Jewish Community Partners

Lauren Paz, daughter of Louise and Meir Paz, is a senior at Acellus Online Academy. 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 Israel program. All rising juniors and seniors are eligible for grants of up to $3,000 to attend a recognized teen program in Israel. Teen Israel Experience applications for 2026 will open in November and can be accessed at Lemsky Endowment Fund | Jewish Community Partners (jcpmemphis.org)

What did I learn on my Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) program? Thinking back on my academic and personal journey, there isn’t really one specific feeling or takeaway I could give you. I’ve seen so many things, felt so many emotions all at once and sometimes nothing at all, but there are a few experiences and people at the front of my mind.

A tiyul (trip) that most influenced me would have to be the Bar Kokhba caves that we spent what felt like a lifetime crawling through. The full effects of this tiyul didn’t actually hit me until I was sitting on my bed much later that night looking at videos of me and my friends crawling our way through the mud, getting stuck in the tunnels, and laughing our heads off. We were cracking jokes about having to do that every day almost as if it was a fictional story. Once we reached the big room at the end of the cave, I was too busy thinking about how cool it was that I was literally underground; How often does one get to sing in a cave in a foreign country with all of your friends?

Thinking about this tiyul now, a few months later, I feel ashamed about the point of view I originally had. Those caves were not just random caves; they were someone’s home. When the Romans came hunting down the Jews they had two choices – get slaughtered, captured and tortured, or hide in the cold, damp, pitch black underground, barely surviving. Why? Because they were born as Jews? The thought of my own family being put in that situation makes me shiver and I now constantly remind myself how grateful I should be that I was born in the time I was. That cave was the home of some Jewish girl just like me. Israel is not just a foreign country, it’s my country, the country of my ancestors, and I will never take that for granted again. I now have a scar from skinning my back on the wall deep in the Bar Kokhba caves and as weird as this might sound, I believe it was a pinch from G-d, reminding me to never remove myself from the history of the Jewish people.

One person who had a big impact on me was one of our Gadna (teen paramilitary training program) instructors. Getting off the bus that day I wasn’t very enthusiastic about running around in the heat for 6 hours pretending to be someone I’m not. However, that attitude changed the second we split into two groups, and he told us that this was one of the first high school groups he was leading. He was a few years out of his IDF service and seemed so happy to be passing on the most basic things they have to do in basic training to a group of overindulged American teenagers.

Even though I have the gift of growing up with an Israeli father who proudly fought for his country, it was never even a thought for me; I just didn’t think I was cut out for it. After all, I have a 6-step hair care routine and a disdain for bugs, dirt, and sweat. The first time I ever imagined myself in that position was when my older brother made Aliyah and joined the IDF just under a year ago and ever since then there’s been a “what if” in the back of my mind. Listening to our instructor scream “GRENADE” then jump into a thorn bush out of nowhere, tell us how to identify locations over potentially compromised radios, and make us hide in the hot, spiky, bug filled bushes, all made me realize how proud the younger Israeli generation is to be a part of protecting their country.

At the end of the day, I was truly shocked that I was able to not only do all of the things I always thought I hated, but I genuinely felt like I found out something new about myself that I never saw before. While I’m well aware that the IDF is absolutely nothing similar to Gadna, after seeing the love and enthusiasm our instructor had for his time in the army I felt much more confident in the ability of my generation to help protect the land of Israel.

AMHSI was four months, 17 weeks, 119 days, new friends, millions of conversations, billions of conflicting moments, and infinite memories that I’ll always carry with me. I went to Israel with a long list of things I’d use to describe myself, with Jewish/half Israeli being quite far down on that list. But, as I got on that plane back home, if I can even call it that anymore, I couldn’t think of anything else to put on the top of my list but proudly and unapologetically Jewish. I am part of a people who have been persecuted for thousands of years and never once stopped fighting for our brothers and sisters and what we believe is right. I think I finally see it clearly and although I haven’t even cracked the tip of the iceberg, I will continue to learn and keep the same passion for Israel that I was exposed to on this program. I left a piece of myself on that campus and I’m so unbelievably thankful for this experience.

Thank you to Memphis Jewish Federation’s Lemsky Endowment Fund for helping to make my Alexander Muss High School 2025 spring semester program possible.