.

Two aspects of my life give me the strength to continue on the path of self-improvement at this time of year. The first is living in a country that has shaped itself around the Jewish calendar and its overarching goals. From hearing radio hosts discussing what they felt during the Shofar to listening to two market sellers comparing their slichot service experience, I find myself immersed in a culture that values what this time of year is about. The second comes with my role on Year Course. During the year I have the absolute honor to provide educational experiences for young people who are also on some form of self-discovery. Not only does that journey present opportunities for students to question who they are and what they want to become, but it pushes me to ask myself the same questions.

The dual aspect of living in the Jewish homeland while engaging in a program that compels me to ask and answer the hard questions makes me a better version of me. I hope that by exploring the country and reflecting on the experiences you will have, propels you to become better versions of yourselves. Wishing you all a happy and sweet new year.

Shana Tovah,

Rabbi Adam

Shalom! I’m Joel Srebrenick – lifelong Young Judaean and Tel Aviv Experience Manager for Year Course in Israel. As a Year Course alumnus and former Year Course madrich (counselor), as well as an expert in all things Tel Aviv, I get to employ all of the useful things I’ve learned over the years to make the Tel Aviv semester an amazing four months.

Year Course is divided into two semesters – one primarily volunteering in Tel Aviv, and one mainly educational in Jerusalem, and I’m responsible for the Tel Aviv experience: from overseeing the maintenance and upkeep of Beit Hillel, our dorm-style building in the Montefiore neighborhood, to making sure kids make the most of the city’s many different cultural opportunities, to helping them feel fulfilled in their volunteering and Israel experiences, and so many more things – some planned and even more on the spur of the moment. On an average day, I might visit a chanich at their volunteer placement, help the section’s madrichim plan an activity on Israeli politics in the afternoon, and connect the whole group to the world of social activism in Tel Aviv by facilitating a guest speaker in the evening.

As a longtime Judaean, I bring with me to Tel Aviv the values instilled in me first as a camper at CYJ Sprout Laker and both a camper and staff member at Camp Tel Yehudah, as a Machon summer trip participant, as National Mazkir of the Young Judaea movement, as a Year Courser, a Year Course madrich, and now for the last few years, as Tel Aviv Experience Manager.

Year Coursers’ experience in Tel Aviv is all the more important to me because I live here, too! Having made aliyah in 2016 and becoming a citizen, people often ask why I decided to move to Israel. Is it any surprise that the answer is Year Course? As a madrich, I saw just how incredibly meaningful the volunteering semester was for so many of my chanichim. Having the opportunity to be part of the relationship that young American Jews have with this country – becoming invested in its future, and contributing to the society by helping to build it alongside Israelis – inspired me to make the long-term commitment.

My best Year Course memory is from my year as a chanich, and I’m reminded of the experience every time I help chanichim plan a weekend trip camping or hiking in one of Israel’s many beautiful parks and reserves. It was late December of 2010, and I had traveled to Mizpe Ramon with a group of friends where we spent the weekend at a cool outdoor hostel – sleeping in tents, cooking our own food, and navigating our way around the crater. It was the first time in my life that that I felt truly independent, not only as a young adult, but as a Jewish American in Israel. I understood that in addition to making new friends, getting to know Israel, and having a ton of fun, Year Course was a journey of my own personal growth, one that that influences me even to this very day.

I consider myself truly lucky to make new Year Course memories, and even more lucky that I get to experience my favorite moment of the year not once, but twice. When each section arrives in Tel Aviv, there’s that excited, nervous energy bubbling in the group. If it’s the first semester, the chanichim are embarking upon their first big post-high school experience, stepping out of their comfort zones and becoming independent in a way they’ve never been before. If it’s second semester, the arrival in Tel Aviv, a non-stop, cosmopolitan city, can be a big change from Jerusalem’s quainter atmosphere. At some point in their first few weeks, we all go to the beach together on Saturday for Havdallah, the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and beginning of a new week. It’s a beautiful and welcoming moment, when I get to see everyone suddenly feel part of the city together as one group, ready to grow and take advantage of all the things that Tel Aviv has to offer.

As we start a new Year Course year, there are all kinds of things to manage: schedules, room assignments, volunteer placements, guest speakers, excursions, educational activities, and, well, everything that goes on behind the scenes. But alongside all of the logistics, I’m also getting ready to share one of the most important values instilled me as a Judaean: to create a better understanding of Israeli society, inviting young and engaged American Jews to be part of the conversation about the future of Israel and what this land will look like in the years to come, to feel empowered with the knowledge and experience gained this year, and maybe, like me, to one day call this country home.

