NFTY in Israel Study, juxtaposed with my NFTY in Israel Personal Experience
I was so happy to read this study, because it hits home! I have applied to go abroad next semester to Israel, even though I spent a semseter of high school in Israel on NFTY's Eisendrath International Exchange Program.
While at the time and in the immediate aftermath, I felt that the Israel experience that I had while living there for a semester was totally authentic, I now, three and a half years later, and with one more short visit to Israel under my belt, do not feel like I have had the FULL Israel experience.
I think that the study that we read for class was EXTREMELY insightful, and head on, in many of the catagories. The one that I will discuss is that of the group living in a bubble.
The study read "To the consternation of the ethnographers, the youngsters filled gibush, a form that has such resonance in Israeli culture, with the American (and American Jewish) cultural content they brought to Israel, while insulating themselves from the sights and sounds that were supposed to define The Israel Experience."
This was TOTALLY and true of my NFTY semester in Israel. While we were in Israel, we had prayer services twice a day, and observed Shabbat, but in the Reform Movement style. All of the congregations that we visited to celeberate various Jewish holidays were congregations that were affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism, which is the name for the Reform Movement everywhere but in the United States and Canada.
I felt that I came out of the NFTY in Israel semester feeling a seriously strong connection to Israel, but also with a renewed love for the NFTY culture, and the Reform Movement. The principle of EIE, Baruch Krauss, has said that the goal of EIE is to produce strong Reform Jews, with a strong connection to Israel.
The program certainly did do this, and I don't think that teen tours to Israel are wrong for having particular goals, as long as they are upfront with everybody on what those goals are. However, I feel that now, I'm at a point in my life where I want to spend significant time in Israel, outside of a closed in group, with closed in rules, and with idealogies and views being pushed on me in a sense. I will be thrilled if I get into HU through IU, I hope that the experience will be everything that I hope it will be. That is, an experience where I have a chance to get my own taste for the country and for the culture, and a chance to experience other avenues of Judaism there other than simply that of Reform Judaism in Israel!
posted by Rachel Kaplan @ 7:52 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you. I definately think that though teen tours have very specific goals to accomplish, they're still overall a positive thing. Even though I have studied at HU for six weeks after my Israel trip and "discovered", if you will, the real Israel, my youth trip (through CAJE) was the reason I went back. I felt like I experienced so much during the six weeks of my study tour, whether it be social, political, or culteral, and it's what brought me back to Israel for the second time.
It will be interesting for you, I think, to live at HU and be surrounded by Israelis and Americans studying there. I'm sure it will show you a different, though not more or less important, picture of Israel. Good luck!
I also agree with you Rachel. If an organization is sponsoring the trip, and is up front about their agenda, it is perfectly acceptable to have particular goals. However, I also think its a great thing for groups such as Hillel, which are non-affiliated, to promote their trips to Israel. Oftentimes, these trips have more pluralistic goals, focusing on broader issues of Judaism and Jewish identity as a whole. Instead of focusing on touring Reform sites, and leading prayer services in the Reform manner, they may offer different options, and go on tours throughout Israel that encompass a variety of movements, from the Reform to the Orthodox to the secular.
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