Tehila's+Project

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**__Contributing to Israel, Benefiting From Israel__**  = Rationale = The subject I'm going to research is: "How Jewish-Zionist summer camps in America have contributed to the Jewish community in general and particularly in Israel." I have decided to start researching this subject by interviewing my next-door neighbor, Yehuda Rothner, an award-winning educator and the director of Camp Stone. The reason I chose Yehuda is because I've lived next door to him since I was four, and have always seen him as a Jewish contributor. Camp Stone is famous for its very original programming and for giving its campers love for Israel. Many campers attend Camp Stone until high school and then continue as counselors and staff. Afterwards, a very high percentage fulfills the dream that Camp Stone has planted in them and make aliya. I think this is a very creative way to contribute to Israel. Yehuda makes people excited about Israel; his enthusiasm is contagious and inspiring.

I hope to learn many things. How does Camp Stone accomplish this? What is the secret of their success? Can it be copied? What challenges does Camp Stone face? Can its message spread through other educational settings? And how can the feelings of commitment and idealism be kept alive after people make aliya, work and raise families?

= Yehuda Rothner Profile =

"I guess my epiphany occurred when I was in 8th grade, while I was walking 2nd graders home from Bnei Akiva and realized that I so much enjoy working with children. So I asked myself, Should I be a doctor? Should I be a //mechanech//, an educator? And I am very happy with the path I took."

The real question is if there is anything Yehuda wants to do that he can't. The answer is no, as you will see by the time you're done reading. Let's start with the fact that he is probably the youngest person to become director in any camp. Yehuda Rothner has been in Camp Stone for 34 years since he was a //chanich// (camper) and first became director at the age of 19 when there was no one to direct. Since then he's never left. Yehuda sees camp as "the most powerful educational paradigm." Usually students sit in a classroom for a couple of hours a day, hear some lectures and go home. However, in camp they are immersed in an educational environment 24/7. This kind of learning is what the famous author Randy Pausch calls a "head fake," when someone thinks they're learning one thing but subconsciously he is learning something different. Instead of sitting at a desk listening to a lecture, campers engage in fun activities that teach them important lessons and show how Judaism can be lived. Yehuda's family is very involved in camp; they go back with him every summer for both months of camp as chanicim/chanichot, campers. Adina (his wife) has been in camp for as long as Yehuda (since they were kids) for the past 34 years. She is mainly in charge of "Coach Adam", mans strength which is basically hiring people to work in Camp Stone. In camp they also work on building an ideal community that is characterized by a tremendous amount of //ahavat chinam// (unconditional love), "//ve-ahavta lrea'acha kamocha//" (treating others as you would like to be treated), learning Torah and growing in a positive social environment. This model of a community will hopefully be applied to building communities in the state of Israel when the campers make aliya in the future. Yehuda aspires to live his life according to the values of "//Torah v'avodah//", torah and hard work. He absorbed these values as a member of Bnei Akiva during his childhood in Cleveland. He also learned them from his father, a leading doctor and devoted member of the Jewish community. This taught him to always stride for excellence and do his best to help others. Even though he didn't follow his father into medicine, he is still following his family path. When Yehuda has free time – he enjoys spending it with his family or reading books. His vision of "the ideal Israel" is where there will be "a sense of real social cohesion and everyone will be //ovdei Hashem// (will worship God). If our nation succeeds in building a community of these standards, we will be better equipped to confront the challenges facing us, such as poverty, violence, educational excellence, and so on. Such a community will also enable people to meet their personal goals". Yehuda feels that we have lost our sense of community in the past 20 years and he would like to help bring it back. This will help us finally accomplish our national goal of becoming a holy people and a light to the nations.

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=Reasearch Question =

// "How have Jewish-Zionist summer camps or youth organizations in America contributed to the Jewish community in general and particularly to Israel?" //

Summer camps and youth organizations have always been popular with children, the reason mainly being that they are a lot of fun and they are very different from children's regular life style. Some Jewish-Zionist educators noticed that summer camps or youth groups influenced the kids very strongly by teaching them through fun and games. They decided to grab the opportunity and plant Zionist thoughts and attitudes in them using that technique. In this paper I will examine a number of approaches regarding how these Jewish-Zionist summer camps or youth groups have contributed to the Jewish community in general and particularly to Israel. There are at least four factors that explain the educational influence and success of Jewish-Zionist summer camps and youth organizations.

The first answer applies only to summer camps, which are a "total environment." (My father gave me this idea.) A "total environment" means that you are in a framework 24/7 and you are totally involved in it and everyone in it believes in the same ideas. This environment has more influence than your usual environment when you live at home and go to school. In the usual environment, you hear some things in school that do not reflect your lifestyle at home, and therefore what you learn at school doesn't always influence you. But when you are at a summer camp (for either a month or two) your whole environment tries to make you believe in a specific ideology and it almost always works because you only hear one person's side and you experience how that ideology is lived fully.

The second answer I found is by Benyamin Pilant, who explains what camps and youth groups do practically and what is their actual influence (as opposed to explaining the technique, as we did in the previous answer). He claims that Jewish Zionist youth organizations in America encourage their members to spend time in Israel and have programs that last either a week or a whole year. (1) Many immigrants chose to immigrate to Israel, and made that decision based on the influence of the youth group they attended as children. Former Bnei Akiva participants have founded many kibbutzim and moshavim, such as Kfar ha'Roeh and Sa'ad. This shows the strong influence of American Jewish-Zionist youth groups and camps on the State of Israel.

