Approximately 7,000 American Jewish youths have arrived in Israel since the start of the summer to tour the country, attend archaeological digs, study at yeshivas and at Hebrew University’s summer course program for overseas students, and in general, to become familiar with Israel.
The youths are here within the framework of programs offered at the Israel Program Center of the American Zionist Youth Foundation (AZYF).
This is the largest number of participants in the Israel summer programs in many years, according to Donald Adelman, executive director of AZYF, who is presently in Israel to survey the activities. Last year, he noted, participation was lower than anticipated because of the war in Lebanon. “It didn’t actually matter that the fighting was far removed from Israel, “he recalled, “since parents were afraid to send their children.”
RESULT OF A NEW APPROACH
The increase in participation of Jewish youths from the United States is thought to be the result of a new approach to summer programs in Israel organized by the AZYF and initiated by its chairman, Bernard White, in cooperation with Dr. Victor Ben-El, director of the Israel Program Center in New York. The activities in Israel have been made more attractive to appeal to most youths who want to spend an exciting vacation abroad.
Many of the programs, whose duration is generally six weeks, stress the opportunity for captivating experiences — such as professional training in scuba diving off Eilat, a supervised tennis program at Israel’s internationally known Ramat Hasharon tennis center, a traveling seminar program to illustrate aspects of Israel’s political system at work, and another which is designed to acquaint the groups with ancient, classical, medieval and modern Jewish ways of life.
A program on kibbutz living is offered to allow participants to experience the lifestyle there. Both Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University offer summer courses in geography, history, politics, Judaism and Hebrew.
An integral part of most programs is the tours they provide of historic and modern features of Israel. Beit Hatfuzot Diaspora Museum, Massada, Shabbat at the Western Wall and Jerusalem seminars on Zionism are some of the tour highlights.
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