Masa Israel Journey Blog

Published : January 29, 2013

By Elisabeth Hacker, Israel Teaching Fellows - Israel Pathways

Israel Corps and Zoom Israel

When I was preparing to write this speech, I decided to do a quick Rabbi Google search for attention grabbers. All that Rabbi Google gave me was “Purity Quotes to Grab Your Teenager’s Attention.” Needless to say, that is not what I wanted from Rabbi Google. So I decided that the best farewell/halfway point address, since it is so unique to our organization, should have no framework. A framework would only create an atmosphere of oddity and would block the free flow of natural and sincere feelings.

Today I stand not before you, but with you; with the utmost sincere feelings of...

Challenges of a Reform Jew in Israel

Published : January 29, 2013

By Tina Hughes, Hebrew Union College

I went to Israel for my first year of Rabbinical School at HUC, Hebrew Union College.

I had been to Israel before – three times – and thought that I knew what I was getting into.

The year was not what I expected. Being a female Rabbinical student in Jerusalem, wearing a kippah had its difficulties – but it gave me a taste of Israeli society that I both had not and would never have seen solely from short group-organized trips.

At first the reactions I got from Israeli society disheartened me about Israel – how could I, a Reform Jew studying to be a Rabbi, feel that I didn’t belong in the Jewish homeland?

It just didn...