Israeli college student participants with Generations of Israel with leadership of the Orthodox Union.
The Orthodox Union recently hosted a delegation of Israeli college student leaders at its Manhattan headquarters as part of their intensive ten-day visit to the United States in participation with “Generations of Israel.”
Students heard from leadership of the OU and NCSY, its international youth movement. Speakers included Rabbi Menachem Genack, chief executive officer of OU Kosher; Rabbi David Felsenthal, director of the OU NextGen Division; Paul Glasser, senior director of institutional advancement; Mayer Fertig, OU chief communications officer; and Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, NCSY director of education.
Currently based in Tel Aviv University and Beersheva University, Generations of Israel identifies future leaders of the Jewish people and helps them shape the future of the people’s Jewish identity. Rabbi Avraham Kook and Gilad Vider are the program directors.
The program has two facets: The first takes place on the campuses throughout the school year and focuses on the students, looking to enhance their connections to Judaism and to the land of Israel. The second is the ten-day delegation to Jewish communities outside of Israel.
The purpose of the ten-day mission is three-fold: to build bridges between the Jewish community in Israel and the Jewish community in the Diaspora; to strengthen existing bonds between both communities with the purpose of closer work together in the future; and to bring the Israeli students who will be the future leaders of tomorrow into contact with leaders of the Jewish student communities on college and university campuses across the United States, with the goal of fostering and strengthening their Jewish identity.
According to Nadiv Schorer, delegation manager and foreign affairs liaison for Generations of Israel, “The Generations of Israel delegation consists of students who all served in the Israeli Defense Forces. Included in the group are Ben, who participated in the Second Lebanon war in 2006 as a tank gunner; Tal, a reserves naval officer in the IDF Naval Service who took part in the seizure of the Mavi Marmara in 2010, part of a Turkish flotilla seeking to run the Gaza blockade; and Neta, who is a part of the managing staff of a scholarship on campus pairing students to work with children with disabilities.”
In addition to the OU, participants have met and spoken with students at Jewish elementary schools and high schools in New York and Baltimore. The university students were hosted by the Jewish community of Baltimore, “where cooperation ties were further strengthened with leaders of the Jewish community,” noted Mr. Schorer. Additionally, the group held meetings with Jewish student groups at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and New York University.
A delegation was sent earlier this year to England and a third delegation left for Toronto and Montreal this past Monday.
For further information on Generations of Israel, contact Nadiv Schorer at {encode=”nadiv.generations@gmail.com” title=”nadiv.generations@gmail.com”}.