Hi YJ world, my name is Dr. Avi Rose and I am the Director of Academics and Education. Why the double title you ask? Because we at Year Course are doubly committed to learning. On the one hand, many students on YC seek academic credit to get their college careers off to a great start. So, we work with the American Jewish University to give those credits at the highest possible standard, with instructors who are trained and experienced in their field of expertise. On the other hand, we are a movement program, dedicated to our ideals of Judaism, Zionism, Leadership, Social Action and Pluralism. It is my job to create learning  that includes all these elements in a way that is interesting and meaningful. It’s a job I love!

I’m a relative latecomer to YJ, I joined the movement when I joined the YJ team in 2003. I’m pleased to say that ever since, I’ve done my best to bring out the best in our movement. I’ve taught hundreds of students in all those years and I couldn’t be more proud of them and their accomplishments. They are part of a huge network of Judaeans who are doing their part to change the world in large and small ways. Everywhere I go in my professional life, I always end up meeting one of those Judean alumni, they seem to be in almost every field. The one thing they all have in common is a sense of mission and purpose. Almost all of them will tell you that they got this from their YJ upbringing.

I even bought my treasured Mah Jonng set from a Year Course grad who was on the program before I was born. She answered an ad I placed online and we ended up chatting for hours about her YC and how it changed her life. I think of her and her journey every time I play.

I’ve lived in Israel since 2002, after many years of going back and forth between Jerusalem and Canada. After completing my Phd, I decided that it was time to ‘take the plunge’ and fulfill my dream of making Israel my home. A few years later, I met a great British guy and he agreed to build a home with me here in Israel. Today, we live in the capital where we are raising our twin children. Our kids love to meet “Abba’s students” so don’t be surprised if they show up on campus and ask you to play.

In my years at YJ, I’ve loved nothing more than watching students face their challenges. I’ve worked with students who dreamed of achieving educational or professional goals, overcome personal obstacles, or simply try out new directions in life. My greatest joy is meeting these students as they progress through life after YC, in college, as young professionals, parents and sometimes as colleagues.

Year Course is something that sticks with you. It’s a year that really lasts a lifetime, with experiences, learning and friendships that remain part of who you are. It’s a launch pad to a life of independence, community, commitment and exploration. It may sound a bit cliche, but I am truly proud and honored  to play a small role in this very big adventure.

 I look forward to meeting you and having join our unique community, I know you will make it even better!

My Young Judaea pedigree goes back to age 13, when my older sister tricked me into attending a YJ club meeting in Nashua, NH. I was hooked from the start and became active in my club, my region, camp and eventually Israel. After loving my Year Course experience despite a war in the middle of it, I knew I had to get back. Junior year abroad at Hebrew University and then my year as a Year Course madricha solidified my conviction that #ycneverends and I have been on a path towards never leaving ever since.

After making Aliya to Israel, I ran the theatre program at Merkaz Hamagshimim for 9 years, worked at Hebrew College in Boston for 3 and a half years, and found my way back to Year Course in 2009 where I have been happily working my way up to director ever since. As Director of Year Course, I get to navigate the intersection between education and administration of the program and see our students through a 9-month journey of personal growth, grappling with identity, and Israel adventure. My favorite part of the job is that it is always changing. Local, national and international weather, politics, culture and more (of multiple countries), can divert us from our regularly scheduled program and make for exciting challenges of how we stay dynamic and able to react to the world around us without missing out on the things we’ve already planned. It is never boring!

I hope our students are learning how to balance our history with our future. I hope they are allowing the “boring stuff that happened a long time ago” to be relevant as a lens through which they understand who and how they want to contribute to the world around them.

Rhianna Bongart
Year Course 2018-2019

Joining FZY in 2016, Year Course was a name thrown around a few times over our four-week trip to Israel, but quite frankly, it didn’t mean anything to me. The idea of taking a year out before I went to University was never something I had planned on, nor thought about before, but during my continued involvement in FZY, it became something I considered more and more. Since my first visit to Israel, my love for this amazing place has only grown stronger and stronger. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone to hear about my plans to move to Israel soon after I graduated University. It was always the plan to finish up a-levels, get a degree, then come here, I mean, what other way was there to do it? That was the thing everyone did, school, university, then onto the big wide world. The dreaded conversation starter of ‘Hi Mum and Dad, I don’t want to go to University next year!’ was how my year course journey initially began.

