Q: What the heck is Aardvark Israel?
A: Anyone who's paid any attention to developments in the Jewish world knows about the
problems of Hadassah and its youth movement Young Judaea over the past few years. Hadassah has lost millions of dollars and Young Judaea's numbers have gradually fallen as a result of management, the fact that just maybe kids in the 21st century don't want or have room for a Zionist youth movement as they much as they did fifty years ago, or maybe something in between. I've remained close enough to Young Judaea throughout my adult life to have realized that it's not as simple as "this all happened in the last ten minutes, thanks to _________'s decisions". Young Judaea was tiny when I was a kid way back when, sometimes attracting in the neighborhood of forty kids to a regional convention in Texas. ("What? You're from Texas? Where's your accent?" I'm still shocked when people still say this to me.
Seriously? Hey, you're from California? Where's your surfboard? You're from New York? Where's your whitefish? You're from Israel! Where's your camel?)
"Listen, varmint-there ain't enough room in this town for the both of us.That said, I'm leaving. My arnona payments are outrageous."Having graduated thousands of passionate alumni, many of whom either spent time on Year Course or even moved to Israel, there are a lot of Jewish armchair quarterbacks who feel very strongly about these issues. The
news which broke yesterday, significant enough to warrant front page status on the Jerusalem Post, will only continue to stir the debate, even dividing people into two camps.
Just a few weeks ago,
Year Course director and long-time YJ employee Keith Berman resigned from his position. Yesterday, via Facebook, Keith announced his future (and current) plans: to not only create a new
MASA gap year program called
Aardvark Israel but to do so with the help of several former Year Course employees. While it may be too dramatic to say that the battle lines are drawn, this is an issue which is going to stir strong emotions in people, some of which have already begun taking sides in the Jpost talkbacks and on Facebook walls. Having worked for Young Judaea both in the US and Israel, I personally now have friends working for both these programs. People have strong loyalties to their youth group, to their friends, and to Israel.
What we know:
-Aardvark Israel has a very well done website which wasn't just designed yesterday.
-The program will offer an incredible amount of choice in
specialty programs including travel, digital arts and media, spirituality, and more. The incredible amount of choice that exists on Year Course happened on Keith's watch and more accurately, because of Keith, as his own personal vision and brainchild. (
Ech omrim "brainchild"?)
-Among its new employees are the former director, assistant director, director of Shalem (Orthodox track of Year Course), director and assistant director of the Jerusalem track, among others.
-The price is around $15,000, not including flight and meals, which still makes it several thousand dollars cheaper than similar programs.
Some questions:
-Year Course over the last 10 years exploded from a program of 100-something participants to around 550 last year before the current recession. It is by far the most successful MASA program in terms of numbers.
Is competition, choice, and change a good thing or are consumers now choosing between two of the same product? -Young Judaea Year Course is part of a larger framework and ideology, taking kids from its movement and camps (albeit a smaller percentage that it used to), and giving them all the option to return as staff members, and hopefully even as Hadassah members and associates down the road regardless of whether or not they were previously involved in YJ.
If Aardvark Israel "only" brings young people to Israel but does so in potentially large numbers, does it matter or mean any less that it lacks the backing and framework of Hadassah, Young Judaea, or another established parent organization?-How much would the incredible and unrivaled achievements of Young Judaea and its Israel programs over the last century play a role in your decision as to which program you sent your child on?
Is it more important to "save" Young Judaea or to develop new and alternative Israel program options? Is it one or the other? Is there a conflict of interest here?As far as what I think, I'll say this: if you want to give your high school graduate a life-changing experience, you could do no better than either of these programs. Talk to me about either if you have questions.
On Groundhog Day, I ask you: What do you think?
"3.71 million shekels!"
