Tuesday, May 5, 2015

All Good Things Must Come To An End

What a semester this has been! In order to procrastinate on all of my end of semester work that needs to happen before Sunday, I've started to reflect on what I'm taking away from Kesher Hadash.
 
Brilliant teachers- Alex Sinclair, Israel Education; Daniel Moses, Israeli-Arab Conflict; 
      Dave Mendelsson, Israeli History; Michal Ben-Dov (my tutor!); Matan, Ulpan.

Kelly Kossar's photo.
 
With the exception of Matan, who I don't know very much about beyond his ability to teach     Hebrew in a fun and engaging way, my teachers this semester are all leading scholars in their field. In addition to being Israel experts, I also found them all to be accessible in a way that allowed me to dig deep into their areas of interest.
 
The desire to keep learning.



Before I came on Kesher Hadash I had a very limited understand of Israel and its history. This semester has inspired me to want to know more. I have always loved to read and have started to add books about this region by non-Jewish authors to my reading list as a way to continue my education about Israel from multiple perspectives.

A real connection to Israel.


 
I had been to Israel a few times before on short group trips. I had always felt that I had loved Israel because I loved being Jewish. The two came hand in hand. I still love Israel, but for different reasons. I love Israel because it is a country with a Jewish heart that is confusing, messy and complicated. I see a lot of myself in Israel.

Beauty.


 
I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to visit such incredible sights during this semester, and to have met some beautiful souls along the way. 

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