Sydney Flynn is one of 20 young adults participating in Onward Israel LA, an 8-week Israel program for college students and young professionals that includes a resume-building internship as well as group experiences to deepen participants’ understanding and connection to Israel and its people. While exploring life in Tel Aviv with her peers, Sydney is currently interning at Amit LaDerech, an association that helps to integrate and empower young adults from Israel’s periphery, post-army service. Sydney will be blogging throughout her 8-week experience.
The time has finally come and all 20 of us have arrived in Tel Aviv! After exhausting travel with stops and layovers all around the world, we convened at the Arlozorov train station on Sunday morning, June 19. After checking in with our incredible madricha (staff person) Inna Katznelson (a former summer camp shlicha in the US), we loaded a bright pink bus with all our luggage and stepped on, not knowing exactly what we were getting ourselves into for the next four days.
First stop was the bank to receive our living stipend for the next month, and then we headed to BINA headquarters to hear from the International Director of Onward Israel, representatives from BINA (the Tel Aviv-based organization partnering with The Jewish Federation to run Onward Israel LA on the ground), and Jewish Federation professionals. As a staple, we of course had falafel for lunch and continued to play ice breakers and get to know each other. I don’t think any of us could tell you how many times we went in a circle repeating our name, school, age, and subject of study. But now there is no doubt that these basic facts are all ingrained about each member of the group!
Then the real journey began. From Sunday night until Thursday morning, we spent our time on Kibbutz Ketora in the Negev Desert, about 30 minutes north of Eilat. Established in 1974, Kibbutz Ketora is one of the last public kibbutzim. This means that it has been able to remain completely communal in which the income of each member goes straight to the kibbutz and resources are distributed equally. We learned that the main revenue for Ketora comes from its vast solar field as well as algae farming. Walking around the kibbutz for the next four days was more like jumping from one shady spot to another, with temperatures never dropping below 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
After we recovered from jet lag and exhaustion from the heat, the few calmer days at Ketora were much needed before we begin our hectic and exciting time in Tel Aviv. Inna and our internship coordinator Hila spoke to us about living in Tel Aviv and quelled many nerves about our internships. It’s pretty incredible how close a group of 20 young adults have been become in merely four days. We are now heading back to the vibrant city of Tel Aviv as one community, not just 20 individuals, and we are ready to take on city life for the rest of our eight weeks here!
Read our “Onward Israel LA: Meet Our 2016 Participants” blog for a full list of participants.
For more information on Onward Israel and other immersive experiences, please contact Margalit Rosenthal at (323) 761-8208 or MRosenthal@JewishLA.org.
