Summer in Israel: A Rite of Passage for American Teens
An Israel Summer Program for Every Interest
by Israel HighWay staff

Visiting Israel on a summer program has become something of a rite of passage for many Diaspora students. The exciting tours, activities and experiences are engraved in the memory for many years beyond. Those who visit Israel see first-hand what a remarkable place it is, even in times of war. According to Shira Poliak, who was in Israel for the summer during the war with Hizballah, "During my six-week experience in Israel this summer, I proudly witnessed the incredible fortitude, mettle and brotherhood of the Jewish people exhibited during these trying times."

Lauren Bayer, also in Israel during the war, was even more enthusiastic: "This summer was definitely the best summer of my life. Not only did I have a good time in Israel, but I developed a true love for the land of Israel. Even though there was a war going on I felt safe and protected because I knew that my brothers and sisters in the army were doing everything they could to ensure the safety of the Jewish people."

Some groups get so excited on reaching Israel, they literally take their shirts off in glee and start dancing. Some just call it the most "amazing" and "greatest" experience of their lives. (YouTube)

The Israel summer experience is one definitely not to be missed. There are so many different types of programs to choose from, each with its own version of a great summer. Here are a selection of your options for Israel summer 2007:

Issue of the Week is continued below

Olmert Offers Wide-Ranging Concessions if Palestinians Turn Away from Violence

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered wide-ranging peace concessions to Palestinians on Monday if they turned away from violence, saying they would be able to achieve an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in real peace talks with Israel. Olmert promised to reduce checkpoints, release frozen funds, and free prisoners in exchange for a serious Palestinian push for peace. In exchange, Olmert said Palestinians would have to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to live in peace and security, and give up demands to allow refugees from the 1948 Mideast War to return to what is now Israel. (AP/International Herald Tribune)

Student Art Tells Sderot’s Story in Los Angeles

The mayor of Los Angeles and other city and community leaders unveiled an artwork exchange between the children of Los Angeles and Sderot. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (right) unveiled the "Red Dawn" art exhibition. Red Dawn is the alert system in Sderot that warns of incoming rockets from Palestinians in Gaza.

"This artwork tells the story of the trauma faced by these children in a most compelling way," said John Fishel, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Councilmember Jack Weiss (center) brought the Sderot students' work back with him from Israel in August. (Israel Today)

Jewish Agency Offers Aid to Sderot Youth

The Jewish Agency will donate 11 million shekels ($2.5 million) to residents of Sderot who have suffered from Kassam attacks. The contributions were raised by the United Jewish Communities and the Federations of North America. The announcement came as Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski visited Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal on Sunday.

Three million shekels ($700,000) will allow 8000 children to attend Hanukkah camps in safer parts of the country and participate in other activities during their upcoming vacation. (Israel Today)

Kids Are 'In' in Israel by Saul Singer

In Israel, kids are "in." They are even a status symbol. While the US fertility rate currently hovers around the replacement level of 2.1, the rate among American Jews is considerably lower: 1.86. Israel is almost another world. The average fertility rate is 2.7 children per woman, by far the highest of any modern democracy in the world. In 2004 Israeli Arabs had a fertility figure of 4.0.

According to demographer Sergio DellaPergola, Israel is different from Europe and America in its attitudes toward family size. "Here, people would like to have three children at least." If they don't, it is generally because of economic restraints, as demonstrated by the fact that, in Israel, the upper-middle class is associated with more children, not fewer. (Cleveland Jewish News)

Wired Teddy Bear Bomb Found in West Bank

Wired teddy bears to be used for explosives were found in an Israeli raid of an explosives lab in the West Bank city of Nablus, military officials said. Israeli paratroopers and intelligence officials also found cloth belts that could contain explosives and a coat used for hiding explosives, officials said Saturday. (United Press International)

One-Woman Show at Frisch Spotlights Domestic Abuse
by Abigail Gary

The auditorium full of high school students sat stunned as the woman on the stage slowly rolled up her sleeves to show her bandaged wrists. She had just revealed that her suicide attempt was the only way she could think of to free herself from the silence and shame of her life as a battered Jewish woman. Fortunately, "Michal" is only a fictitious character, portrayed by Israeli-American actress Naomi Ackerman in her one-woman show "Flowers Aren’t Enough." But the wife she portrays is a composite of many stories that Ackerman has heard both in Israel and in America. While the Jewish community often prides itself as being "above" domestic violence, the reality is that this kind of abuse is found in all levels of Jewish society. Ackerman originally wrote the show at the behest of Israel’s Ministry of Welfare for a conference of social workers. (New Jersey Jewish Standard)

To Me, Teaching Arabic at a Jewish School Is the Right Answer in Any Language by Doran Goldstein

Most of the students I work with were already engaged in Middle East history and politics, and most have strong religious ties to Israel. So, adding an Arabic course to the curriculum seemed only natural. These young men and women care passionately about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and many of them believe that learning Arabic will allow them to promote peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs.

