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Sari Rosenberg and Ellie Mischel are Connecting to Israel and Judaism through Immersive Experiences
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J., December 21, 2020 – Sari Rosenberg, 18 of South Orange and Eliana “Ellie” Mischel, 19 of Maplewood both decided that rather than a college campus, Israel was the place to be this year. The teens, who both attended religious school, Hebrew High and were active in youth group at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI), are in the Young Judaea Gap Year program—living and learning in Israel, and connecting experientially to Judaism and Israeli culture.
Rosenberg, who will attend University of Michigan next year, had always planned on doing a gap year in Israel, having enjoyed a study abroad program there in 10th grade. She is currently in the Machon Leadership Institute based in Kiryat Moriah in Jerusalem, and will shift home base to Tel Aviv next semester. Mischel deferred her admission at University of Delaware, where she plans to study sociology, after the university closed the campus and moved all classes online due to the pandemic. She started her Israel year in Tel Aviv and will switch to Jerusalem and the Machon Leadership Institute midyear.
Both young women, who graduated from Columbia High School, are touring, taking classes, volunteering, and gaining leadership skills, while sharing this immersive experience with other students from around the world through May.
Mischel said that being far away from home is helping her learn to be more independent and with time management, since the students in her program have flexibility about how to spend their time and which activities to choose. She is taking service, leadership, Hebrew and other classes, attending speaker events and volunteering twice a week at a center that helps victims of sexual assault.
“The program provides you with different volunteer opportunities to choose from based on your interests that help different populations, and there are various internships available,” Mischel said. “We also do weekly field trips and group volunteer projects to get to know the environment, from agriculture to art, which have all been very meaningful. Being independent in a foreign city is helping me to grow, which will be so helpful when I get to college.” She will be attending more academic classes when her group goes to Jerusalem next semester.
Her parents have been TSTI members since before their daughter was born. In addition to becoming bat mitzvah at TSTI and participating in STISY, the Reform synagogue’s youth group, Mischel was a classroom aide in the religious school throughout high school and volunteered through Hebrew High at the soup kitchen in Orange that TSTI supports.
Rosenberg is also enjoying traveling as well as classes in Hebrew, Jewish studies, Zionism, history of Israel, leadership and public speaking, and she’s looking forward to internship opportunities when her group gets to Tel Aviv. She is also the op-ed editor for the program’s newspaper. She is happy to be in Israel this year and noted cultural differences between Israeli and American societies.
“It’s more communal here, less individualistic than in the U.S., which I really like. Plus, everyone is so welcoming and friendly. I’m very comfortable here and even as a secular Jew, I feel connected religiously to Judaism,” she said. After college, she hopes to work in the Jewish world in some way, perhaps as a rabbi.
Her family joined TSTI when she was in third grade, so she also grew up at the temple, where she served on the STISY board and the teen board for the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges. She also volunteered as a babysitter during Friday night services and “wherever they needed me.”
Rosenberg added that “A lot of people would benefit from a gap year. I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I need to be happy and the experience gives you a chance to catch up with yourself before you decide about the rest of your life. It’s a great personal growth experience being away like this.”
Mischel agrees.
“This is such a great program,” said Mischel. “Now that I’ve been here for a while, I feel a lot of people can use this experience before going off to college.”
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) is a dynamic, inclusive Reform congregation that offers numerous ways for members to connect with and celebrate being part of the Jewish community and the world. Welcoming Jews by birth or by choice, interfaith, traditional and non-traditional families, and children of all abilities, TSTI provides lifelong learning and enriching programs for all members through a full complement of religious services, early childhood and religious school education, cultural programs, and activities that foster connection, engagement and community outreach in a joyful, judgment-free environment. TSTI is located at 432 Scotland Road in South Orange, drawing members from Maplewood, South Orange, West Orange, Short Hills, Millburn, Livingston and surrounding areas. For more information, visit www.tsti.org.
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