Dozens of YU students are taking part in two unique “Agents of Change” intersession missions in Israel – one on Jewish Sabbath in the modern world, and another on the question of whether healthcare is a personal, communal or governmental responsibility.

“Shabbat 2010” is a 10-day experiential education program exploring the roots of Shabbat observance and analyzing the effects of Shabbat on contemporary Israeli society and the global Jewish community. 

At the same time, a service learning program called Operation Healthcare will examine the healthcare systems of the United States and Israel; 31 students are taking part.

Both groups arrive in Israel on Thursday, January 7, and will remain for 8-11 days.

The Shabbat program is two separate groups of 20 men and 20 women. Each one will spend a Shabbat in Jerusalem and in Kibbutz Lavi, and will be treated to meetings with leaders in various fields and discussions on significant topics. They will visit the Zula Center for Youth at Risk, participate in a seminar on whether Shabbat and the economy can sustain each other, tour the Zomet Institute for Jewish Law and Technology, discuss Jewish-legal questions at the religious Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, tour IDF operations HQs and observe how religious and non-religious soldier/officers interact, discuss social tensions in Israel concerning Shabbat, watch how a religiously-owned world-class furniture factory is run, and more.

They will also hear Rabbi Sharon Shalom, the first Ethiopian Jew to receive rabbinic ordination by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, speak of his personal and Halakhic (Jewish legal) experiences regarding “Mixed Marriages and the Shabbat Experience.”



Agents of change

Operation Healthcare has already begun with meetings on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, D.C. The 31 participants, all with pre-med and political science educational backgrounds, are scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday, and will hear lectures on medical ethics and medicine in Jewish Law. They will volunteer in local hospitals, medical centers, and the like; visit the Fertility Clinic at the Shaare Zedek hospital; spend a day of fun with the children of the Shalva Association for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Israel; hear about Aliyah opportunities for doctors, and listen to lectures on “Policies of Healthcare in Israel,” “The Emotional Power of Bikur Cholim [the mitzvah of visiting the ill -- ed.],” and more.

“The primary goal of these and all CJF programs is to inspire our students to become agents of change in their communities and the world-at-large,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the David Mitzner Dean of the CJF, who will accompany all three groups.  “It is important to us that these future leaders have experiences that encourage them to thoroughly examine our traditions, as well as form opinions about current hot-button issues so that they can broaden their world-view and deepen their commitment to Torah Judaism.”

In addition to its Israel missions, the CJF will be running two other winter break service learning programs: “Jewish Life Coast to Coast,” visiting four Jewish communities in central United States, and a humanitarian mission in the Central American country of El Salvador.