UMass sends students off

Largest contingency in state to go to Israel
By Jacob Sugerman
January 11, 2006 

Among the scores of students leaving for Israel Jan. 9 as part of the Birthright Israel program, more than 50 – the largest contingent sent by any college in the state – will be coming from a school not known for its Jewish involvement: the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.  

“This is largest group leaving from Boston,” said Batya Kagan, assistant director at UMass Hillel and a coordinator of the Birthright program. “We’ve got a lot of kids who have never set foot in Israel, nor know the geography of the place. It will bring them a really great opportunity.”
As at most college campuses across the country, a concerted effort was made by officials at the UMass Hillel to recruit students for the trip. However, in explaining the school’s uniquely large contingent of birthright participants, Hillel administrators point to the work of Yael Apfelbaum, who is working with the Hillel on a fellowship from Israel. One of only 17 participants in the Jewish Agency-run program in the United States, Apfelbaum has helped both the Umass Hillel and the surrounding institutions under her jurisdiction in initiating Israel-related programming.
In the last few months, “Yael has brought more students to the Hillel,” said Saul Perlmutter, director of the UMass Hillel. “We’re really delighted, pleased and grateful to have her here with us.”

Though her primary focus is on programming, the Birthright program, Apfelbaum said, is what brought her to the United States in the first place.
“It’s a chance to enrich [the students] and empower them,” she said. “It’s really a one-time opportunity for many of them, and for me, an Israeli who comes back with a group of people who I believe will get so much out of it and will have a life-changing experience by going.”
To prepare for the trip, interviews were scheduled for the students to allow the Birthright organizers the opportunity to learn more about their applicants, and an orientation session with seven different stations devoted to increasing applicants’ knowledge of Israel was organized to help prepare the students for the upcoming trip.
“It was amazing to see that most of the students were not at all familiar with … things that were fairly basic knowledge about Israel,” said Perlmutter. “It really shows that we are reaching students that are willing to learn.”

“We tried to expose themto things that are informativeand helpful, to make them fun,” said Apfelbaum. “This will give [the students] a chance to form their own opinions, not based on the media.”

Apparently, the efforts of Apfelbaum and her colleagues have made many of the students excited for next week’s trip.
“I think that this trip will give me more of an insight,” said Joshua Parker, a 22-year old senior from Easton. “The Jewish side of my family has talked to me about it for years, but I want to understand the culture for myself … I’m really excited to get a taste of my heritage.”

“I saw people come back from Israel and stay so close and I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll be able to keep these connections later in my life,’” said Mark Franklin, a 21-year-old senior from Glastonbury, Conn. “I really feel a connection to Israel. I want to go there firsthand and see what everyone else is seeing.” 

http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=727