My students are fortunate. They have a special impetus to master Arabic: Seniors spend their final semester of high school in Israel, where Arabic is one of the official languages. The students are thrilled to arrive in Israel able to read street signs and communicate with native Arabic speakers. Additionally, all 60 or so students whom I teach have a strong knowledge of Hebrew, which, like Arabic, is a Semitic language. Having command of a Semitic language - with cognate words and similar grammatical constructions - is a huge advantage when trying to learn a language as difficult as Arabic. The writer teaches at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville. (Washington Post)

Muppets Return to Israel

The Middle Eastern adaptation of U.S. children's classic Sesame Street, intended to bring Israeli and Palestinian kids together, is returning to TV screens in the strife-torn country. New York's Sesame Workshop is teaming up with Israeli kids broadcaster Hop Channel to produce a new season of the show, titled Rechov Sumsum, nearly a decade after the first series finished airing.

The move brings back the grouchy Moshe Oofnik character (pictured) and his Israeli muppet friends Brosh and Noah to the eponymous Israeli street, to teach kids lessons about respect for self and others within the context of Israel's multi-cultural society. (C21Media)

S.F.'s Newest Consul Enjoys Being Bedouin, Proud to be Israeli
by Matthew Kalman

Ishmael Khaldi lived in a Bedouin tent until he was 8 years old, walked 4 miles round trip to school each day and still goes home on weekends to what he calls the "Middle Ages" to tend to flocks of sheep. Khaldi, while conceding that the situation of Arabs in Israel "is not perfect," is an unrepentant Israeli who says he is not betraying his Arab "brothers" by becoming the new Israeli consul to San Francisco.

"Many of us are proud to describe ourselves as Israelis. Everyone who lives here [the Galilee village of Khawalid] is an Israeli," Khaldi said in an exclusive interview on the eve of his departure for San Francisco. "Israel is in a clash with the Arab world, with our fellow Muslim brothers, with the Palestinians. It's a big challenge. But I am sure that Israel's enemies are not Arab culture, nor Arab heritage, nor the Muslim religion. It's a political situation." (SFGate)

Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs. NBA by Cory Gutovitz

This basketball preseason the NBA and the Euroleague organized the 2006 NBA Europe Live Tour. Regardless of the scores in these specific games, it is remarkable that one of Israel’s professional teams can be competitive with an American professional team, noting that Israel is slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey.

This year was one of the poorer years for Maccabi Tel Aviv in regards to their performance, because in the past Maccabi Tel Aviv has been significantly successful against their NBA opponents. Maccabi Tel Aviv has been part of previous exhibition games with NBA teams since 1978 when they played and beat the Washington Bullets by one point 98-97 in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s home city of Tel Aviv, Israel. In the past 30 years, Maccabi has played against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Toronto Raptors, and the Orlando Magic. The writer is a student at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Overland Park, KS. (Academy Voice)

Skiing on One Foot by Ravit Naor

Try to imagine what it's like to ski if you are missing a hand or a leg. It sounds impossible, right? Well, not for everyone. Take for example Ziv Bar-Shira, a skier with five years of slalom experience. The fact that he is in a wheel chair doesn't deter him one bit from joining ski teams of the highest caliber. Instead of a snowboard or a pair of skis, he has a mono-ski, a chair personally fitted for him affixed to a set of skis. The contraption is operated through shock absorbers that replace the role of knees in a "normal" skier.

Bar-Shira, like other handicapped skiers, was exposed to the sport by the Israel Outdoor Sports and Recreation Association for the Disabled, otherwise known as Etgarim ("challenges" in Hebrew). Etgarim teaches skiing and rents out the relatively expensive skiing equipment to handicapped people. After gaining a bit of experience, Bar-Shira started joining ski teams that go on ski trips to Europe.(Ynet News)

Click here to watch an inspirational video about other sports programs run by Etgarim.

Israel at Heart: A Heartfelt Discussion by Becca Kutner

On a normally quiet Tuesday morning, three Israelis in their early twenties came to MFS. They were part of a non-profit organization called Israel at Heart that go to different schools to conduct an in-class discussions about the lives and the people in Israel.

The portrayal of Israel in the news and in the international community saddened and disappointed them, since the media always show destruction and never what they really say goes on there. The Israeli representatives didn’t understand how the news could distort the happenings in Israel so much. The representatives knew that people in Israel must be cautious but that they must also live one’s life to the fullest and not let danger scare one into hiding. They kept mentioning that if they didn’t deeply feel Israel was their true home, they would have left already. The writer is a student at Moorestown Friends School, Moorestown, NJ. (Wordsworth)

Where Will the Truce with the Palestinians Lead? by Ron Ben Yishai

Israel has had some bad experiences with cease-fires with the Palestinians in the past. It can already be ascertained that the primary motive for calling for a cease-fire can be attributed to the pressure emanating from the Palestinian street in Gaza and directed at the armed factions. For almost a year the population has been under an economic and military siege and is paying a heavy death toll for the "Kassam Intifada."

Hamas and the other organizations need a truce to replenish their stockpiles of rockets and other munitions, to give their people a break, and to reorganize their ranks. Even terror groups reach a breaking point following which they call for a cease-fire. From Israel's point of view, the primary danger of a cease-fire is the continued smuggling of arms and explosives via the Philadelphi Route and the strengthening of Hamas. (Ynet News)