Jewish Community Partners

With the generous support of Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund, I was able to spend the summer of 2023 in Israel. I am lucky to have been to Israel with my family, but I missed my Bornblum 8th grade school Israel trip due to Covid. I wanted to travel to Israel with others my age, but I also wanted something different than just touring. I chose a summer program called NCSY Next Step that allows participants to travel around Israel and intern in a field of their choice. For two weeks a group of 119 strangers from public schools, private schools, pluralistic day schools and orthodox yeshivas toured the north and south of Israel; went on hikes in the Golan and Galilee regions, explored the vast Negev desert in the south, and had a lot of fun swimming in the Red Sea in Eilat. After our traveling period we went to Jerusalem, where we spent most of our time on the program. During the day we worked at our internships, where we were able to experience what it is like to work in the booming Israeli economy, and in the afternoon and late into the night we did activities in Jerusalem and other areas in central Israel. For three weeks we stayed in a dormitory in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, and our schedule became routine. Here is a snapshot of a regular day in the life of a teen on the Next Step program. We woke up at 6:30 am, prayed at 7:00 am, and ate breakfast at 7:40 am. After breakfast we were shuttled to our internships, where we spent most of the day. I worked in a startup accelerator inside Azrieli College of Engineering, where I helped my boss research and implement blockchain technology into his web-3 based business. My partner and I designed and tested our boss’ website, and I learned a lot of new things about the technology/coding industry. At 3:00 pm we were picked up from our internships and went back to the dorms to change and get ready for our afternoon activities. At 4:00 pm we left the dorms and traveled until 10 or 11 pm. Afterwards, we had an optional learning program where we studied and discussed various Jewish topics with our counselors. By the time we finally got to our rooms, it was already past midnight, and we all fell asleep immediately, tired from our busy day. For the three weeks we were based in Jerusalem, we were in a prime location to tour central Israel and have everything be at most an hour’s drive. Ziplining in Gush Etzion, climbing Masada, exploring Jaffa, and rappelling into Mitzpe Ramon were some of the activities we did during the program. One of my favorite places to go was the Old City of Jerusalem, which we went to multiple times. We prayed at the Western Wall, walked along the Ottoman ramparts, visited the City of David, and toured the Temple Institute. There is so much to do in the Old City, and I felt very connected to Israel and my Judaism while I was there. Also, the food in the Old City is really, really good. Even though I was only in Israel for five weeks, it felt longer because of how much I did, and there is nothing else I would have rather done with my summer. Thank you to Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund for giving me the chance to go on this program, and I hope I get the chance to go back to my ancestral home again. Ethan VanderWalde, son of Sarah and Dr. Noam VanderWalde, is a rising senior at the Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys. Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund provided him with a Teen Israel Experience grant to help offset the cost of his NCSY Next Step Israel trip last summer. All rising high school juniors and seniors in the Memphis Jewish community are eligible for grants up to $3,000 to attend a recognized teen summer or semester program in Israel. Applications for Summer 2025 will be available online in November.

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