UJIA Gap Year Event

Many of UJIA's supported Jewish Youth Movements started their Gap Year in Israel with an evening in the desert hosted by UJIA.

Participants from AJ6, BBYO, LJY Netzer, Maccabi GB, Noam and RSY Netzer all started their Gap Year in this way.

"I wanted to do something with them that that they would not do at home" said Adam Saville, the UJIA's UK Programme Representative in Israel. The group of eager Gap Year students travelled from Jerusalem out to the desert where they met by none other than the patriarch Abraham, who guided them on a short hike into a desert wadi (valley) and spring. After a short introduction about the area, our UJIA Representative ran some dynamic ice breaking and group bonding activities, and within a short period of time it was hard to tell who was from which organisation as they were all one large group enjoying being together in Israel.

After a short walk back up the hill Abraham invited us to his legendary tent where he had prepared for us a feast that was served to us by his servants.

After the meal each organisation made a short presentation about themselves and UJIA made a presentation about its work in the Galil, northern Israel and with the Jewish Youth Movements. After dinner entertainment came in the form of dancing to the beats of middle-Eastern drummers against the back drop of the desert mountains.

Joel Cohen of BBYO said "the opportunity to meet the people that we will be spending the next 10 months with was invaluable and set against this desert setting made us realize we are here in Israel and no longer in Watford or wherever we come from"

You can see photos from their first night in Israel in our photo gallery. Please click here.