Skip to content

May 11, 2021

Unexpected Opportunities

By: James Ziemba

By Camille As I’m journeying through my gap year, I’m realizing that in life, opportunities have a strange way of showing up when you least expect them. In March of last year, I remember closing my computer and being hit with the realization that this was my last ever meeting with Marin Teen Girl, an […]

Read the full post »

Here Goes Nothing!

By: James Ziemba

By Zachary It’s been an eventful couple weeks since you all heard from me! First of all, I quit my job at City Year, but I knew that I was going to have to do this for a while. My experience with City Year, despite not being ideal, was still impactful. I will miss the […]

Read the full post »

March 2, 2021

Coping with COVID

By: James Ziemba

By Sammy COVID has been crashing world economies, demolishing daily routines, and most of all, causing deaths throughout the world. Israel has not been spared, with the country initiating multiple country-wide lockdowns to fight off the spread of the disease. However, Israel has also been leading the world in vaccinations per capita. After high cases […]

Read the full post »

My Trip to the Gaza Border

By: James Ziemba

By Sami As one of the most turbulent and dangerous areas in the world, the Gaza strip is certainly a place myself and most Jews have learned about, at least in the context of its relationship with Israel. Before writing more about my experience learning about the conflict between Israel and Gaza, though, I thought […]

Read the full post »

December 15, 2020

An Unexpected Year

By: James Ziemba

By Valerie I knew that 2020 was going to be different. The respite from a grueling cycle of tests, projects and competitions was something I had anticipated since the start of high school, but I never expected it to be different in the way that it has been.  I made plans– lots of them– most […]

Read the full post »

A List of Things I’ve Learned So Far This Fall

By: James Ziemba

By Amelia 1. How to scrape frost off a car 2. What it feels like to have your ears pierced 3. The best recipe for baked oats 4. How to drive through a twice-a-century fire storm 5. How to use a Cryostat to cut 5-micrometer sections of mouse tissue 6. How to cancel plane tickets […]

Read the full post »

Sincere Happiness

By: James Ziemba

By Sammy Self-confidence. Gratitude. Think beyond yourself. Don’t worry. Don’t be a victim. Master your mind. Over the last 5 weeks, Rabbi Dov Ber taught us these integral steps to happiness as part of his seminars. Through Seidel’s Jewish Information Center in Jerusalem, our program has had the opportunity to listen to the venerated Rabbi […]

Read the full post »

Pandemic Adventures: The Great Outdoors

By: James Ziemba

By Sara I live in South Carolina, where we have 47 state parks throughout the mountains, the midlands, and the coast, and visiting them is one of my mom’s and my favorite pastimes. During the pandemic, we have been visiting more frequently because this is one of the few ways to get out of the […]

Read the full post »

The Silence of the Desert

By: James Ziemba

By Sami The silence of the desert was so powerful that I could hear the blood rushing through my head. Only a single fly would occasionally steal my attention away from the awe-inspiring sunset over the canyon. Once finished with my accustomed ritual of squatting like an animal to relieve myself, I turned to walk […]

Read the full post »

Structure, Flexibility, and Spontaneity 

By: James Ziemba

By Maia  For the first two months of being in Israel, each week felt like a new adventure. My time in Israel wasn’t like my life back home where I had a daily routine. Instead, I spent two weeks in quarantine, one week living at a hostel near the old city in Jerusalem, and a […]

Read the full post »