New perspective on immigrants

College students on a unique mission to Israel

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of Jan. 30, 2009 / 5 Shevat 5769

Assimilation, a major Jewish concern in the Diaspora, was also studied in Israel recently by 35 college students on a one week mission with Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future.

Project Connect, which ended last week, aimed to expose the students to cultural groups that have immigrated to Israel since 1948. They visited absorption centers, met with immigrants, and talked with experts –– educators, politicians and social workers –– involved in the integration process. Participants learned about immigrants’ historical and cultural heritage from Israelis with roots in Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.

Yosef Weg, 21, from Lawrence, is a senior and president of the Student Organization of Yeshiva. He was among several local students on the trip.

The goal “was to see whether or not these groups [Jews from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union] maintained their cultural identities,” he explained.

Weg volunteered after reading “The Israelis” by Donna Rosenthal, which examines different cultures in Israeli society.

“I had read the book and now was my chance to experience it first hand,” he said. He was assigned to study the Ethiopian community, which he had first encountered during a Shabbaton in Ramle while studying in Israel after high school.

Project Connect, YU’s third annual winter mission to Israel, was run in conjunction with the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. More than 150 students from YU, Columbia, NYU, the University of Maryland and other schools applied to fill 35 slots.

Each year, the mission focuses on a new topic; organizers believe the theme of integration into Israeli society is broad enough to revisit for years to come.

“Our unique program incorporates daily service projects and sessions with public figures and immigration experts that will help the students explore the halachic and socio-economic absorption challenges faced by these communities, as well as open their eyes to the public policy aspects of integration,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of the CJF.

In an interview before the trip Weg said he hoped to keep those objectives in mind.

“A goal that I hope to achieve ... is a simple sense of understanding,” he said. “We take so much for granted. Many of the Ethiopians are discriminated against daily and most live in poverty. Thankfully, we don’t know too much of what that is like.

Other participants held similar expectations.

“As an outsider, learning about the issues and challenges the Russian and Ethiopian communities are facing, I am hoping the experience will give me insight on how to improve and contribute to my own Jewish community,” said Etan Slomovic, 21, of Cedarhurst.

Slomovic, a sophomore at YU, has prior experience doing kiruv (outreach) work, and viewed Project Connect as an opportunity for him to learn about a new segment of the Jewish community.

After running a program in Germany over Simchat Torah, he said, “dealing with kiruv work and new experiences with different Jewish communities can have multiple positive effects on me. Each Jewish community functions differently. When you spend time with different types of Jews in different communities, you can extract the positive and apply it to your own community.”

“It’s important to remember that we are all Jews and that it is our job to help the Jewish communities that are struggling,” Slomovic added. “Learning about the challenges and issues that these communities are facing and retelling our experiences, might inspire other people to contribute and help as well.”

The program also intended to promote Jewish leadership.

“One of our many goals is to motivate those on the mission to make a difference in the Jewish community and the world at large,” Rabbi Brander said. “We hope that after meeting individuals who overcame great challenges to transform society and better their communities, these students will be inspired to do the same.”

Five student filmmakers from the Ma’ale School of Television, Film, and the Arts in Jerusalem accompanied the American students to document their activities. Their footage was to be edited into a film to be screened at YU in February.