FZY Mazkir 2016-17, Noah Levy, contributed to Reshet’s quarterly newsletter, and is also featured on their webpage. Reshet (meaning ‘network’ in Hebrew) is a small unit established by UJIA and the Jewish Leadership Council, enabling organisations and professionals in the field to enrich, inspire and further enhance young people’s lives. Noah wrote about how FZY are maintaining tradition through innovative new summer options! Here is what he had to say – have a read and share!
FZY is a thriving and impactful youth movement with a proud 107-year history. Our summer educational programmes have been the backbone of not only our continuity but our identity too.
As an innovator, FZY is still providing a high level of quality educational programming, and we are consistently evaluating ourselves to further improve. We strive to deliver educational programmes that provide enriching, thought provoking or engaging experiences. So here are two brand new opportunities that FZY is introducing to the British Jewish community this summer:
‘Netina’. We will be the first British Jewish youth movement to take a group of madrichim (leaders) to Africa to run a three-week summer camp for the community in Tamale, Ghana. With Tzedek, we are building not only a social action project but a programme that will educate our madrichim on Israel’s role in the developing world and Israel’s historic role in empowering African Jewry, rooted in Jewish principles.
‘Diller Teens Fellows’. This is an international Jewish leadership fellowship with 32 communities worldwide, which we are incredibly excited to introduce to the UK Jewish community and Europe as a whole. In this new intensive programme, participants will meaningfully explore their connection to Israel and Judaism through a global network of leaders, who together will shape the future of the Jewish people.
These programmes are a clear representation of our commitment to trying something new; bringing to life new educational experiences, and replacing expired models.
For our programmes to continue to succeed, we are consistently refining them to uphold the highest educational quality by continuing to focus on contemporary themes and issues. We do this by adhering to the robust educational curriculum we have built, to ensure we meet the concise educational aim of each age group within our movement and for each programme that we offer.
This year, ‘Kesher’ our Summer Camp for Years 9 and 10, has the educational theme of ‘Me, Myselfie and I – #nofilter’. This theme will enable us to look at ourselves from different perspectives, address Judaism from alternative angles and explore our Zionist identities with no filters.
In addition, our educational curriculum is greatly influencing Israel Tour, bringing a new and refreshing outlook through an array of additions to the educational construct. One example is our ‘Conflict Seminar’ – a day trip delving deep into Israeli perspectives on the conflict, with help from our friends at Yachad and StandWithUs.
FZY has a unique model of pluralism, which is a way to educate all of our members to understand perspectives outside of their norm, whether that is religious, political, or cultural. Through education of alternative perspectives we build a cohesive federation, and through our consistent refinement of our programmes and an adherence to a modernised educational curriculum, we are doing just that.
FZY is building a community of educated, passionate and understanding Zionist Jews, and for that, we are immensely proud.