by Sarit Tolzis, Cleveland, OH, Young Judaea Year Course alum

 

For as long as I can remember, spending a year in Israel after graduation was considered an automatic norm. I attended a modern-Orthodox Jewish Day School in Cleveland that teaches Judaic Studies as part of its curriculum, and where almost all the students spend a year in Israel before college. I had been to Israel several times before: I had trekked up Masada at sunrise with friends, enjoyed the sun of the Eilat beach with siblings, and solemnly paraded to the Kotel on Shavuot night with family.

 

Typically, girls from my community attend seminaries. But when senior year approached, I realized that I didn’t want to attend a yeshiva in an American neighborhood with American teachers and...