This year has been an absolute rollercoaster. I’m sure I can speak on behalf of most people, if not everyone, to say I didn’t entirely know what I was getting myself into the day I arrived in Israel. How does one actually prepare to go away from the comfort of home for 9 months? It isn’t an amount of time you can easily measure. How on earth did I pack-up my entire life into two suitcases? Personally it was one of the hardest things to do. Why didn’t my Mum let me bring the same shoes in 3 different colours? I’m sure I would have worn them all…at least once anyway! And most importantly, who are these people I’m literally going to be living on top of for the next 9 months?

One thing that was a struggle was keeping updated on everything back home, everyone’s started at University, got a whole new group of friends, more gossip than a text can hold, but when is there time to sit have these conversations with 15 people that I took for granted every day? Thankfully, time difference was on my side, but these aren’t the usually holiday catch up calls where you made one friend by the pool. These are catch ups with 20 new names thrown into every conversation, my best friend still gets confused between who’s Sydney and who’s Shayli, me trying to explain the floor plan of Beit Hillel, and why on earth it sounds like there’s a riot outside, which to be fair, there usually was in my apartment, thank you Tut Front! This mad-house we call Year Course became our reality, became our lives, and honestly, I don’t know how on earth it has gone so fast.

My personal Year Course journey taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that following the generic path that suits most people isn’t necessarily what I wanted to follow, that I wanted something different and there was no reason to do something just to please others.

Spending this year with such a diverse group of people really has taught me a lot of things, one awfully important one being that maybe my standards of cleaning are slightly, ever so slightly, too high. Everyone had something to offer, every single person brought something to the table that made this group of people who we are, and I honestly couldn’t be more thankful for that.

My personal Year Course journey taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that following the generic path that suits most people isn’t necessarily what I wanted to follow, that I wanted something different and there was no reason to do something just to please others. A month into Year Course I started looking around at different options, things I could do and paths I could take, if I did take the step to make aliyah. Every single person had a different opinion, and every single person had valid points about why their programme would suit me best. Constantly replaying in my head was the conversation I had with my Dad before I left London, him saying ‘I worry about sending you if you aren’t going to come home’ and me replying with, ‘What do you mean?! I have a place at University, of course I’m coming back’… oops, sorry Dad! Thankfully, I had the biggest support team here, from conversations with Joel about programmes, and with Amit and Ilana about jobs in the army, and the tzofim who were more excited than I was about the prospect, I made the decision that next year I won’t be attending University and I will be making aliyah.

Following that decision came a few weeks of really hard phone calls, telling my nearest and dearest that I’d be back for a few months and then I’m off to join a foreign army and live in a country a 5 hour flight away, and thank goodness I had people around me to hold my hand, and cry with me, there were a lot of tears. Since then, everything I have done has shown me that I have made the correct decision. It is also so comforting for my parents to know that if anything were to happen here, I have a support system just as big as I do at home, ready to help if I need anything. Think about it, Ilana and I already have friday night dinner plans, Amit will definitely miss taking me to the doctor for my continuous ear problems that I’m sure will continue, and Elior already offered to do my washing if I’m in Jerusalem- I’m completely sorted!

Sometimes differing from the norm is needed, it works for some, it doesn’t work for others. Without Year Course, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to change my plans, I wouldn’t have a new group of friends, and I certainly wouldn’t have all the memories from this year. So here’s a thank you, to all of you here today, for making my Year Course journey what it has been. I can’t wait to see what amazing things everyone will achieve in the future, and remember, you’ll always have a home in Israel.

Gia Blum
Year Course 2018-2019

Reaching the end of our Year Course is an emotional time for all of us. It’s hard to think about leaving everything we’ve known for the past 9 months. Our homes, friends and routines.

Being at the end makes you think a lot about the beginning. I have a request for my fellow Year Coursers: take a second to think about your first day on Year Course – the first time you met the people that would become your best friends, the first time you slept next to your roommate, your first family dinner. Take a second to remember the person you were on that day, how scared and excited you were for the next 9 months.

All of us found Year Course differently. Some of us grew up knowing we would go because our parents or siblings did, some of us went to Young Judaea camp, and some of us thought we needed some time off after high school. For me, Year Course came in a completely random way.

I grew up in Kentucky. We’re a Jewish family, but it is not a Jewish environment at all. I was the only Jewish kid in my class, and I didn’t know anything about what it meant to be Jewish. I tried. I remember as a 10 year old Googling what it meant to be Jewish, but I never really got it. I started working at my local JCC in 2016, and two years later, my boss, who was also Jewish, invited me to join a March of the Living delegation. “Why not?” I thought – it seemed like one of my last chances to do something really Jewish. By the time I went on the trip, I had already committed to college, but that week I spent in Israel opened my eyes to something I’d never seen before. On the very last day, as I stood at the Kotel, I called my mom and told her I was postponing college and coming to Israel for a year. It didn’t go over well. I couldn’t explain why I made the choice I did, it was impulsive and irrational, but I knew I couldn’t leave behind something that made me so happy.

