The Israel Educational Travel Alliance (IETA) recently held three days of in-person meetings. Founded during the pandemic, IETA was designed to be a professional community bringing together dozens of organizations that bring tens of thousands of people to Israel each year.
As the sector faces unprecedented challenges in a post-October 7 world, the trust and respect cultivated and cultivated during the pandemic is critical.
Below are some of our personal impressions after spending several days with 175 professionals dedicated to the field of Israel educational travel. We look forward to future reports from IETA providing further insight into the impact of the conference and lessons from the broader IETA community.
1. The war is still on.
We want people to return en masse to Israel right now, but we have to constantly remind ourselves that there is still a war going on in Israel and everything that comes with it. It won't. This includes hotels full of evacuees, many tour guides and travel industry professionals on reserve, and many areas of Israel still closed to tourists.
2. Israel will never be the same.
Although we talk about PTSD, for many Israelis there is still nothing “post-mortem” about their current situation. This country remains traumatized, and despite many encouraging signs of strength and resilience, this country is not the same as it was on October 6th. To achieve this recognition, the Israeli experience for participants cannot and should not be the same as any previous year.
3. Israeli and Jewish educators are never the same.
Just as the trauma for all Israelis is real and palpable, so too is the trauma for Jews as a whole. In order to be the best educator possible, all Jewish educators, especially those involved in educational travel to Israel, must value themselves and share their thoughts, opinions, and ideas before dealing with pedagogy. You have to sort out your emotions.
4. As long as people want to go to Israel, we should go.
As long as people want to go, even if the war is still going on and the country is in trauma, we must ensure that they have a meaningful educational experience by traveling to Israel. .
5. We must focus on quality.
The success of an Israel Experience program is often determined by the number of people it attracts. In fact, these numbers before October 7 were very impressive, especially since they also included people with weak ties to the Jewish community. Attracting as many people as possible to Israel should always be a top priority, but we must ensure that the quality of these experiences is never compromised. Now is the right time to consider the balance of success that balances both the quantity of participants and the quality of the variety of existing and new experiences we offer.
6. There is nothing more powerful than Mifgash (encounter).
The Israel experience is more than just visiting the ruins. Rather, the lasting power of this experience is the location as well as the encounter with the people of Israel. Nearly 20% of IETA conference attendees were Israeli, demonstrating that the Israeli experience is a cross-cultural encounter and perhaps the best bridge between Israelis and Jewish communities around the world. is shown. These encounters should be nurtured in good times and difficult times. Never underestimate the power of a hug to say “we're here for each other” and “you're not alone.”
7. Send educators to Israel now.
Given that Israel has changed so much since October 7, educators accompanying people on trips to Israel need to experience Israel themselves before taking on the responsibility of educating travel participants. With regular travel disrupted, communities need to invest now to bring all educators to Israel. This provides a deeper understanding of the magnitude of the war's impact on Israel and the subsequent changes required in the Israeli educational travel experience. Simply put, Israeli and local educators need to become culturally bilingual.
8. This is a moment of Jewish activism.
October 7th happened to the Jews. As a community, we will not be judged by what happened on that fateful day, but by how we responded to those tragic events. There are many ways we can and should activate our communities right now. First, people should be encouraged to participate in volunteer opportunities that will help rebuild Israeli society. We should also encourage our non-Jewish allies to travel to Israel more than ever before. Whether we are ready to travel to Israel or not, we should all mobilize to bring the hostages home. As we have learned over time, meaningful activist engagement experiences like this have a lasting positive impact on generations of Jews.
9. Two peoples live in one land.
It is impossible to “finalize” and know with certainty what education in Israel will look like in the future. Also, as an IETA community, it is not our responsibility to make political or ideological statements. But now is the time to recognize that Israeli education is failing to effectively educate Palestinians and Arab Israelis. Our participants are seeking and deserve a comprehensive, complex, and contextual Israeli educational experience. At the same time, our interest and consideration in teaching other stories must not come at the expense of more overtly teaching our own stories. We need to redouble our efforts to proudly teach Zionism (both its history and literal definition) and the success of Jewish liberation.
10. We are a powerful group.
You may have heard of Birthright Israel, Honeymoon Israel, iTrek, Masa Israel Journey, Onward, Passages, RootOne, and other Israel educational travel opportunities. But you've probably heard about the power when all of these organizations work together. It wasn't until COVID-19 hit that we realized we weren't in competition with each other. In the aftermath of October 7, there is a commitment that the collective is much stronger than the sum of its parts.
With support from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and various community foundations, IETA serves as a clear example to everyone in our community of the power of collaboration in a time when we need cooperation now more than ever. I am.
David Bryfman and Liz Sokolsky are co-chairs of the Israel Educational Travel Alliance. IETA is affiliated with the Jewish Federations of North America. This convocation was made possible through the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Maimonides Fund, Mosaic United, and the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism.
