Two USY New Frontier teens were given the Dean Hoffman Memorial Scholarship to travel to Israel this summer. The Dean Hoffman Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 1985 in memory of Dean Hoffman by his family, and is awarded every year to a New Frontier teen traveling to Israel.
Dean was a beloved member of USY New Frontier. He spent his Junior year in college studying abroad in Israel. According to his family, that year in Israel was the best year of Dean’s life. It was his first trip abroad, and it opened his eyes to the strengths and struggles of Israel and its many constituents. He made friends wherever he went, and was known as “everyone’s friend” in Israel. He spent a lot of time in the Musrara neighborhood, populated by Moroccan families. He volunteered working with their children, playing sports and teaching English. He also volunteered at Yad LaKashish, a non-profit for needy seniors, mostly immigrants, teaching them creative skills to contribute to society. Dean cared deeply about people and Israel. His family hopes that recipients of the memorial scholarship in his name will follow his path in making the world a better place.
We are grateful to the Hoffman family for creating this tremendous legacy to honor and remember Dean.
It is a second home, I have lived there for a year and it is an important part of my identity as a whole. I want to strengthen my connection to Israel, and expand my Jewish knowledge, and make new friends. I will engage with my synagogue more, encourage others to do the same, and help out the IA with some personal Israel experience.
Levi Steinman
Israel is the home of the Jewish people. It breathes new life into Judaism around the world. When I was little, I would draw maps of the world, and then draw a heart where Israel is. While that may seem to be just a story, speaking merely to my 4 year-old self’s naïveté, it also shows how my Jewish education has always been centered around Israel. That little heart holds true for me today. Israel is the vital organ that pumps a unique, Jewish culture to wherever Judaism resides. Being able to engage with Israel like I will on Ramah Seminar will teach me important lessons that I will use for the rest of my life. Despite learning to love Israel all my life, I have never been. I have an incomplete relationship with it. It feels as though I know it so well, but in reality, my knowledge is all second hand. On Ramah seminar, I will not only experience it in such a deep and intimate way, but I will do so with friends who I have known for most of my life, with a group that I have spent years being a part of . Combining the new and distant with the old and familiar is what makes this opportunity to go to Israel truly once in a lifetime.
Benjamin Ross
