The 2009 Summer Fellowships blog

Welcome,
We hope you all enjoy The Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel’s blog for this summer.  We”ll be sure to post updates whenever we can.

Ariel Fisher, Counselor
Rachel Cohen, Counselor
Rabbi Shimon Felix, Executive Director

Coming Home

The Fellows are now packing, and we will be off to our final banquet and the airport in a few hours. The Fellows are flying on El-Al Flight 001, landing at JFK at 5:40 AM on Wednesday – I know you are looking forward to seeing your personal Fellow, and that they are looking forward to coming home. It has been a great summer, and we are all looking forward to the follow-up seminar in New York on November 1-3.

Our Last Week in Israel

Our last week in Israel has been extremely busy, and included meetings with Dr. Steve Cohen, one of America’s foremost Jewish sociologists, who spoke to the group about trends in American Jewish life, and Dyonna Ginsburg of the social action group B’ma’agaley Tzedek (Wheels of Justice), who spoke about her organization’s efforts in Israel on behalf of workers’ rights and handicapped access. We walked through the ultra-Orthodox Meah Shearim neighborhood, visited the Old City and downtown Jerusalem, and went to Chutzot Hayotzer, an arts and crafts, food and music fair just outside the walls of the Old City.

Week 5 — Contemporary Issues Facing Israel and World Jewry

The Fellows are in the middle of a week devoted to contemporary issues facing Israel and world Jewry. We’ve met with Anat Hoffman of the Israel Religious Action Center, who spoke to us about the intersection of religion and the state in Israel; David Segal of the foreign ministry, who briefed us on the complexities of the Middle East situation and the policies of the Israeli government; Dr. Adel Mana, an Israeli Arab intellectual who spoke to us about the issues facing his community and their aspirations; visited the Chassidic Belz Synagogue and met with a spokesperson; went to Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl, Israel’s largest military cemetery; climbed Masada; visited a range of synagogue options on Shabbat, and did a study session at Bet Morasha about how Israeli soldiers train to make moral decisions in battle. This is only a partial list, and we still have plenty more to do! The Fellows are well, dealing with the heat and long hours fairly successfully, and are fully awake for almost everything we do. We are looking forward to commemorating the fast day of the ninth of Av on Wednesday night and Thursday, and visiting the Machane Yehuda open air market on Friday. Hope you enjoy the new pictures.

Week 4 slideshow

Slideshow – Up North, week 3

View all pictures on our photo sharing site>> flickr.com/photos/byfi.

July 20th Update

The Fellows left the north on Thursday evening, after a fabulous kayak ride down the Jordan River, and were taken to their respective Israeli hosts’ homes. The kids had a great time; ate, slept, got laundry done, went to the beach, visited various synagogues, shopped at malls, hiked, and on Saturday night just about everyone went to the movies, all over Israel, to see Harry Potter. On Sunday morning the Israeli and American Fellows were all transported to Sdeh Boker, in the Negev desert, for study sessions, hikes, and jeep rides, all of which they are busy doing right now. Tomorrow they will be in Eilat, and will return to Jerusalem on Tuesday night. We will then be based again in Jerusalem until the end of the program, concentrating on contemporary social and political issues.

Up North

The Fellows just returned from a wonderful week up north. Highlights include a fabulous water hike in the Yehudia River in the Golan Heights, a swim in the Kinneret, visits to the historic Roman-era Jewish towns of Bet Shearim and Zippori in the Galilee, a tour of the Israel-Syrian border, and a visit to a chocolate factory in the Golan. Since Tuesday evening, the Fellows have been together with our Amitim – Israeli Fellows – in Zfat, and just set off for weekend home stays with them. Their Mifgash – encounter – has been a great success, and included a meeting at Haifa University with Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua, who discussed Jewish identity in Israel and the Diaspora. After the weekend, they will regroup at Sdeh Boker in the Negev, for three days of hiking, swimming, and study, before returning to Jerusalem on Tuesday night. The Fellows are doing very well with both the physical and intellectual demands of the program, and will, I am sure, be very grateful for this Shabbat home stay with their Israeli peers.

Week 2

The weather has been great, a bit cooler than usual, which is a blessing. The Fellows have been extremely receptive to everything we’ve been experiencing, and are invariably ready, willing, and able to learn and discuss until the cows come home – we’re trying to make sure they stop talking at some stage and get some sleep.

Today we returned to the Old City, and toured the Tower of David Museum and various sites in the Jewish Quarter and on Mt. Zion. New York Times reporter Isabel Kershner met with us this afternoon, and gave the Fellows a terrific overview of the current state of Israeli-Palestinian relations, along with some insights on how she covers Israel for the Times.

Rabbi Shimon Felix, Executive Director

Shiurim and goodbye

Today I enjoyed participating in the morning shiurim (classes) with the Fellows led by our outstanding faculty.  Rabbi Sonia Saltzman is looking at ”Responses to Suffering in the Talmud,” Rabbi Shimon Felix is examining the “Rabbinic Project,” Rabbi Andy Bachman is teaching about “Social Justice and the Torah,” and Ilana Kurshan is looking at “Sensuality and Judaism.”   I said goodbye to the Fellows as they boarded a bus to the Israel Museum.  I look forward to seeing them again at the November Follow-up Seminar.

Becky Voorwinde
Director of Alumni Engagement, BYFI

NOTE: Becky Voorwinde is returning to the U.S. after a visit with the fellows, staff, and faculty during her trip to Israel this July.  Becky was a Bronfman Fellow in 1997.  Becky is the Director of Alumnni Engagement for BYFI and lives in Brooklyn, NY.  More about Becky is on the BYFI alumni website.

Slideshow – the first week

View all pictures on our photo sharing site>> flickr.com/photos/byfi.