In celebration of my twentieth year at Wise, it was my wish that we would provide a means to support our young adults who seek to devote a few months or a year to meaningful efforts to mend our world. With the generous donations of many, we established the Wise Tikkun Olam Leadership Scholarship. Our first young adult scholarship went to Ava Zeidler, a long-time Wise member, graduate of our Religious School, teaching assistant, and an important member of our Wise Camp staff for years. Ava requested the scholarship for her to participate in the Young Judaea Year Course in Israel and volunteer in service to the country. This week’s kavanot feature Ava’s account of her experience in Israel and her reflection on the impact it had on her life. If you know of a high school graduate (and older) wishing to devote significant time to community service who would benefit from scholarship funds, please share this link with them.
— Rabbi Ron Stern
I was excited for my last few weeks. Since we finished our internships/volunteering, our program gave us a day where we had a choice of various activities. Out of the three choices there were, I chose surfing! (Yes, a Californian learned to surf in Israel!) Though it was the perfect beach day, we could all hear something ominous faintly in the distance. I didn’t want to believe it, but the sound was rockets being fired by Hamas and landing nearby. Throughout that whole day, my program kept in close contact and prepared us for any emergency situation that would happen. One bomb drill later, we experienced the actual thing—with a view of rockets flying overhead. When the sirens went off, three separate times throughout the first night and several nights thereafter, we would all run to the safety of the staircase in our hostel. We were lucky that Young Judaea found a safer area for us to stay to avoid the danger in the Negev at the Mitzpe Ramon Crater. I just want to say now that those few days turned out to be my final days in Israel.
For the first time all 205 members of our program were together in one space living in the moment and just accepting it. We all had a lovely time bonding and enjoying our last days together. We even went on a few more hikes! Unfortunately, due to our situation we had to have our graduation for the end of our program in the bomb shelter where we were staying. I was asked to perform a song with a couple other participants, so we got together and rewrote lyrics to “From Now On.” The amount of support and love all my friends express (especially when I sing) leaves me feeling so happy and boosted my confidence.
Even though I was crying by the end of the graduation, they were mostly tears of joy and not only sadness. I’ve met so many incredible people and they are all family to me. The people on my program were strong and knew how to turn any moment into a party. That’s how we were able to get through this hectic year. I’ve made some of my “bestest” friends and gathered memories that will last forever!
COVID, quarantines, lockdowns, vaccinations, and war with HAMAS…nothing changed my love for Israel. I could have never gotten to the Holy Land without Wise’s support and the Tikkun Olam Leadership Scholarship.
— Ava Zeidler