By Jodi Werner Greenwald
When Prozdor student Elizabeth Imber
P'04, talks about Israel, her face glows. "It's a big part of who I am, the culture and the Jewish homeland," she says. "It defines me not only as a Jew, but as a person." Remarkably, the Dana Hall junior has never been to Israel and has few Jewish peers in her high school. It's through her Prozdor experiences that she has become an Israel advocate.
Many of Imber's classmates share her passion for Israel, and the trend is no accident. Prozdor Director Margie Berkowitz's mission for Prozdor is to infuse its curricula, trips and events with Israel content.
Three years ago, when teaching a Prozdor Jewish identity course, Berkowitz
P'61, MJEd'82, learned that most of her students had "zero connection" to Israel. The first
intifadah had made the subject difficult for teachers to teach, she says, and likewise, student questions hard to answer. "It became important to me that students gain a knowledge of the history of Zionism and develop a deep understanding of and personal connection to Israel," she says.
Berkowitz then became active in Combined Jewish Philanthropies' (CJP) Boston-Haifa Connection. While on a trip to Haifa she discovered that Israeli teens were equally disconnected from America and that the time was ripe to build a connection. With the help of CJP's Cheryl Aronson
P'80, she ignited the spark with administrators of Haifa's Alliance School to move forward a Prozdor/Alliance exchange program. Today the schools are integrated via trips and shared curricula.
Yet, Israel programming is not new to Prozdor. Back in the 1980s, for example, ten-day winter vacation trips took Prozdor students up and down the country, introducing them to all aspects of Israeli life. Dr. Michael Libenson
P'53, HC'58, former director of Prozdor and former College dean of administration, organized the trips when Israeli schools were in session, so that American and Israeli teens could interact. As today, building connections was at the heart of the trips and Prozdor had a twin city—Herzliya, a development town.
Prozdor trips in the 1980s were also designed to give students the opportunity to speak Hebrew in a native environment. At the time, Hebrew proficiency was a main goal of the curriculum. Resources were limited and Prozdor's programs were strictly academic; few extracurricular or "informal educational" offerings were available.
"The type of program that could float and excel in the 1970s and 1980s would sink like a lead ball in the 21st century," says Libenson. "The world has changed. Technology, opportunities to travel, the way kids use time, is completely different now.
"The strength of the Prozdor has always been its ability to sense what the community needs and to deliver it in an extraordinary way," he says.
Today Berkowitz infuses Israel into Prozdor events and curricula with a 21st-century sensibility, following student interest and demand, and the program is once again an "Israel-immersed school."
In addition to the Israel trips, students are exposed to day-long workshops on how to prepare for the Israel debate on college campuses; they take a required core curriculum course about Israel; and the two-way exchange program with the Alliance School is a focal point of the school year.
The Israel activities Berkowitz has introduced over the last three years are a direct result of a collaboration with Dr. David Mittelberg and Roberta Bell-Klinger, administrators of Oranim College's Project Oren. With Project Oren staff, Berkowitz has introduced a satellite course on Jewish ethics, taught simultaneously at the Alliance School and Prozdor; a fall Shabbaton on Israel at Camp Yavneh for seventh, eighth and ninth graders; an annual
Yom Iyun teach-in on Israel; and elective courses on politics in the Middle East, Israel in the Bible, and Zionism then and now.
One measure of the program's success, says Berkowitz, is that Prozdor students are treated as "visiting rock stars" when they go to the Alliance School, and the Haifa teens receive equal attention when they arrive in Newton Centre. Visual reminders of the bond growing between the programs have taken the shape of matching quilts, one hanging in each location.
What makes the Prozdor trips to Israel unique, Berkowitz says, is that the students spend the entire time with the Haifa students, immersed in Israeli life, gaining a teenaged perspective of the country. They hang out informally throughout their visit—traveling on the bus together and staying in Israeli homes.
In ten packed days the Prozdor students travel from the northern border near Syria down to the Dead Sea. They engage in educational exercises as well as physically demanding activities—hiking and climbing—and are accompanied by an experienced tour guide each step of the way.
"[The August 2003 trip] was my first group tour, and I thought it was going to be touristy," Yarden Abukasis
P'04, says. "But it wasn't. It was powerful."
During the reciprocal trip in December 2003, Abukasis and her family hosted Or Cohen, an Alliance student, and the girls now send each other care packages.
"People could be themselves on the trip and, as a result, the group became closer afterward," Abukasis says.
Gaal Levine
P'04, who has lived in Israel and whose mother is Israeli, says that before the Prozdor trip, Israel was a "family place." Now, however, it has "come alive."
"The trip taught me about the whole country," she says.
Berkowitz's extended goal for Prozdor is that students will take this whole-country introduction and develop a lifelong relationship with Israel.
Student Dan Hazony
P'04, who goes with his Israeli parents to Israel each summer, went on the August 2003 Prozdor trip to experience the country with peers. He came away with a new perspective and the desire to give back.
"It wasn't the Israel I knew before," he says, adding that the small group size enhanced the trip's impact.
Since returning, Hazony has taken steps to put what he has learned about Israel into practice. With Imber, he is developing a Zionist action group, starting at Prozdor, called
Chovevei Tzion (Lovers of Zion). They named the group after the late 1800s Eastern European movement of the same name, which predated the formal establishment of Theodore Herzl's Political Zionist movement and focused on rekindling Jewish interest in the Land of Israel. Some of the group's activities today include the creation of a website,
www.advocate4israel.com, and the planning of a dance fundraiser for Israel.
"We became inspired by class discussions about potential Israel-focused social justice projects, and several of us decided that it would be beneficial to start our own group," he says. "We wanted other students to enjoy more of the culture—to get away from the current situation and politics and go deeper." Additionally, Hazony has started an Israel club at his high school, Newton South.
For Imber, whose pre-Prozdor exposure to Zionism was limited, Prozdor has introduced her to a new interest in Israel. She says she eagerly anticipates traveling to Israel and seeing the homeland of new friends she has made through the Haifa exchange.
"I have best friends in Israel," she says. "I feel dedicated. I love the country."
ALUMNI THOUGHTS
Junior Year Abroad in Israel
In addition to Prozdor Israel trips, Hebrew College used to sponsor study in Israel for qualifing college-aged students. The following alumni reflect on their experiences:
 Dr. Carol Simon Kamin P'60, HC'64
"My lasting impression was a palpable sense of belonging. For the first time in my life, I was completely comfortable with who I was and my place in the world. Perhaps at age 20 this is not unusual, but for me it was, and remains, a feeling that I continue to yearn for."
 Dr. Howard R. Rosenblatt P'60, HC'64
"It was life-changing. It gave me time to breathe, think and read books. It impelled me to take Judaism seriously, on my own, as an individual. It was a powerful catalyst resulting in an ongoing process in shaping my Jewish identity and had great impact on my professional work as well. It resulted in lasting friendships."
 Dr. Ruth B. Smith P'59, HC'64
"In many ways I used the year in Israel to really get to know Israelis and what it would be like to live there. I spent a great deal of my time (outside of classes, of course) with Israelis, where I only spoke Hebrew and mostly socialized with them. I felt as though I'd returned 'home,' and Israel will always be my spiritual and emotional homeland."
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Article Index
Shalom Haverim
The Indispensable Man
Mark Atkins Leads Alumni Support of Phase II
The Prozdor-Israel Connection
Shedding Light on Light
Chug Ivri Heads South
Back to School
Now Online at hebrewcollege.edu
Awards, Honors and Publications
In Memoriam
Upcoming Alumni Events
Rose Bronstein Fellowship
Do you remember when?
Publication Credits and Additional Information
