The inaugural USY Chidush winter break program in Israel, generously supported by the Jewish Federations of North America and Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael, was a great success!
The program aimed to expose USY teens to everything new in Israel in this historic year. Most of the participants had been to Israel in the past, but not since the devastating events of October 7th and subsequent war. They were highly motivated to see how Israel has changed over this past year and do their bit to help Israel in this challenging time.
The first aim was to understand how Israel has changed, which was a big part of the program’s daily activities. We had a meeting with the teen leaders of the Scouts of Modiin, a group of teenagers who run their local Scout chapter. In this meeting, the USY teens heard firsthand how the war has impacted the lives of regular teens living in Israel. It was a meaningful discussion as the Israeli teens and our USY could all describe how their lives have changed or have not since October 7th.
By far, the most impactful day that helped our teens begin to understand the impact of October 7th was in the Gaza envelope area. After volunteering in Netivot, we visited Sderot, where we had the opportunity to look from a viewpoint into the Gaza Strip and see the memorial site of the former Sderot police station. In the afternoon, we visited the site of the Nova Festival and, after time for personal reflection, held our ceremony in memory of those who had brutally been murdered there. In the ceremony, we heard the stories of two victims from the Nova site. Aviya Ganut, a young woman, age 22, who came to Nova to dance and Suhaib Abu Amer Razeem, also 22, a Minibus driver from East Jerusalem who was there to bring partygoers back home. It was important for us not just to remember the number of victims, 364, but also to give a face to those we have lost.
The second aim of the program was to contribute to Israeli society by participating in tikkun olam volunteering projects. Each day of the trip had a different form of volunteering, including packing food for the needy, agriculture, distributing food packages to the poor, organizing a distribution center of goods for the needy and displaced, and entertaining young children from Africa recovering from heart surgery.
At every project, the teens were highly motivated and gave their all. There was a real sense that they had a real and substantive impact in every place where they volunteered.
Overall, the inaugural Chidush group had a wonderful time together, soaking up the atmosphere of Israel at this time, celebrating Hanukkah together, and celebrating their renewed connection and commitment to Israel. We plan to make this a yearly immersive experience for future generations of teens.
