“Only one hundred more days until camp!” I would run around shouting on March 15, each year. “Only one hundred more days until camp!” It was so close I could taste it.
Camp, of course, was the best four weeks of my summer: horse back riding and swimming with my best friends every day, celebrating Shabbat, sneaking out, meeting cool Israelis, and no parents in sight.
It was heaven on Earth.
At the Passover Seder this past weekend, we asked ourselves, “Why is this night different from other nights?” But now, as we sit here writing about the MZ Teen iConnect with Israel Conference a couple weeks ago, we find ourselves asking, “Why was this conference different from all other conferences?”
Spending a weekend with teens who are excited to learn about engaging with Israel is an exhilarating, and for me at least, almost a spiritual experience. I’ve just returned from The iCenter’s MZ Teen iConnect with Israel conference. Eighty teens from all over North America explored how they could make Israel more a part of their lives, brainstorming strategies to involve their peers, families and communities more deeply in the Israel idea.
What makes a successful video? Brevity. Content. And 600 eager teenagers to help be part of the process.
The idea behind 60 Things in 60 Seconds was to create a humorous marketing piece that educates the viewer about BBYO Passport Israel trips while meeting theattention span of teenagers (and parents). But the secret ingredient is not so secret: it’s engaging the teens themselves to be part of the creative and production process.
Yadoa teda ki ger yihyeh zarecha b’eretz lo-lahem.
Know that your descendents will be strangers in a land not their own.
~ Genesis 15:13
The condition of being a stranger, a ger, is woven into Jewish identity. From Abraham through the present day, to be Jewish is to stand inside and outside ourselves at the same time. It is to be at home and to be a foreigner, or at least to have the awareness that we were once foreigners, at every moment.
In a recent piece in eJewish Philanthropy, James Hyman observes: “Until a far greater number of American Jews understand and have experiences that reinforce a broader conception of Jewish identity, Israel programming will not fit into the self understanding of American Jews and the institutions of American Jewish life.”
At the iCenter, we couldn’t agree more.
Toward the end of May, I spent about four days at a conference of sorts as a member of the 2011 iCenter Fellows. What is the iCenter?
The iCenter serves as a national address and advocate for high-quality and meaningful Israel education. The iCenter is dedicated to developing and enhancing the field of pre-collegiate Israel education in North America, in both formal and informal settings.
Today’s education system is tough. Schools are working with fewer resources and to be successful have to get ahead of the curve—anticipate, innovate and create. How is innovation accomplished?
