Jewish Community Partners

This past summer, with the help of the Lemsky Endowment Fund, I enrolled in a summer high school program with Alexander Muss High School in Israel. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I learned about the amazing country of Israel while making long-lasting friendships.

I swam to the lowest point on Earth, the Dead Sea, and climbed to the heights of the mountain Masada. Our teachers guided us through the history of the Jewish people as we stood in the same places as our ancestors. I crawled through the same caves and swam in the same water as the Jewish people did in the Tanach.

My program started in the underground water cistern of Tel Gezer where we learned about the Canaanites, the first people in the land of Israel after the Exodus. We then went to Tel Azeka to learn about the famous fight between David and Goliath and visited the City of David to walk through Hezekiah’s water tunnel, which saved the Jewish people.

We woke up early to have an exhausting climb up Masada and then witnessed a beautiful sunrise, had morning services, and learned about the massacre that happened there. While learning about more battles in the Midras Caves and Belvoir, we also learned about how Judaism changed when we visited Tzfat and studied the Kabbalistic renaissance. We studied how Israel became the country it is today, starting with the First Aliyah to in Mazkeret Batya. We swam in the Nitzanim Beach where Jews made illegal aliyah, desperate to reach their homeland.

As amazing as the sites and stories were, the trip was truly made special because of the people I met. Our campus was in Be’er Sheva, and I lived with 40 other students my age. I was truly lucky because I got amazing roommates whom I grew close to and got along with because we were all thankfully early sleepers.

But for every overnight trip when we slept in hostels, we were randomly placed with other girls allowing us to truly grow closer to everyone there. We also had the most amazing teachers. They were truly engaging and made the learning fun, and our madrichim (counselors) held us together. They went above and beyond for every student there, ensuring that we were taken care of, despite the trouble we put them through.

 
In particular, there were specific moments from the trip that truly stuck out to me as meaningful. The first is when we went stargazing in the Negev desert. It was cold in the desert, so we all snuggled up together and laid on mattresses in the middle of nowhere as we learned about constellations and how our ancestors navigated the desert. We looked through telescopes to see the stars and had a campfire where we roasted marshmallows and drank tea. This night was one of the best bonding moments in the trip and I grew closer to everyone I was with.

Another special memory is going to the Kotel (the Western Wall) on Shabbat. After our phones were put aside, we walked through the Old City to the Wall, and we were met with crowds of people. This was a night filled with singing and dancing with random strangers bonding through Judaism.

Being able to sing songs with strangers from a different country who speak a different language gave me a deep feeling of connection. I was invited to pray with others, and it felt like the hundreds of people who were there that night were my family. This feeling was what I felt throughout my whole trip. I found a new family. Not only with the people in my program, but with the country of Israel.

Thank you to Federation and the Lemksy Fund for helping me have the trip of a lifetime.

Calla Coonin, daughter of Anna and Victor Coonin, is a senior at White Station High School. Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund provided her with a Teen Israel Experience grant to offset the costs of her Alexander Muss High School in Israel program.
All rising juniors and seniors are eligible for grants of up to $3,000 to attend a recognized teen summer or semester program in Israel. Teen Israel Experience applications for Summer 2024 are open – visit jcpmemphis.org/lemsky-endowment-fund.

Note: This essay was written before the horrific events of October 7^th.