Beach Hillel Director Rachel Kaplan giving a dollar to Candice Lebowitz for tzedakah money for this summer's Taglit-Birthright Israel trip

This week, Long Beach Hillel students will be going on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip along with students from the Hillels at University of Delaware and University of Wisconsin. We are so excited for our students to be heading off on this special trip, as students from previous trips have all tremendously enjoyed them.

Prior to going on the trip, students attended three orientation sessions, over the last few weeks to help them prepare for the trip. Rabbi Drew and Rachel Kaplan guided them, seeking to educate the students about Israel’s history, to help build up their anticipation for the storied Jewish homeland. “It made me realize how much I didn’t know,” said Candice Lebowitz. “I felt undereducated about Israel and it gave us a sense of what’s to come.”

The last session, which took place last week, was geared more toward practical information for the trip. Of course, having the orientation sessions gave the students an opportunity to start building relationships and familiarity with each other. “It was great because I got to meet some of the people I’m going with before the trip,” said Talia Banarie.

We wish our students a tremendously meaningful and enjoyable trip to our homeland!