The third answer applies only to youth groups. One example is Bnei Akiva. Bnei Akiva runs a specific program that achieves the goal of contributing to the Jewish community, __especially__ in Israel. Bnei Akiva's main website (p. 1) claims that Bnei Akiva inspires and empowers Jewish youth with a deep commitment to our people, //Am Yisrael//, our land, //Eretz Yisrael//, and our Torah, //Torat Yisrael//, through a wide variety of informal educational programs. Bnei Akiva makes their members want to strive to live lives of Torah V’Avodah (torah combined with labor), combining Torah learning and observance with active contribution to the Jewish people and society, to bring about the rebirth of the Jewish nation on its land. How do the leaders who assume responsibility for their community actualize the ideal of "//Torah va'avoda//"? They make aliya (immigrate to Israel). What would be the experience that persuaded them to make aliya most? Probably Mach Hach Ba'aretz (short for preperation camp in Israel), which is Bnei Akiva’s renowned six-week Israel experience program that brings Israel and Religious Zionism to life through seminars, visiting historical sites, kibbutzim, and meeting with Bnei Akiva members in Israel. How does this help make the decision of aliya? The Mach Hach participants ** experience Israel ** firsthand and develop a deeper understanding of and ** connection to //Eretz Yisrael// **. Mach Hach Ba'aretz is a unique Religious Zionist educational program designed to deepen the campers’ connection to our religious and national heritage, culture and history.

Fourth and last is Steven Cohen and Susan Wall's theory that applies to both youth groups and summer camps equally. They explain, very well I might add, how a visit to Israel influences youngsters even if they do not end up living in Israel. "Both formal research and personal testimony demonstrate convincingly that the short-term summer-time Israel experience very often profoundly influences how youngsters relate to Israel and to their //Jewishness//” (p. 1).

Not all participants in Israel summer programs come back with the same experience and same effects, but they are all affected in one way or another. Some keep in touch with their Israeli friends, some become more involved in their youth group or synagogue, some become more observant of their Jewish religion, and of course last but definitely not least many become interested in making aliya.

Realizing what a strong, positive impact the Israel experience may have upon Jews who do not live in Israel, the "CRB Foundation" of Montreal has taken upon itself a mission with many parts: 1. “to increase the quantity of young American Jews who visit Israel; and, 2. to dramatically improve the quality of the educational experience of those young people who travel to Israel in organized programs.” They define the purpose of their programs in the following ways: 1. “enhancing Jewish commitment, knowledge, skills; 2. enhancing Zionist commitment, or knowledge of Israel, past or present; 3.strengthening formal and informal ties to the community, in part by building relationships with Israelis and committed Jewish youth" (Cohen, Wall, 1-4). In conclusion, we have seen many different ways that Jewish-Zionist summer camps and youth organizations have contributed to the Jewish community, and particularly to Israel. I hope this has persuaded you to consider this amazing experience and if you do – I wish you an amazing experience that will influenceon you for the rest of your life. =Creative Connection =

 This is a picture that my grandmother painted of me at the age of seven. I feel that this painting has most of the elements that characterize Israel for me. I'll start with the stage of life I was in, which was the young and free stage which I feel is so characteristic of Israel at all times; you are free to do so many things and be whoever you please. This was expressed in my life in many ways. For example, it felt free not to care what anyone thinks, to enjoy every moment without concern for the future, and of course maintaining sweet innocence and obvious trust in others. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In addition to that, I'm standing above the sea which symbolizes all water in Israel. I find bodies of water (such as the ocean or natural springs) to be very beautiful, meaningful and soothing, and therefore these are places at which I spend a lot of time. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Water nourishes the natural green nature that I love. As you see, I'm standing next to big green bushes, but these are the least of the trees in Israel and the green nature that I love so much. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally, I would like to point out the sunlight that is shining in the water although the sun itself is not shown. I feel this is very characteristic of Israel, where there is almost always a bright side to situations – you just need to know how to look at them. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All the things I noted about what Israel means to me connect to each other. They're not all separate elements that happen to be in the painting. The water and trees all combine into the amazing feeling of freedom and acceptance of the other as he or she is. I know that there are many things that need to be changed in our country but I think it is basically a good and beautiful place and we have hope for the future.

=<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">Reflection = <span style="color: black; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">Throughout this project I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge and acquired many skills I didn't have before or sharpened skills I had. I'll start with the fact that I realized that so many people do so many "little" things that really contribute to Israeli society; this gave me a very optimistic feeling about what I will be able to do in the future. By interviewing Yehuda Rothner and researching summer camps, I realized that by using the right techniques, anyone can inspire people in such a drastic way that they will leave their home town and move to Israel. In my project I have explained many ways to reach that goal. I feel I have sharpened my writing skills and have taught myself to rewrite sentences in better ways if they don't sound good enough. Although I found it very difficult finding good sources that dealt with the specific subject I was researching, I kept on trying and have acquired research skills and citing skills that will help me in future projects. In conclusion, I am very grateful to have been exposed to many interesting people with a Jewish-Zionist ideology and their ways of implementing it. I have learned many things and as a proud Israeli I would very much like to contribute to our society and one day I will find the best way to do so.

=<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">Work Cited = <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">** " **** Bringing the Mission to Life - Bnei Akiva’s Programs ** ". About Bnei Akiva. 2004. web. 22/02/2011. Cohen, Steven. Wall, Susan. "Organized Youth Trips to Israel and Their Importance". Excellence in Youth Trips to Israel.1994. Research paper. 22/02/2011. Pilant, Benyamin. "Youth Movements". Jewish Virtual Library. The American- Israeli Cooperation Enterprise, 2011. Web. 14/02/2011. Rothner, Yehuda.Tehilla Ziegler. 8 Feburary, 2011. Interview.

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">**__ Websites taken from: __** <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">Jewish – Zionist summer camps <span style="color: blue; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">[] <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">Bnei Akiva <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">[] <span style="color: #003366; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">Excellence in youth trips to Israel <span style="color: #003366; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">[]

<span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">