Monday, June 4, 2012

Why do we send our students to Israel?


Many Jewish day schools provide the opportunity for their eldest class to visit Israel before graduation.  Why do we feel the necessity, perhaps even the obligation, to take our students on this expensive and time-consuming excursion? Why not instead encourage our Jewish day-school families to travel to Israel as a family or wait until their children are 18 and send them on Taglit-Birthright? For The Shoshana S. Cardin School’s administration and board of trustees, the answer is simple – for the authentic educational opportunity the Cardin students can only experience by being in Eretz Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael. 

Throughout high school, Cardin students study the history of Israel from biblical times to the present; together, we celebrate Israel’s holidays, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut, and Yom Yerushalayim as if they were our own national celebrations; and Cardin students closely examine  the cultures, innovations and peoples that comprise the country.  After four years of learning about Israel advocacy, Cardin students can now see for themselves what they are advocating for. Cardin students are taught to look thoughtfully at current Israeli politics through a pluralistic, non-judgmental lens, forming personal opinions after studying all of the available facts.  Without traveling to Israel, these facts and figures are just that – facts and figures.

A secondary explanation for traveling to Israel specifically at the end of senior year is so that students have a potentially transformative experience prior to departing high school.    The trip is also another opportunity to create lasting memories for students to take with them after high school.  The Israel trip is a perfect bridge between high school and college for Jewish day-school students.         

Barbie Prince
Head of School


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