gap year in israel

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem November 23, 2017

Marva , western wall, army , zionist ,kotel

Dear Parents, I hope this email finds you well and that you’ve had a fantastic week. Before telling you about this week’s highlights, I would like to tell you about last weekend. Last Shabbat we took 30 students away for a Shabbat experience on Kibbutz Hanaton. Selah, our Jewish identity program, goes for Shabbats away […]

Weekly Updates – Tel Aviv November 23, 2017

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

Dear parents The week is about to end but before it does I would like to tell you all about it! Last Shabbat we took 30 students away for a Shabbat experience on Kibbutz Hanaton. Selah, our Jewish identity track, goes away once a month for Shabbat but this time they opened their doors to […]

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem November 17, 2017

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

Shalom Parents, I hope this email finds you well. Natali is on leave so in her place I’m honored to share the highlights from this week: At the weekly apartment meeting (on Sunday) the staff prepared a program where the students were given a taste of Ethiopian culture as they learned about the holiday of […]

Student of the Week – Abby

Student of the week - abby

Hi! My name is Abby Hockstein and I’m from Closter, NJ. After my gap year I will be attending Tulane University in New Orleans. Coming from a school where almost everyone goes straight to college, I never really considered taking a gap year. It was actually my parents (who both took gap years in Israel) […]

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem November 3, 2017

Temple mount

Dear Parents, Here are some of the highlights from our week. On Sunday we laced up our sneakers and headed to the Ulam to do some Zumba run by me (Natali). I lead us in an hour of Zumba that really made us work up a sweat and got our blood pumping. During the apartment meetings […]

A Brief History of Israel’s Railways

A brief history of israel’s railways

During your gap year, you will probably take a train in Israel at some point. These days the train service is modern, relatively reliable and can take you around large parts of the country. However, the train service has undergone many stages of evolution over the last one hundred years or so. The first railway […]

Weekly Updates – Jerusalem October 11, 2017

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

Moadim L’Simcha! We began Sunday bright and early attending Birkat Kohanim, The Priestly Blessing or Priestly Benediction, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים‎). In rabbinic literature the practice is also known as the raising of the hands (Hebrew Nesiat Kapayim), or Dukhanen (Yiddish from the Hebrew word Dukhan, platform, because the blessing is given from a raised rostrum). […]

Ben Gurion Airport

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

When you arrive in Israel the chances are that you will have landed at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international airport. The airport is just 15 kilometres from Tel Aviv and about 70 kilometres from Jerusalem, making it ideally situation for the vast majority of travellers. However, the airport was not always called Ben Gurion. […]

New York 2017

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

Day 1 Dear Parents, Shalom from New York City!!! After arriving at JFK airport, we began our day in the United States with a Breakfast of Champions at Dunkin Donuts. In Israel we think that we have the market cornered on sufganiyuot, but let me tell you, we may be wrong about that. In case […]

The Last Weekly Update

Gap year in israel - aardvarkisrael

Shalom Parents, I hope you are all excited to see your children again. We, the Tel Aviv staff, have had a bittersweet 3 days… It is so exciting to see the change and progress every single one of the students made during the semester! But right now the office is so quiet… it feels unnatural! […]