Masa Israel Journey Blog

USY to BGU: Staying connected to Israel by studying abroad

August 28, 2010

By Joel Portman, St. Louis, MO, Ben Gurion University of the Negev Year Program

In 2005, I traveled to Poland and Israel with United Synagogue Youth (USY). The five weeks I spent in Israel were some of the best of my life. But the experience I’d had wasn’t enough: I wanted more, and I knew I would have to return. So, in 2008, I spent a semester studying at Masa Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev. And I loved every minute of it.

I was a student at the University of Denver when I decided to spend my Junior year abroad in Israel. Seventy percent of the undergraduate students there study abroad – so I knew I would be spending part of Junior year in another country. And choosing where to go was easy for me – I knew I had to be in...

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“I wanted to experience more out of Israel”

August 27, 2010

By Aaron Sholin, San Francisco, CA, WUJS Israel Hadassah

Many American Jews come to Israel for short visits on Birthright and other similar programs. I, too, have done that, and enjoyed it, but somewhere along the way, I realized that I wanted to experience more of Israel. This realization led me to the decision to go on a Masa Israel sponsored post-college program.

There are a huge number of programs, so it took some time to figure out what I wanted. After doing some research, I decided two things: I wanted to be in Tel Aviv and I wanted to have an internship. I sent e-mails including one to WUJS Israel Hadassah, just one of over 180 program options that Masa Israel works with and received a call from Amy, who is responsible for getting...