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Israel Experience" you can find over 200 selected educational
modules offered by a vast variety of program operators and purveyors in
Israel.
This catalog is the result of a need expressed by youth
organizations, youth movements, youth workers, JCC educators,
camp directors, school teachers and principals as well as
community leaders, who are aware that it is imperative to
maximize the Israel experience and ensure that by the first
decade of the 21st century, at least 50,000 Jewish teens will
come to Israel annually to share the experience and make it a
cornerstone of their Jewish identification.
The process of providing answers to a series of questions, and
sometimes even creating the questions themselves, is
intrinsic to the concept of programming. We must never lose
sight of the fact that we talk about an individual experience
as part of a proper interaction within a group led by a
professional guide/leader/educator - which in Hebrew is
called a "madrich".
At times, the program plays the role of
initiating the young person into our culture. At times it will
heighten his/her sense of belonging and commitment. It is
within the framework of these questions that the modules
contained within this booklet must be presented, in order to
offer the participant a structure within which he or she may
also learn to ask questions and seek answers.
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In the face of
the profound apathy afflicting much of the Jewish youth
population - indeed one might even call it a subconscious
apathy - it is our duty - and it ought to be our pleasure - to
offer programs which awaken curiosity and tempt the cultural
and sometimes the religious appetite of the client.
In other words, we must consider the widest possible range of
modules because our starting point is always "where the young
person is".
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Presented here are education modules, not programs. A module
is the smallest educational unit - ranging from two hours to
several weeks - that is built into an educational program
which answers the needs of the Israel trip organizers. The
desired program has to be carefully constructed out of the
modules offered here as well as any other educational units
known to the organizer. We would be glad to include all
potential units in forthcoming editions of the catalog.
Please note that we have used the term "client" deliberately,
for, in our opinion, Jewish Zionist education must supply the
the ideas and beliefs to be offered in the marketplace that is
the Land and the State of Israel. As purveyors, we must
endeavor to present our "products" in the most attractive and
convenient manner possible. Only then, can we reach the minds
and heart of the target population.
We have, therefore, set before the client a series of modular
units which we believe answer the following questions, and by
so doing, build what we refer to as a program.
It is obvious that in a process such as this, the questions
and answers overlap. For our purposes, we can apply the term
"mesh", for it is precisely this "meshing" which creates the
successful program; tight, yet flexible and like an
impressionist painting, composed of many small units which
ultimately form a complete picture.
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