Tour

The highlight of most GCSE students year is the summer. Once the hardship of exams has ended a large number of British youths flee from parents and embark on the journey of their lives. Tour is a month away from parents where chanichim have the ability to develop as individuals. FZY in recent years has dominated the Israel Summer tour market by consistently filling the maximum allowance of 12 tours.

FZY have always been ahead of the game when it comes to operating tours and this is again shown this year by the development of speciality week. The movement team have designed along with our sister movement Young Judaea opportunities that have never been available before. The aim of speciality week is to provide chanichim with an experience they will never forget. There are other advantages to the new format of tour. First by separating tours for a short period of time FZY chanichim have the ability to build links with other members of other tour groups. This creates a larger group of FZY chanichim and promotes friendship between tours rather than a competition, no matter how much is in jest. As well as connecting British chanichim to other British chanichim the new program also allows interaction with American chanichim from Young Judaea. This hopefully will create transatlantic relations and can help fuel the demand for our Kedma summer program Hanhaga.

This is the first year this format has been implemented and more will be known about the success post the summer. However with the large amount of variety and being the only organisation to offer such a program it can be sure that this summer will once again be a successful one with respect to Israel Tour. As Mazkir I would use the information and feedback given after this summer to analyze the opinions of not only those participating but also of the madrichim and see the difficulties they faced. If the feedback is positive, as expected, I would look into introducing more tracks and options such as a Photography track that allows chanichim to witness some of the most breathtaking views Israel has to offer, As well as a Culinary track which creates the opportunity for chanichim to learn about not only Israeli cuisine but also the produce from the region.

The changes to the program, in my opinion, illustrate FZY's desire to provide the greatest opportunity for chanichim to enjoy their time in Israel, in the safest possible way. To me, that is what is important, having chanichim connecting to the land and having fun.

Hope everyone has a great Shabbat and I will be back on Saturday, post Shabbat

Shabbat Shalom.