Mishlachot Areyvut / Delegations of Responsibility: Israel Trips for Educators

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The Jewish Education Project, with generous funding from UJA Federation of New York, is proud to offer educators working in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island a Winter-Spring 2025 cohort featuring a five-day mishlachat (delegation) to Israel to help educators deliver appropriate/enhanced Israel education in a post-October 7th world. Jewish educators will participate in collaborative learning experiences to build knowledge, skills, and gather firsthand experiences to deliver the complex Israel education that today’s learners need.  Educators selected for this initiative will participate in one of two trips to Israel in early 2025, pre- and post-trip webinars, and a small learning group in Spring 2025 including two in-person gatherings in New York.

Goals

Educators will:

1. Encounter a changed (and ever-changing) Israeli society
2. Build meaningful relationships with Israeli educators and communities of practice with fellow New York educators
3. Gain practical skills for delivering nuanced, accessible Israel education to your learners
4. Explore questions about how we integrate a robust Israel education into learners’ Jewish educational journey.  
    

What can you expect?

This cohort is an opportunity to spend time working collaboratively and with experts from the field as you plan the next steps for Israel education for you and your learners. A pre-trip webinar in January will provide a logistical and educational foundation for the cohort experience, setting the tone for our time together in Israel and in New York.

On the 5-day trip to Israel, groups will hear from those Israelis most directly affected by October 7th and the ongoing war, including non-Jewish Israelis, and will reflect on the diversity of experience in Israel today. Each trip will spend time in the Western Negev and in the Center of Israel. Significant time will be spent building relationships with Israeli educators and exploring Israeli educational settings. By encountering the challenges and opportunities facing Israeli society at this moment, educators will come back to New York better equipped to bring a post-October 7th Israel alive for their learners. 

The post-trip experience will consist of two virtual and two in-person gatherings:

Each of the meetings following the trip will include time with a small learning group that explores a shared question about Israel education that emerges during your trip—bringing educators’ collective experience into conversation with educational resources for use in the classroom, along with recent scholarship and thought leadership. Your group is a space to delve deeply into a key issue related to Israel education, refining your own approach to it, and emerge with practical answers, including resources, skills, and best practices for the work you are doing in your home institution. 

Who should apply?*

The January cohort immersive experiences and site visits will center educators who work with middle and high school-aged learners in formal and informal settings and will be made accessible and relevant for educators working with all age groups. 
February trip participants will visit educational settings for early childhood and elementary school-aged learners and will explore questions of Israel education for these age groups. Educators who apply for the February cohort should be aware that some experiences will be framed specifically through this lens, but educators who work with older learners are also welcome to apply and will be supported in adapting their learning to their own settings. These cohorts are for educators who...

• Work in one of NYC's Five Boroughs, Long Island, or Westchester.
• Are ready to enhance Israel education in your classroom.
• Aspire to be practitioners of serious, meaningful Jewish education.
• Have a valid passport with an expiration date at least 6 months beyond your return date of travel.
• Have been to Israel in the past 10 years, but have not been on a professional development trip to Israel since October 7th, 2023.
• Believe that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state, has the right to defend itself, and that the idea of Zionism is a positive expression of Jewish identity.
• Are comfortable with grappling with complexity and engaging with opinions different from their own.
• Are able to commit to participating in the entirety of the cohort experience, as listed above. 
• Have a valid passport with an expiration date at least 6 months beyond your return date of travel.
• Ability to acquire a visa or ETA-IL for travel, per the requirements listed on the U.S. State Department Website. 

*Submission of an application does not signify acceptance. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis and acceptances will begin in late October.

Trip Details

Participants are expected to be with the group at all times. Days will be long, including evening activities, and if you want to see friends/family while in Israel, you should plan to extend your trip and connect before the trip begins or after it ends.

Participation is by application only, and application does not guarantee acceptance. This trip is meant for those who are responsible for delivering Israel education in a synagogue, youth movement, day school, camp, or other institution of Jewish learning. Your supervisor must sign off on your participation, recognizing that they will work with you to bring your learning and subsequent work to your community. Independent educators are also encouraged to apply. You must be able to commit to pre-and post-trip learning. 

Cost

All on-the-ground programmatic, lodging, food, and transportation costs will be covered through a generous grant funded by UJA-Federation of New York. Participants will be asked to arrange and cover the costs of their own travel to and from Israel, taking into account the timing requirements listed above. If the cost of travel is prohibitive to participation, please be in touch with us to discuss details. Limited scholarship funds may be available. 

In addition to flights, to attend a trip with The Jewish Education Project, you are required to maintain an insurance policy coverage for emergency medical expenses, evacuation, and repatriation benefits while traveling outside the United States and when combined together is at least 100,000 USD per traveler (or the Canadian equivalent). If your pre-existing coverage does not meet these needs, you will be required to purchase emergency travel accident and medical insurance. Proof of insurance will need to be submitted prior to the trip. Your employer may offer a business travel accident insurance policy for this trip. We recommend that you check with your employer for more information.

Travel Details

For those accepted to participate in this Jewish educator experience in Israel, you will be asked to book your own travel such that you will join the group at Ben Gurion Airport by 6:00 PM Israel time on the Sunday that your trip starts, and plan to be with the group until 6:00 PM Israel time on Thursday. We strongly recommend booking with El Al, as their flight schedule is the most reliable to get you to/from Israel. If you choose to book with another airline, please watch your reservation carefully, as cancellations have become frequent, and you will be responsible for booking an alternate itinerary at your own expense in line with the timing guidelines above if yours is changed or cancelled.

Security

The Jewish Education Project, along with our partners both in the United States and in Israel, hold your safety and security as our top priority. We are, and will continue to be, in constant contact with the appropriate security authorities to ensure your safety. If accepted, you will be required to acknowledge having received and read U.S. State Department notifications outlining the current security situation in Israel.

During the trip, a security guard/medic will be with the group at all times.

This trip will move forward as planned unless (1) El Al halts flights to/from Israel, or (2) our partners here and/or in Israel deem the current situation unsafe for us to proceed, or (3) The Jewish Education Project or our funders determine additional reasons for cancelation.

Waiver and Permission Agreement

Your participation in The Jewish Education Project’s trip to Israel is contingent upon your signing a waiver and permission agreement.  
 

Questions? Please contact Tova Perlow.