• Learning About Different Movements of Judaism

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    On March 22, EIE visited and toured Hebrew Union College. We sat and listened to three rabbis as speakers from the different movements of Judaism. They lectured about their understanding of Judaism and the way Jews should live their life in today's world.


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  • Chalutzim, Kibbutzim, and Early Zionism

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    We woke up at 6:15 and were greeted with a two hour bus ride up to Kfar Tavor in the North. When we arrived, our first stop was the Aliyah Museum. We explored what life was like in a Moshava, which is a Zionist agricultural settlement.


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  • Visiting a Place of Unimaginable Horror

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    Our day at Auschwitz began at Auschwitz-Birkenau, a part of the camp built specifically for the elimination of the Jews. Beginning outside of the train station, we made our way along the railroad tracks, passing barracks and crematoriums on both sides.


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  • Learning About Life in the Face of Darkness

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    We began our pilgrimage to Poland bright and early on a Sunday morning. Once we arrived in Warsaw we started our week off by visiting a cemetery. Cemeteries are often known as a place of death. However, we learned that the translation of “cemetery” is “house of life.”


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  • I Will Never Forget Today

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    Jenna S., a Spring 2016 participant, is a junior from Ben Lomond, California. She is a member of Temple Beth El, is involved in NFTY-CWR, and has been a camper at Camp Newman. After visiting Majdanek, a concentration camp in Poland, she wrote a poem about what spoke to her.


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  • An Eye-Opening Trip

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    Recently, the students and parents on EIE went on a tiyul to a mosque in Ein Rafa, one of three Arab villages in the Tzuba area. The others are Abu Gosh and Ein Nakuba. These villages have good relations with Jewish population surrounding them. After a ten minute bus ride, we entered the mosque, the biggest in Ein Rafa.


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  • Exceeding All of My Expectations

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    Recently, I returned from a wonderful visit to Israel to see my daughter, Dani, take part in the Parents’ Pilgrimage, and visit my immediate family. I was overwhelmed by the experience. As soon as I got to Tzuba I realized what a gift we were able to give Dani.


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  • Celebrating Purim for Three Days!

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    On Wednesday night and Thursday, EIE celebrated Purim. Today, we celebrated Shushan Purim, a holiday unique to Jerusalem with roots in the Book of Esther. In the ninth of ten chapters, Queen Esther asks King Ahasuerus for an additional day for the Jews of Shushan, a walled city, to defend themselves, a request that the king grants.


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  • The Trip of a Lifetime

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    Richie and Amy Solomon visited their daughter Jenna as part of the Spring 2016 Parents’ Pilgrimage. They recently answered some of our questions about their trip and Jenna’s experiences on EIE.


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  • EIE: Experiential Informative Education

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    Shalom! My name is Evan Wertheim and I’m very excited to be a Jewish History teacher with NFTY-EIE. I grew up in Atlanta, in a home committed to Jewish life. I was active in NFTY and went on an amazing trip to Israel with NFTY in 1999.


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