OT Connects with Israel

Travel

Riding camels on OT's Israel 2007 trip.

See Israel with OT ! OT had a wonderful time in Israel in 2009. See the photos that our travelers sent home. Contact Rabbi Kalender for more information.

Melton Israel Seminars. Students of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School have a unique opportunity to explore and study Israel with other students through one of the Melton Israel Seminars. Read about OT congregants' travel to Israel with Melton.

Teacher Trips. The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Israel in DC initiative and The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning (PJLL) offer a program to help preschool teachers establish connections to Israel in their classrooms. The program is called Israel in our Heart, Mind, Soul and Gan (school). Read about an OT teacher's trip to Eretz Israel with the PJLL.

Koach Birthright Israel. A worldwide program that sends thousands of college students to Israel, at virtually no cost. The program exists thanks to the philanthropy of many generous individuals and the government of the State of Israel.

Birthright Israel for Young Professionals and Graduate Students. Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and its local Taglit-Birthright Israel program have organized a special free 10-day trip to Israel for Summer, 2008, for young professionals and graduate students, ages 22 to 26, who live in the Washington, D.C. area. Registration opens 9:00 a.m., on Tuesday, February 12. Visit www.birthrightisrael.com for registration information or contact Jackie Terry at (301) 230-7257 (Jackie.terry@shalomdc.org) Themed trips focus on community service, politics and other areas.

Legacy Heritage Internships for Young Scientists is a six-week summer program that takes scientifically gifted high school students to Israel for the summer, at no cost. For more information about the program, please contact Marci Karoll, (212) 578-8190 x126.

Ramah Israel Seminar. The Israel Seminar offers teens who are former Ramah campers realistic insights into Israel, its people, achievements, dreams, and challenges.

USY Summer Programs. USY offers six Israel and Israel-Europe summer programs for teens.

Weizmann Institute Dr. Bessie F. Lawrence International Summer Science Institute is a fully-funded four-week summer program for for students who have just completed 12th grade. Students spend three weeks working on a project at the reknown Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and then attend a field school in the Judean Desert for their last week.

Nativ – Gesher is a gap-year program for high school graduates from North America that will focus on the centrality of Israel for one’s Jewish identity while creating a relationship with Masorti communities (Conservative Movement) in Europe. The first half of the program will match an academic semester, with a second half composed of visiting and volunteering in Masorti communities in Europe. Living in Israel at the beginning of the program will not only accomplish the Nativ program goal of connecting with the land and the people, but it will give more substance to serving the European communities. The first semester will be spent at Oranim College, Israel’s leading education school, located outside of Haifa. This opportunity for academic credit will focus on Jewish identity, history of European Jewry, and Israeli society. Students will also participate in an Ulpan program. The second semester will be centered around two stays in European cities, each four to five weeks. The program will commence in September 2009 and run through May 2010. Information regarding this new program can be found on the Nativ website at www.nativ.org. Online applications will be available as of September 1st 2008. For more information please contact the Nativ office at 212-533-7800 ext 1119.

Join

Masorti, a pluralistic, religious movement in Israel, affiliated with Conservative Judaism.

Mercaz USA, the Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement. Mercaz USA is the voice of Conservative Jewry within the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Zionist Movement and the Jewish National Fund. Through Mercaz USA we support religious pluralism in Israel and strengthen the connection between Israel and the Diaspora.

Read

Stay connected with Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, the online daily newspapers. The Embassy of Israel provides daily updates of the Gaza situation at http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA. (Best viewed in Internet Explorer.)

USCJ Statement of Support for Israel

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism supports Israel in its response to the unremitting violence directed toward its citizens from Gaza.

Although United Synagogue’s leaders realize that many Palestinian lives are at risk and grieve for them, and acknowledge with great sadness that some already have been lost, we see no other way for Israel to protect its citizens, who have been the targets of unremitting savage violence directed at them by Hamas. We feel great sadness for the people of Gaza, who have been betrayed by Hamas, which has brought them nothing but violence, starvation, and misery. Israel is doing what it must do -- no civilized country can leave its citizens unprotected. The great irony of this attack coming from Gaza, from which Israel has tried to disengage since 2005, should not be lost on any observer.

We are heartened by the response of the United States, coming both from President George W. Bush’s administration and from President-elect Barack Obama. We pray that the violence soon will end and that the people of this battered region finally will find peace.

Donate

Contribute to Israel through an established charity or by supporting an OT project. Donate books and cash to support school libraries in Israel.

Donate through a classroom tzedakah box (for example, grade 5 is collecting to support the IDF). Contact the office for other ways to help.

3800 Glenbrook Road · Fairfax, Virginia 22031 · phone 703-425-1880 · fax 703-425-0835 · info@olamtikvah.org