School Trips, Teen Trips and Young Adult Trips to Israel

School trips to Israel

Many Jewish schools outside of Israel create an annual Israel program in which pupils and students can participate as representatives of their institution. For most this is a first-time trip to the Holy Land. The visit is intended to strengthen their Jewish identity. These students anticipate the program throughout the year and participate in the planning. Parents and teachers cooperate to ensure that the tour focuses on high quality and hands-on experiences. School trips to Israel should offer the participants an opportunity to study, learn and experience Israel. Participants should be actively involved in the developing program in order to come away from the experience knowing that they did much more than just visit Israel.

What kind of educational tours in Israel are available? Teen Trips and Young Adult Trips to Israel

The great variety of educational tours allows you to choose the framework which works for you – or create a tailor made itinerary just for you. Many organizations offer scholarships for trips to Israel. The trips cover the full spectrum of Orthodox-Conservative-Reform-Reconstructionist and just plane Jewish affiliations.

• Summer program: Brings together Jewish teens to explore and develop their Jewish identities.
  • The Nesiya Summer Program combines outdoor adventure, workshops in the visual, performing and literary arts, community service projects, cultural activities and creative Jewish study in Israel.

• Year program: Young Judaea Year Course – The original “Gap Year” in Israel gives you the opportunity to gain valuable life experience and skills, and begin the transition to independence by combining Ulpan, Jewish studies, volunteering, tours and a chance to meet real Israeli life. By the way, I am a grad of YJYC 1963-64.

• One semester program: Masa Israel was founded by the Prime Minister’s Office and The Jewish Agency to provide a long term Israel experience space with a diverse portfolio of 2-12-month study, service, and career development programs for young Jews (18-30).

• Academic programs: Third year exchange student programs offer dozens of study programs and hundreds of courses in English that are open to exchange students – in engineering, law, business and economics, social sciences, humanities, environmental studies and science. Students get to stay and study in a new country while obtaining credit points that will be counted in their degree.
• Yeshiva study programs:
  • The S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program is an educational partnership between Yeshiva University and more than 45 yeshivot for young men and seminaries for young women in Israel.
  • BINA offers social sction and secular yeshiva study for Jewish high school graduates ages 18-19.
  • Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies, in the heart of Jerusalem, provides an academic Judaic Studies curriculum in annual, semester, winter, summer and post Taglit-Birthright Israel study programs for women and men ages 20 and over.
  • Aish HaTorah is a Jewish outreach organization aimed at providing opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to discover their heritage.

• Fellowship programs for Jewish lay leaders
  • The Dorot Fellowship is designed to assemble and empower a network of young Jewish lay leaders to enliven the American Jewish landscape. Each year, 12 Dorot Fellows are chosen to live in Israel, where they sharpen the characteristics and skills, acquire the experience, and broaden the networks required for Jewish leadership in the 21st Century.
• Volunteer program: On a kibbutz or IDF
  • Skilled Volunteers for Israel matches experienced professionals with meaningful skilled volunteer opportunities in Israel.
• Birthright – Taglit provides a gift of a peer group, educational trip to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26 from around the world.

• Private short 10 day highlight visit; Just Goggle “highlight visit to Israel” to find more than a dozen pages of recommended itineraries.