Sourc: YU News
Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future recently announced that its “Counterpoint Israel” winter break program, a 10-day mission that aims to empower Israeli teens from low socio-economic backgrounds, has doubled in size with the addition of four new “Winter Camps” in Kiryat Gat and the expansion of the existing program in Kiryat Malachi.
With the program returning to the community of Dimona as well, Counterpoint Israel will serve 850 teens in seven student-run camps January 9–19, 2014.
Throughout the mission, 42 YU students from North America, Panama and Colombia will guide the Israeli teens through a curriculum focused on English enrichment and self-exploration through art.
With “Israel-Diaspora Relations” as the theme for the art projects and workshops, students at the Counterpoint camps will be encouraged to examine their Diaspora roots and develop a personal narrative based on their findings.
When outside the classrooms, the YU students will become active in their respective host communities, working with youth at risk and running workshops for the parents of high school dropouts. The students will also broaden their knowledge of the Ethiopian community in Israel by interacting with Ethiopians involved in a special farming project that promotes self-sufficiency.
In addition to its Israel programming, the CJF will be running two other winter missions concurrently: Jewish Life Coast to Coast, an initiative that will analyze how individuals can become active and make a difference in North America’s diverse Jewish communities, operating this year in Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Detroit; and a week-long service mission to the Ukraine.