I’m leaving Year Course a different person than I started in one very specific way: when I arrived in Israel this past September, I wasn’t actually, legally, halachically Jewish. I had found this out while applying to other gap year programs after returning from March of the Living, and had been rejected because my mother is not Jewish. Even though I was raised Jewish, and even though it was a part of who I was, I was rejected from a Jewish gap year program. That rejection led me to Young Judaea Year Course, and to Rabbi Adam Drucker, Year Course’s Director of Jewish Life, who for the nine months of this program helped me study to convert so that a Jewish organization could never again tell me that I’m not Jewish. And so, as of May 19, 2019, under all the laws and rules, just like I always knew I was, I officially converted to Judaism.

I spent a lot of this year wondering what will happen when I leave the bubble of this gap year, but Year Course taught me that wherever you are, whether you’re going to college, or joining the IDF, or taking more time off, you can thrive if you have the right people behind you.

For the past nine months, I thought that finding Israel, finding Year Course, would be the thing that changed my life. I thought I had found what made me happy. There is nothing like living in Israel! We have all made memories for a lifetime. But what I have realized is that the reason this year was the best year of my life, was not only the place – it was the people.  What really changed my life wasn’t moving across the world, it wasn’t living in the Middle East. My roommates changed my life. My (Garin Atid) scout, Adi, changed my life. Meeting Rabbi Adam, that changed my life.

I spent a lot of this year wondering what will happen when I leave the bubble of this gap year, but Year Course taught me that wherever you are, whether you’re going to college, or joining the IDF, or taking more time off, you can thrive if you have the right people behind you. I know that if next year I have people anything like the people I’ve met this year, I’ll be just fine.

During my life-changing moments and study sessions with Rabbi Adam, he taught me something that I will remember forever, that I believe gives me insight into how we move on from this year and still make sure it wasn’t just a set of isolated experiences that has no connection to the rest of our lives.

Rabbi Adam taught me that whenever we finish a chapter or section of Jewish learning, there is a tradition to say the Aramaic phrase Hadran Aluch, which translates to “we will return to you.” Usually when we complete a piece of learning or a significant chapter in our lives ends, we naturally wish to move on and begin to tackle the next challenge or explore the next adventure. What can sometimes happen is that although we may have gained from the learning we undertook and enjoyed it in the moment, our elation at its conclusion causes us to close it off and forget why we loved it while we were in the moment. Hadran Aluch comes to remind us that although one should be proud of their achievement, the course of study only means something if we internalize it, and consciously “return to it” as we continue with our lives.

This lesson is something which we can all reflect on Year Course 2018-19 comes to a close. Although the program is over, the experiences we had, the lessons we have learned, the real people we met,  and the family we made will live on in us far beyond this year.

Special interest month is an incredible time on Year Course, and arguably one of the best experiences of the whole year. After eight months of volunteering and courses, of ulpan Hebrew classes, trips around Israel and the world, workshops, seminars, after learning to save lives with Magen David Adom, practicing army skills on Marva, and making the desert bloom at Kibbutz Ketura, after having fun and gaining 100 new friends, there’s only one thing left to do: enjoy Israel!

For one entire month, Year Coursers get to simply experience everything this incredible country has to offer them, whether it’s meaningful volunteer work, surfing the waves off Tel Aviv, hiking and camping from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterannean, or exploring the desert near the Dead Sea.

This year we had an amazing addition to Special Interest Month: Rabbi Adam’s Road Trip. Year Coursers are currently spending one whole week with Rabbi Adam Drucker, Director of Jewish Life on Year Course, who hand-picked his favorite spots all around the country and is introducing Year Coursers to some of Israel’s best-kept secrets. We’re only a couple days in and can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has in store.

Rabbi Adam made aliyah from the UK nearly four years ago with his family, and in that time has built a wonderful collection of places to visit in Israel. Each spot gives chanichim (participants) a chance to explore, appreciate and engage with a different aspect of Israel – agriculture, Zionist history, nature, preservation projects, industry, and of course food!

Rabbi Adam’s Road Trip highlights include:

• Strawberry picking in Gedera
• Stalactite caves in the Judaean lowlands
• Chocolate and wine tasting at Tishbi Winery
• Atlit, where Jewish refugees were held by the British before Israel was founded
• Numerous parks and hikes

 

Learn more about Year Course in Israel