feature

by Jordana Hoffman

not your usual summer school

NFTY high school study program in Israel brings Judaism into sharp focus for local teenager.

" kiraitt:
.
Jordana Hoffman, in orange Longhorn hat on the right, with fellow students in Jerusalem

E

xtraordinary, magical and
beautiful. All these words
describe Israel, but none can
ever define Israel. As small as the
country is physically, its soul is bigger
than us all because the soul of every
Jew is part of it.
This summer, I experienced all of
this on a new level. When people ask
me what I did this summer, my answer
is I went to summer school in Israel.
People then feel sorry for me and think

what a bummer. Usually I would agree
with them; however, there was no bet-
ter way for me to spend my summer!
I was part of NFTY's Eisendrath In-
ternational Exchange High School in
Israel summer semester. The Reform
movement program ran from June
23-Aug. 6. There were 26 of us from
all over. We studied and earned high
school credit; and we toured all over Is-
rael from our campus on Kibbutz Tzuba
in the Judean Hills.

Occasionally, we would be stuck in a
classroom from 8:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
learning Hebrew; and then from 10:45
a.m. to 3:30 p.m., we'd be in Jewish his-
tory (with an hour lunch break at 1).
But really that wasn't very difficult; the
issues we discussed where relevant to
us, the Jewish people, and were even
intriguing.
Often, we went out across Israel
and our lessons were held where the
events in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
actually took place — everywhere from
under the City of David in Hezekiah's
Tunnel to the top of Masada, from in-
side King Herod's palace to the very
northern tip in the Golan Heights,
where, if you reached through a fence,
you could touch Lebanon! Everything
in between was my classroom and no-
where else could I have learned more.
We also stayed in a Bedouin tent for
a night and drank the most wondrous
tea! We rode camels and donkeys in
the Negev desert. We also learned that
research has helped Israel develop ag-
riculture in the desert. We had Degania
chocolate, prayed at the Western Wall
and explored the Old City of Jerusa-
lem. We swam in the Dead Sea, the Red

youth groups

Sea, the Sea of Galilee and the Mediter-
ranean. We even purified ourselves in a
Modern Orthodox mikvah!
But my favorite place in all of Is-
rael was Kibbutz Tzuba. That little
paradise was where we stayed most
of the time — it was home. It's where
we played in the playground that to
us was more like an Israeli military
training zone for children; where we
went to the top of an ancient Muslim
village and watched the sunrise while
eating pomegranates we picked from
a nearby tree. In the markolit (gro-
cery), we bought chocolate; when we
put it in our mouths, it exploded like
Pop Rocks. Outside my bedroom win-
dow was a breathtaking view of the
Judean hills.
Nothing can ever compare to my
summer school, and I'd do it over in
a second! }

Jordana Hoffman, 17,

Is a 12th-grader at

Oakland Early College

in Farmington Hills. For

Information on EIE, go to
www.nftyele.org.

Josh Morof of West

Bloomfield looks at

by Ari Weil

the camera while he

learning together

and Michael Higer of

four BBYO regions met in Detroit
for Midwest Execs conference.

with others on a proj-

A

fter coming home from camp,
a family vacation or complet-
ing a summer job, the end of
the summer for most teens is a time to
relax before school starts. However,
for BBYO's regional boards of the
"Midwest Hub," this was not the case.
Metro Detroit hosted the first-ever
Midwest Execs training conference
Aug. 20-22. More than 60 BBYO
teens and staff from Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin and
Michigan attended the training week-
end held to provide leadership train-
ing to the regional officers and pro-
vide an opportunity for leaders from
the four regions to share ideas.
We all arrived at Temple Israel in
West Bloomfield on Friday evening. We

TT2 teen2teen October 21.2010

had dinner followed by Temple Israel's
outdoor Kaballat Shabbat service. Af-
terward, Rabbi Josh Bennett led a pro-
gram that integrated text study with
being a BBYO leader; he also gave us
the opportunity to create a meaning-
ful Judaic program to take back to our
regions.
On Saturday, everyone met at the
Jewish Community Center's Wagner
Teen Center in West Bloomfield for a
full day of learning and sharing. We
started the day with Shacharit services
led by BBYO teens. We then partici-
pated in sessions on leadership, indi-
vidual officer positions, strategic plan-
ning for the different regions, social
networking and a session on BBYO's
Stand Up charity campaign.

Farmington Hills work

ect at Midwest Execs.

After some free time and dinner
with host families, we participated in
Havdalah under the stars. The last part
of the evening was a pool party host-
ed by Michigan Region. With music
playing, we swam and played games
in the water, and just had a great time
hanging out with each other.
On Sunday, we met by regions to
work on plans for the year ahead.
"Midwest Execs was a great ex-
perience," said Jason Dubro, an of-
ficer from Dayton, Ohio. "I learned

many techniques
of how to lead my
region, while meet-
ing many other
regional leaders at
the same time."
For Michigan
Region, Midwest Execs was a great
jumpstart for the teen leadership to
plan another exceptional program-
ming year for the region's nearly 600
members.

An Well, 17, is a junior

at Farmington Hills

Harrison High School.

visit JNt2t.com