Masa Israel Journey Blog

Enduring Love: What I Learned During my Year in Israel

Published : November 20, 2012

Ah! What a romance! The times we had. Nothing could go wrong. Visiting her was Seventh Heaven. All the wonderful places and memories – the Israel Museum, the Kotel, Machaneh Yehudah – imbued with excitement, culture, history and mystery.

For me, the State of Israel was hitherto an ideal tourist locale, probably since the majority of my time here was spent, well, touring. After spending nearly a year in Israel, I underwent a mental shift as my relationship with Israel matured.

While some of the romance dissipated, our relationship's intensity did not cool off; on the contrary, it deepened. A marriage, for example, cannot forever be a honeymoon. Eventually real life settles in, and the...

First Week of School

Published : November 05, 2012

By Lauren Rosenblum, Israel Teeaching Fellows

I finally started teaching last week, and it's been a great learning experience so far. I am working with Noa and Keren (our Israeli peer who joins us once a week) at the Ramat Alon School, an elementary school in the neighborhood of Sharona in Rehovot. It is a lower-income neighborhood, so the school may not be seen as "the best," but it makes it all the better for me because I came into this program wanting a challenge, and I am definitely getting that challenge.

Ramat Alon begins teaching English orally in 2nd grade, and in 3rd grade they begin learning to write and read. This week was definitely a lot of observing and getting used to being in the school, but I was able to work with small groups of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders last week, and...