Blog - Aardvark Israel Gap Year Program

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Weekly Updates – Jerusalem April 5, 2019

April 5, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, We hope you are all doing well and that those of you who are preparing for Passover are not finding the cleaning too stressful. Remember dust is not chametz! Here are this week’s highlights: Early Sunday morning, Natali flew with some of our students for their trip to ...

Israeli TV Shows to Prepare You for Your Gap Year

April 4, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

If you are considering a gap year in Israel but are not sure how best to prepare for it, then one thing that you can do with minimum effort is watch some fantastic Israeli television shows. Over the last few years a number of Israeli shows, such as Homeland, Traffic ...

Student of the Week – Jaimi Knep

April 2, 2019 Student of the Week

Hi, my name is Jaimi Knep from Sydney, Australia and I am currently living it up in the most hipster neighbourhood of Florentin, Tel Aviv, whilst on the Spring Semester of Aardvark Israel. I graduated from Moriah College in 2018, a modern orthodox Jewish day school. I grew up surrounded ...

Birdwatching in Israel

April 2, 2019 The Uniqueness of Israel

Something you may not know about Israel is that it is one of the best places in the world to go birdwatching. Each year more than one billion birds fly over Israel during spring and autumn, and there is an amazing variety of species. There are numerous locations to go ...

Italy 2019

April 1, 2019 International

Day 1 Dear Parents, We started our day way before the sun came up, heading to the airport for a 5:50 am flight to Venice. Upon landing in Venice, we were energized by our arrival in Italy. Now, usually you don’t think of the taxi to or from the airport ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, Spring is almost here, things are beginning to bloom, and we are looking forward to the end of winter so that we can enjoy spring in Jerusalem and Israel. Here are last week’s highlights: On Sunday afternoon, some of our students went on a tour of the IDC ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, Another week has gone by here at Aardvark Tel-Aviv and it was definitely an exciting and thrilling one. After our Nepal group came back and the Purim festivities ended, we returned to our normal routine and had another great week focusing on our monthly subject, the multicultural society ...

Student of the Week – Hannah Saban

March 28, 2019 Student of the Week

My name is Hannah Saban, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Atlanta Georgia. This fall I will be attending High Point University in North Carolina and what follows may be the least formal student of the week there ever was, so stick with me (; I was birthed into ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 24, 2019

March 25, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, PURIM WAS HERE!!! Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. This took place in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. Purim is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Israel, it is ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 24, 2019

March 24, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents & Students, PURIM WAS HERE!!! Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, who was planning to kill all the Jews. This took place in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire. Purim is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Israel, ...

Student of the Week – Liad Zafrani

March 19, 2019 Student of the Week

Hey, my name is Liad Zafrani and I am from Swampscott Massachusetts, a small seaside town next to Salem (the place where they killed the “witches”). In May I’m going back home to college, I plan on attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst honors college, where I intend to major ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 17, 2019

March 17, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, With some of our students currently in Nepal, we were a smaller group than usual, but what we lacked in numbers we made up for in spirit! On Sunday evening, the staff challenged the students to find their inner superhero. Each student needed to come up with a ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 17, 2019

March 17, 2019 Weekly Updates

Shalom Parents, I hope this email finds you well. We have had a great week here in Tel Aviv. During the week, we had another chance to deepen our understanding of Israeli culture with two main events, an Israeli elections panel and meeting with minorities, but before telling you more ...

Student of the Week – Dana Bederson

March 13, 2019 Student of the Week

Hi, my name is Dana Bederson, I’m 20 years old, I’m from Brooklyn New York, and I will be attending Guilford College in Greensboro in the Fall. Judaism has always seemed to be at the center of my life. My parents took my sister and me to synagogue every Friday ...

Nepal Cultural Exchange 2019

March 7, 2019 International

Day 1 Shalom to everyone! Well, it feels like we have already been going for about 3 days, but the first day of our Nepal Cultural Exchange has finally come to an end! Yesterday we began at 6pm (Israel time), with a pretty easy check-in at Ben Gurion airport. The ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, I hope this email finds you well. Eyal is currently leading our Nepal cultural change international trip, so in his place I’m happy to tell you about all of the great activities we had this week. On Sunday, after the great Shabbaton, the entire program had the day ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, Happy Adar II! The Jewish sages say that from the moment Adar begins we increase in our measure of happiness. Here at Aardvark, we are definitely lifting up our spirits as we prepare for the crazy and joyous holiday of Purim. On Monday, the students and staff were ...

Student of the Week – Sam Leopold

March 5, 2019 Student of the Week

Boker Toes! Mashlomhow! My name is Sam Leopold and I’m in my second semester on Aardvark. I was introduced to Aardvark by my older brother, who went on the program several years ago. Before joining the program, I was faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to forgo ...

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem March 4, 2019

March 4, 2019 Weekly Updates

Shalom Parents! It has been a busy week with tiyulim, a light show, a Shabbaton and more! There is so much to tell you about, so let’s recap! On Sunday night, we decided to enjoy the amazing weather we were having, and Shalhevet and Ori’s apartments took part in a ...

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv March 3, 2019

March 3, 2019 Weekly Updates

Dear Parents, It has been an eventful week full of diverse activities, a large number of which were arranged and lead by our very own students. The week was all about education, starting with our community talk on Sunday and ending with our Shabbaton this weekend. Now I’m happy to ...