Masa Israel Teaching Fellows

My time as a Masa Israel Teaching Fellow was the most transformative year of my life. I felt that I was learning everyday, about myself, Israel, and other Jewry. I felt extremely supported by the larger Masa community as well as my teachers and roommates. I made some of my best friends during this year and think about my time there extremely fondly.

Unfortunately, during my time there, the house we lived in was robbed, and we really had to fight with MASA to receive appropriate compensation. In addition, the host program OTZMA was often disorganized and difficult to work with.

That being said--there was an overwhelming wealth of opportunities that MASA provided--workshops, conferences, and shabbaton retreats that connected us with Israelis our age. All these workshops enriched my experience and deepened my appreciation and love for Israel. Since moving back to the States, I still feel like I am part of a larger community, and am still being offered ways to connect with Jews all over the country. My association with Masa allowed me to visit Poland which was a difficult but important experience; one that I know I could not have done without the financial and emotional support Masa provided.

Despite the hiccups, I would 100% encourage everyone to join this organization and participate in one of their many post grad/pre college programs!

There's really no other way to put it...Make the most of your time in MASA! There are opportunities left and right to make your experience in Israel productive and incredibly memorable.

Be'er Sheva (B7) gets a bad rap from people elsewhere in the country. While there are problems that are found in most Israeli cities, B7 was a very warm and welcoming place. B7 is home to Ben Gurion University, which means that I lived among thousands of Israeli college students. The University often hosted parties and concerts, which were great for me even though I wasn't a student. Some of the best friends I made in Be'er Sheva were University students that lived in my apartment building.

My Madrichim were amazing enough to make sure that everybody received a free bus pass for the entire year. This made travel to my school in the Ramot neighborhood a breeze.

Rechasim School was a great experience from start to finish. The school was very chaotic but I showed my chutzpah to command the respect of my students. Each and every day, I was surrounded by students giving me hi-fives and hugs. To your students, you're a rock star. They will fight just for the opportunity to work with you for a class period.

Many of the teachers were very accommodating to myself and Anna the other Teaching Fellow. Often times we were unable to work in the library or computer lab, so we would teach our students in the hallways. It's not pretty, but it was up to us to make sure the students were taught properly. Even after months of painful work with struggling students, the evidence became clear that they were starting to grasp the English language. The school year culminated in an English Day, in which about half of the students participated.

While I was not teaching, I traveled the country meeting Israeli friends and family. It's an amazing discovery to find out that you have family in Israel. On my first visit to some relatives in Netanya that I had never met before, I was welcomed to the first of many great Israeli Shabbat dinners.

I made friends from around the world at the Fall Mifgashim, Leadership Summit, and the Makom Fellowship. These events allowed me to see very remote regions of the country such as the Nitzana Youth Village and to meet MASA participants from at least 30 different countries. In addition to the leadership skills that I picked up, I also gained an understanding of Jewish life in other countries which I knew little of before. In the Makom Fellowship I learned much about the history and culture of Israel. I was also privileged to meet prominent Israelis and that are involved in the larger cultural and political conflicts that the country faces.

The motto of MASA is to "live it like a local." After a few months in the country, I experienced the joys of doing so. Participating in ITF Be'er Sheva motivated me to pursue teaching as a career in the US. It was an amazing life-changing experience.

I went on ITF in Netanya 2 years ago. While it had its challenges, as would any program where you have to adapt to a new country and lifestyle, I would absolutely do it all over again tomorrow. I learned so much about the world and more importantly about myself! I highly recommend this program.

I was on the Masa teaching fellowship in its infancy in Ramla. It was the first run around for Masa and there were ups and downs, but I wouldn't have had it another way. The experience to be a part of "real Israel" and not just 10 days in Birthright were amazing. I was a part of the community and the school in which I worked. Just by being social in the community I made my own host families whom I still talk to today both Arab and Jewish.

This experience was truly one that changed my life. Now ITF has expanded to over 10 cities, and I would recommend to anyone looking to take a year to give back, expand their own horizons and learn more about all that Israel has to offer outside of the headlines.

Daily, I enjoyed a room at school where I would bring 1-10 students to tutor or play games. School was great. Living with 8 people and another 8 across the hall was too much and I wished we had lived with less people however the apartment was beautiful and in a great location. All in all it was a great learning/growing experience.

Life as an ITF-er in Netanya was never short of dull. The city itself was wonderful; everything was in walking distance (shuk, transportation, supermarkets, mall, etc.) and the beach was a ten-minute walk away. There were two gyms on opposite sides of town and it was only a 40-minute sherut ride to Tel Aviv. Herzilya, Poleg and Ra'anana were also very close by. The train station was also within walking distance. I never felt unsafe in Netanya due to the soldiers who I saw everywhere and the main populations in Netanya--Russians, French and Ethiopians--were kind and accepting. They also spoke English! I really feel like the city adopted us, particularly the cashiers at the supermarket underneath the apartment who referred to us as "the teachers" and the two Russian convenience stores who always gave us discounts.

During a regular week, I would be at my school. My school was a ten-minute walk away and was very secular. My teacher, Merav, along with the other teachers and staff, treated me and my teaching partner with respect and always went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I was blessed to have the best students any teacher could want. They were so eager to learn and taught me how to read Hebrew. That helped me immensely in Ulpan! My students always showered me with gifts, asked me about my life in America and would get so excited when they saw me outside of school. I couldn't even walk down the street for more than a few seconds without bumping into one of my students! My students respected me thanks to Merav, who was an incredible mentor. She let me plan my own lessons for the kids, constantly had me over her house for Shabbat and would randomly cook for me. I could not have asked for a better mentor and friend.

