Young Judaea Year Course in Israel

Shavua tov from Year Course! ☺️🧡🌅
Our first Shabbat has ended and our first week begins!

Day 1 was a success & we’re so excited to finally be home! שבת שלום from both Yama and Kedma!

The day has arrived!!! Welcome to Israel! 🩵🇮🇱

Year Course 24-25 begins tomorrow! Among the 127 excited participants, Hayley Vorobiof, a third generation YCer! לדור ודור. בהצלחה

Young Judaea Israel is devastated by the killing of the six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Carmel G*t, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alex Lubanov, Almog Sarousi, and Ori Danino, zichronam livracha: for so many months, we prayed and hoped for you to return to your families who never stopped fighting to bring you home.

Carmel G*t z"l was a beloved ulpan teacher for our WUJS participants in 2013.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin z"l, taught Jewish studies to our Year Course and WUJS participants in 2010.

May their memories be a blessing. We join with those in Israel and around the world in one clear demand for the hostages in Gaza: Bring Them Home Now.

Year Course class of ‘84-‘85 had their 40 year reunion this month! There really is nothing quite as special as the friends you make in these 9 months…

YEAR COURSE NEVER ENDS!🩵🇮🇱💙🦁

Only 10 more days until Year Course 2024-2025 begins!! 🤩✨🫶🏼

We can’t wait to meet all of you and start building a brand new batch of memories on September 5!

Taking a break from our alumni content to say that we’re halfway to our fundraising goal for our friends at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village!

Please consider donating at this link to help them continue all of the incredible work they do 🧡💚
https://fundraise.asyv.org/campaign/young-judaea-at-the-agahozo-shalom-youth-village/c507122

Another round of Year Course reunions for your feed today 🥰🫶🏼 brought to you by the classes of ‘22-‘23, ‘23-‘24, & ‘17-‘18

Year Course Never Ends- MARRIED EDITION!
Mazal tov to Rachael and Kevin from YC ‘17-‘18 on their engagement!! 🩷💍🍾🌹

Summer is the season for Year Course reunions ☺️🫶🏼

Happy to see our alumni from this past year together in New York!

Got a kid home for the summer from university who feels like they missed out on Year Course? They haven’t missed their chance yet! Year Course ‘24-25 is now accepting applications from those who would be entering their second year of college this fall!

Interested in learning more? Contact [email protected]

or start an application from this link:
https://www.regpack.com/reg/templates/build/?g_id=100913237

And that’s a wrap on Year Course ‘23-24!!

Congratulations to all of our students on officially becoming alumni 💙 Now you can begin saying that famous phrase, “when I was on Year Course…”

It’s our final day of Year Course 2024 and we’re spending the day reflecting on all the memories we made with the friends we can’t live without 💜

Next up is our graduation tekkes!

Our final Shabbat of Year Course 2024 has come to a close, and our closing seminar begins! 🧡🌅🕯️

Time for a good ol’ fashioned Yom HaAtzmaut BBQ! Celebrating 76 Years of our beautiful country on the roof of Beit Hillel. 🩵🇮🇱💙🪬

עם ישראל חי!

Tonight begins Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. In preparation for tomorrow’s observance, our students had their own Yom HaZikaron seminar where we honored the memories of community members we have lost, and heard personal stories from our staff.

In case you asked yourself what can you do for Israel 🇮🇱 today? The answer is simple. Vote for our singer Eden Golan #14 at the Eurovision semi finals. The song, hurricane 🌪️is about the victims and survivors of the Nova festival.
Please vote at https://www.esc.vote/ 🙏💙🩵

Our students in Israel and in Portugal observing Yom HaShoa 🤍

Day one of our Portugal trip!

Every day we’re seeing more and more videos of misinformed students at American universities whose good intentions are being taken advantage of and manipulated in order to empower antisemites and support the dismantling of Israel.

Our response? Challenge our students to experience the REAL Israel by integrating them into Israeli society, working with Israeli companies, forming meaningful relationships with community members from all over the country with diverse backgrounds and identities, and then giving them the tools to stand up to ignorance and misinformation when they return home and share their stories from their gap year in Israel.

Thanks to all of our incredible educators and speakers who joined us for our seminar against antisemitism this week! Our students are more prepared than ever to return to campus in the fall.

Celebrating Passover Seder with our scouts! Wishing everyone and their families a hag Pesach Sameach 🔯💛🇮🇱

Spring is here and the sun is out! ☀️🕶️🏊🏼‍♂️

Yama and Kedma both had their own swimming siyurs this week, visiting Gan Hashlosha national park (with a stop to make some chocolate along the way!) and the Majrase Nature reserve on the Kineret.

Congratulations to our Tech Track students on their final presentations at graduation today! So proud of everything they’ve learned this semester!

Had a very special tour guide at Anu Museum yesterday! Noah Yecutieli took us through the museum where he’s been an intern for the past semester.

Noah led us through exhibits highlighting Jewish contributions in the arts and culture, as well as the new permanent display of the Codex Sassoon - the earliest and most complete copy of the Bible in existence dated to be over 1,000 years old.

Our tour also included the museum’s new exhibition on October 7th, where we unpacked our own individual experiences and contextualized them in the larger story of the Jewish community.

Thanks Noah for a great tour!

More pictures from the weekend in Akko! Wishing everyone a peaceful start to the week 💙🌊🧿

Shabbat Shalom from Road Trip with the Rabbi in Akko! Kicking off our relaxing weekend with a painting class on the beach 🌊🏝️🎨

You never know who you’ll meet on Year Course…
Some of our Garin Atid and Yama students bumped into member of the War Cabinet, Minister Benny Gantz while on a siyur to the south!