5772

Shanah Tovah!

A little more detail

As the program approaches (18 days!), I thought I should explain a little more about the organization that is putting this on.  In their own words from their website http://www.netzerolami.org/Eng/Index.asp, "Netzer is the worldwide youth movement of the World Union for Progressive Judaism."  Locally, the URJ (Union for Reform Judaism, the Northern American Reform Judaism movement), has a teen branch called the North American Federation of Temple Youth, or NFTY.  NFTY is a snif, or branch, of Netzer.  The word Netzer is an acronym for Noar Tzioni Reformi, which means Reform Zionist Youth.  It is also a Hebrew word for, "new shoot," or, "new growth."  Olami means, basically, worldwide.  Thus, Netzer Olami is worldwide Reform Zionist Youth.  On their website, the mission statement says, "The world-wide Progressive Zionist Youth Movement offers Zionist and Progressive Jewish informal education and experience to over 6,000 young people from the age of six till their mid-twenties, from Reform Progressive and Liberal communities in over 14 countries."
In short, by participating in NFTY (just about my favorite thing ever), I became a member of Netzer Olami, a worldwide Reform, Zionist youth movement.  When I go on the trip, it will be with other members from not only NFTY, but members of Netzer Olami from all over the world.

Pre-trip Fun

Today is exactly 23 days before I get on my plane to go to Israel.  I started packing a few days ago, but I'm still nowhere near done.  Hopefully when I get closer to the actual trip I'll have much more interesting things to say, but for now I'm just excited.
The program is comprised of three main parts.  First is the kibbutz community experience, where we will be building a reform community and learning how to efficiently live in Israel.  The next two and a half months will be in a city called Karmiel.  There I will stay with a host home and volunteer in some aspect of the city.  The last part, the Jerusalem experience, will have us living in a flat in Jerusalem.  We'll get a stipend and have to cook, clean, budget, and live together in a reform community.  We'll also attend seminars, classes, lectures, and go on hikes and trips all over Israel.
For now, however, my main focus is packing 9 months of, 'stuff,' into two suitcases that will conform to airline restrictions.  If I can do that, I can do anything.