Description

Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa offers English-speaking college graduates from around the world the opportunity to live, volunteer and study in Tel Aviv or Jaffa for 5 or 10 months doing Social Action or Coexistence work.

Along with volunteers from around the world, participants live with Israeli peers. The ongoing interaction with young adults from all over the world will help enrich and enhance the participant's experience as a Jew in Israel.

Part I: Ulpan Orientation
The program begins with several weeks of intensive Hebrew language study with highly qualified Hebrew Ulpan teachers. All levels of Hebrew speaking ability are welcome. During this time, participants will tour different volunteering places in order to choose their volunteering jobs for the main part of the program.

Part II: Volunteer, Study and Travel
During the main portion of the program, participants will choose between two tracks in which to focus volunteer and study time.

Social Action Track: Participants live and volunteer in a neighborhood of South Tel Aviv, and volunteer in communities of underprivileged immigrant and veteran Israelis, as well as with South Tel Aviv's foreign worker and refugee population from Darfur, Eritrea and Southeast Asia. Volunteer work often takes place in failing public schools, community centers for at-risk youth and day care centers for children of African refugees. Study days focus on the Jewish tenets of Tikkun Olam and Gemilut Hasadim, as well as issues facing Israeli society.

Coexistence Track: Participants live and volunteer in a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood of Jaffa. Volunteer work takes place in integrated public schools and Jewish-Arab Community Centers. Participants will enroll in a Conversational Arabic course, and have the opportunity to take part in the Daniel Centers' prestigious Jaffa Tour Guide Training program, which in turn will enable them to guide tours of Jaffa for the Daniel Centers' English-speaking tour groups. Study days focus on issues of Arab-Jewish coexistence.

Participants from both tracks will study topics of Jewish identity, and take part in monthly overnight trips around Israel, as well as periodic cultural activities and educational tours in and around Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Highlights

Be Independent - Spend a year on your own in the city. In Tikkun Olam in Tel-Aviv you have the opportunity to be independent most time of the week. You can have a room for yourself in the apartments we rent for you and your friends.

Be a part of a group - Tikkun Olam in Tel-Aviv is group program and there for provide you with the framework of accommodations, seminars, trips, and study together with your partners.

Experience the real Israel - Experience Israel as it really is: a multicultural society. Develop new relationships with young people from Israel.

Meet young people like you from around the world - Tikkun Olam in Tel-Aviv and BINA is the place were idealistic young adults meet.

Live in Tel-Aviv - soak up the sun on the beach. Enjoy the bit of the city with its museums, cinemas, festivals and night life. Tel-Aviv is the New York of Israel.

Explore your heritage - BINA provides seminars and studies that enable you to interact with Jewish texts and traditions. Find your Jewish side in one of the many facets of Israel's Jewish heritage.

Tools for your future - Take a giant step towards your future by acquiring the tools you need to succeed: leadership skills, independence, working with people from a myriad of cultures, developing responsibility these are just some of the skills you will develop in Tikkun Olam in Tel-Aviv.

Make a big difference - Israel is a small country where everyone counts. You can make a big difference by being here by volunteering with Tel-Aviv Jaffa less fortunate population.

Qualifications

* This program offers Jewish English-speaking College graduates from around the world the opportunity to spend five to ten months engaged in volunteer service in south Tel Aviv with a community of Israeli activist
* We are looking for young idealist Jews who are seeking for meaningful experience in Israel, to volunteer and study with the Israelis.

Minimum Education

Bachelors

Intern Types

• Education
• Human Rights
• Religious Studies
• Social Work

Languages

• English
• Hebrew

Cost in US$:

5500-9000 before grants. As low as USD500 after Masa and program scholarships!

Cost Includes:

• Housing
• In-country orientation/Training
• In-country staff support
• Language instruction
• Medical insurance
• Medical services
• Registration fees
• Excursions

Program Fees Include:

* Several weeks of intensive Hebrew Ulpan course during orientation period
* Twice-weekly Hebrew classes following orientation period
* Living Accommodations
* Overnight trips, tours and cultural activities
* Educational programming on Jewish topics and Israeli culture and society
* Professional staff support

Experience Required

no

Volunteer Types

Typical Volunteer

Participants volunteer 18-20 hours per week, spread out over 3 days per week at 3-4 different regular volunteering jobs. Participants choose between two tracks in which to focus volunteer and study time: Social Action Track -- Participants live and volunteer in South Tel Aviv with underprivileged communities of immigrant Israelis and veteran citizens, as well as foreign workers and refugees from Darfur, Eritrea, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Volunteer work often takes place in failing public schools, daycare centers for children of refugees and community centers for children coming from broken homes. Coexistence Track -- Participants live and volunteer in Jaffa amongst a diverse community of Jewish and Arab Israelis. Volunteer work takes place in integrated schools and community centers that seek to build bridges between these two demographics. Participants may also participate in a Conversational Arabic course.

Age Range

21-29

This Program is open to

Worldwide Participants.

Typical Living Arrangements

• Apartment/Flat

Participants Travel

Independently or in Groups

Scholarships are Available

The MASA Grant covers roughly half the cost of our program. Almost all of our participants are eligible (not needs-based). Please contact us for more information. MASA also offers additional needs-based scholarships, with more scholarships for 2010-11 than ever before. Please contact us for more information. Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa offers their Israel Scholarship Fund awarded to enrolling participants who have proven excellence in the field of social action and/or active involvement within their Jewish community. Please contact us for more information.

Application Process Involves

• Resume
• Written Application
• Essay
• Phone/Video Interview
• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Letters of Reference

Post Services Include

• Alumni Network

Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa's Mission Statement

Tikkun Olam Social Action track immerses its participants in the multi-cultural communities of southern Tel Aviv in which they volunteer and study. The Social Action track: Offers a first-hand experience of life in the struggling neighborhoods in southern Tel Aviv. Takes inspiration for its activities from the humanistic aspects of the Judaic tradition. Works with a broad spectrum of people from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, such as foreign workers from Southeast Asia, refugees from Darfur and Eritrea, Jewish immigrants from Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and more. Seeks to strengthen the bonds between Jews in Israel and Jews in the Diaspora, and explore the idea of "Jewish Peoplehood." Invites its participants to study the state of Israeli society today and ask pertinent questions. Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa is supported by the Government of the State of Israel, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Year Founded

1995

Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa is a Jewish based organization. We do require our participants to be of the same faith. Our volunteers will not be involved in religious proselytizing.