Weekly Updates - October 21, 2021

Shalom Parents and Students!

What a busy week we’ve had! On Tuesday our Tel Aviv students traveled to Khirbet Midras where they learned about the history of Bar Kokhba revolt, and also traveled to Beita Israel, a cultural center of the Jewish Ethiopian community in Israel, where the students built houses from mud, just like they do in Ethiopia. Later, they took part in Buna, a traditional coffee ritual, where they cooked the coffee beans and said a blessing on Dabo, an Ethiopean bread. Our Jerusalem students traveled to Gush Etzion, where they met a Palestinian and a Jewish settler, and together, they explored the complexities of coexistence.

On Wednesday, all of our students attended the annual Masa conference, celebrating the beginning of 2021-2022 Gap year programs. The conference took place in Yehoshua Gardens in Tel Aviv, where they met new and old friends, danced, mingled, and enjoyed a concert by one of Israel’s most famous bands – Hatikva 6! Wow, that was crazy!

Our MADA (Israeli emergency services) interns finished their training this week. Ella Shapiro wrote about the past few weeks: “I am so happy to start my MADA volunteering! We finished our long but very exciting 60-hour course! Even though days were challenging, we had a lot of fun. We learned very important skills such as performing CPR and treating wounds. I am looking forward to putting our skills to good use on the ambulances!”

On Thursday, our Big Idea students met Tamir Dotan, the co-founder of Big Idea, and the co-founder and CEO of Clickto, an Israeli Startup. They participated in an interactive session, in which the students experienced the story of Israeli innovation and how it affects the world.