Join our San Diego YAD delegation as we mix it up with 1800 Jewish young adults. TRIBEFEST is an opportunity to meet new people, learn about Jewish innovative programs from around the country and party with the "tribe". Last year we had a HUGE delegation and are looking to get even bigger this year. We are offering $300 off registration to first time participants at TRIBEFEST. We only have 30 subsidies to be awarded on a first-come first-serve basis. Click here for our subsidy application. Click here for more information on TRIBEFEST.
We will be having an information night to let you know what TRIBEFEST is all about. Please email yad@jewishfederationsandiego.org if you are interested in attending.
mission to israel
This past summer three of our very own - Doug White, Ingrid Shulman, and Todd Kirschen, traveled to Israel with hundreds of other Jewish young adults from across the country. They were able to experience all that Israel has to offer in combination with learning the impact of Federation on various parts of Israeli society.
Below is an account of Doug's experience:
For me, there were 3 very substantial take a ways: Israel actually exists, we have a right to be there, and finding my voice.
Existence. It's amazing you can go through most of your life (or all of it up to a point), believing in something that may or may not be true. This can be said of my awareness and belief in Israel. Each High Holiday season and every prayer uttered was a connection to Jerusalem and our people... yet, they were just words... just a story... until now. This NYL mission trip allowed Israel to come alive for me. It was now tangible and concrete and being there allowed me to understand that this ancestral homeland was integral to who we are as Jews and what we believe is universally worth protecting.
Rights. Again, not until being on Israeli soil (and conversely, returning to Israeli soil after brief sojourns through the West Bank and Jordan), did it hit me like a ton of bricks that, should I chose to do so at ANY point in my life, I could move and be welcomed with open arms to Israel as a member of that society. This notion is not one that's been concocted out of thin air; rather it's my right, our right - as individuals, families, communities and a Diaspora.
Voice. So much of this trip was laden with emotion. Whether it was my experience at the Kotel, Yad Vashem, Independence Hall, or Shabbat *in* Jerusalem, I constantly felt on the verge of tears... but they were tears of happiness. The tug of history ran deep with me. I wondered to myself how many of my own family have perhaps dreamed of viewing Israel - the Israel we know today - in all it's strength and tolerance, but have not been able to do so... and perhaps, in some small way, my traveling there was a validation of the sacrifice that so many others made for me and my generation, even at a time when future generations could not be fathomed. As American Jewry in the 21st century, we enjoy some distinct advantages that others in our community may not (religious freedoms, speech, financial prosperity, etc.). Through time and changes in locales and priorities, I recognize a level of apathy has crept into my midst. It's something that I don't like and that I aim to change, to make my Judaism more personal and more vocal.
Email Doug if you would like to hear more about his experience. Email YAD if you are interested in participating this summer.