Otherwise, life was busy with volunteering, seminars, trainings, working out at the gym and Ulpan. I made such a good impression on my Ulpan teacher that myself and another ITF-er were the only people invited to her and her husband's house for an amazing Shabbat dinner.

For highlights, I am forever indebted to Masa. They offered so many cool seminars that I was able to take advantage of and being at the 2013 Winter Leadership Summit was not only one of the best memories from my ten months in Israel, but one of the happiest moments of my life. My college did not offer regular Joe's like me leadership opportunities (they went to rich students), so getting accepted to the Summit was not only a confidence-builder, but the best way to mentally scold my college for denying me chances to be a leader. I met so many great people, attended wonderful sessions and learned a lot. Being at the Summit allowed me to get accepted to two different Fellowships (I chose the wonderful Kol Voice), let me share my experience with sixty other participants as practice for selling my story to Taglit groups and really just allowed me to smile when it wasn't always easy. The Mifgashim series was amazing as well and the one that involved Shabbat hospitality was another one of my best memories from my entire ten months in Israel. Masa gave me chances that no one else did and I am forever grateful.

Of course, the experience had some drawbacks. My apartment was great location-wise, but otherwise, had this apartment existed in America, it would have been torn down due to all the health and fire code violations. Also, the sick days policy wasn't fair. It should not have taken me five visits with four different doctors to get antibiotics and an inhaler for bronchitis (that developed due to all the smoking both in my building and around the city since smoking is not a social taboo in Israel) when I begged every time my lungs flared up to go to the hospital. I was put on medicine that only masked the symptoms but affected my job performance. Despite attending every single seminar and being within my sick-days limit, I was not allowed to miss a pedagogical training even through the medicine made me loopy and was not given an exception to stay home from school for one extra day, even though I was violently ill.

Otherwise, despite a few setbacks, I greatly enjoyed my experience as an ITF-er in Netanya. I made sure to stay busy outside of the program with the gym and writing for an Israeli paper and those kept me sane. I enjoyed the people in my cohort immensely and like with Masa, am forever indebted to them for their wisdom and kindness.

I was part of Masa Israel Teaching Fellows (ITF) Rehovot and had the time of my life. I have never thought of teaching as something I would ever do in my life but this program was the perfect way to learn about Israel and to learn about myself. I came from a new/media background and was able to bring my knowledge and skills to my work in ITF. I was places in ORT Rehovot and taught English for 10 months. During that time I was able to help my kids develop their speaking English by creating presentations on different countries around the world. As well as develop their written English by creating a school newspaper. It was exciting to see the finished product for these projects and get to know the children in the process! School was the largest part of my program and sometimes proved to be the most challenging sometimes. It took a while to get acclimated to Israeli expectations in schools and there were many times where I thought this would never happen in an American school. Things like teachers not showing up on time or there not being a lesson plan. But I caught on and always had a fun English game in my back pocket! Other parts of my program were Hevruta (encounter in Hebrew)and volunteering in the Rehovot Community. What made these experiences extra special is that ITF Rehovot includes Israeli University Students who are all the same age. The Israelis meet with us once a week for Hevruta, volunteered with us and helped acclimate us to our new lives in Rehovot. It was great to have someone as soon as I got off the plane to call for help finding the closest grocery store as well as where is a fun bar to all go hang out. The Israelis really became our families! We even referred to some of them as mom and dad! My experience in ITF Rehovot was a once in a life time experience and I want Masa to take me back!!

I lived in New York all of my life. When I was 23, I found out that my house and everything I knew were changing. My family was moving to Arizona.
I was never a very religious Jew, I was raised reform and went to temple mainly on the high holidays and the occasional Shabbat. I was part of Hillel in college and was always involved more in community and social things like at my JCC and volunteering rather than strict observations and keeping Kosher.
When I found out about the move and my house going on the market, I just wanted to run away and have time alone to think and process, cope with the upheaval--so I went on Birthright, running away to Israel.
It was one of the best decisions I've made---I fell in love with Israel and on my last day, signed up for more information about how to return there from a Masa Scout.
To my surprise and excitement, I was handpicked to interview for a Teaching Fellows position, the first year in Be'er Sheva (which I knew very little about other than the majestic desert and close proximity to the Dead Sea--which is my favorite place in the whole country).
I spent one of the best years of my life there. The people were amazing and I loved my fellows & my host family. The Israeli Staff was amazing.
I loved being near the university and living with college students and able to easily walk for groceries and nearby restaurants or to the college to visit or enjoy the pool. It was great having laundry and a little gym in our apartment complex and living in the tallest building in town made it easier to never feel lost!
Of course, the turbulent war times and rocket fire from the south was very stressful and a lot of people from my program left early and had trouble dealing with it.
I had a lot of trouble myself but I stayed as strong as I could and pushed myself to finish my program and my goals and projects I had already started in my school and community.
At the end of the year, I felt like a new, more mature woman, who was more in touch with Judaism, Israel, politics, leadership, cooking, world music, and many other things.
I always felt drawn to being a teacher but after finishing the program I knew it was my calling and I will be certified to teach Special Education and Elementary Education in Arizona in just 8 weeks!
This experience was life changing, inspiring, and a real push in the right direction. It made me so much more self aware and feel so independent. I lived on my own in college but living on your own in another country is a completely different experience that really forces you to grow and realize who you truly are!