September 13 - 15, 2019
Pave the way to ensure a healthy and secure Jewish homeland! Join other college students and make a difference at the 5th annual JNF College Summit. Register here.
Special Events include:
- Exclusive College Summit Breakouts and Keynote Speaker
- Special Walking Tour of D.C. Monuments
- Saturday Night Party with Music and Dancing
- Opportunities to Network with JNF’s Major Donors, Speakers, and Professionals
π« 11 Universities π Many road trips π‘ Thousands inspired by 1 inspiring story
JNF brought Miss Israel, Titi Aynaw, on her 6th campus tour to 30 events on 12 campuses. Jewish National Fund and Media Watch International have now brought her #PositivelyIsrael message to 60 campuses, and reached 4,000 students. We were so proud to have our Campus Fellows, Caravan for Democracy alumni, Alternative Winter Break alumni, and AMHSI alumni host Titi on their campuses, and show their friends and peers the real Israel! Whether it was our UMass Campus Fellow and 2x Alternative Break alumna Maxine hosting Titi at her sorority with over 100 women engrossed in Titi's story, or our Caravan alum hosting her at University of Virginia, or our first Positively Israel event in Maine at Colby College - this was an incredible tour. The magic doesn't stop there. We now have hundreds of students interested in Caravan for Democracy, College Summit, Alternative Winter Break, and Campus Fellowship!
Jewish National Fund trains, mentors, and supports pro-Israel students to facilitate JNF programs in their campus communities. Fellows attend an all-expense paid Leadership Seminar in New York City in August, where they learn the important skill of fundraising, recruiting, and mentoring, and receive a $1,000 stipend for their work for the year.
Click here to apply and learn more about the JNF Campus Fellowship.
Maxine Wiesenfeld, UMass Amherst
As a JNF Campus Fellow, I had the honor and privilege to bring Titi Aynaw to my campus, UMass Amherst. We hosted her as a joint sisterhood event between Sigma Delta Tau and Alpha Epsilon Phi Sororities. We had over 100 attendees, many of whom were not Jewish and/or have never been to Israel. It was inspiring to see so many of the women be engaged in the event and to still be talking about it to this day! Titi shared stories from her life as an immigrant to Israel and becoming the first Ethiopian Miss Israel. She also shared lessons of confidence and reaching to achieve your goals. We loved hosting Titi and I hope this will open the door to more fun Positively Israel events in the future.
I also had the honor to be a finalist in the Milstein Innovation Competition recently. Myself, along with my sorority little sister, Stephanie Margolis, presented our idea to show students that Israel is not a black and white issue, but rather diverse and full of experiences and stories to be shared. Although our idea of transforming a black and white cube to a colorful cube full of pictures and stories submitted from student activists around the world did not take the win, we hope to still implement it in the future and are constantly trying to find ways to share students’ Israel experiences with their peers!
December 26, 2019 - January 5, 2020
Nominate your friends to experience a 10-day, fully subsidized educational program to Israel for non-Jewish student leaders who have not visited before. Ideal candidates are students who hold leadership positions in student government, ethnic and minority groups, LGBTQ groups, women’s groups, service groups, and Greek life. Our goal is to facilitate constructive dialogue about Israel and the Middle East on campuses. Click here to nominate friends for our mission to Israel and click here to learn more about it.
Love Israel and can’t wait to go back? Want to do something amazing on your next winter break? Looking for a volunteer opportunity in Israel? JNF Alternative Winter Break is the trip for you!
- Get your hands dirty with meaningful community projects
- Open to young adults ages 18 –24
- Round trip airfare from NY or NJ to Israel, most meals, and accommodations
- Experience Shabbat in Jerusalem
2019 Trips Will Take Place: December 21–30 β Deadline to register is November 6
Register today at jnf.org/break
Caravan for Democracy and Faculty Fellowship Alumni Dinner in New York City
In March, JNF hosted 50 people at the JNF House for our annual Caravan for Democracy and Faculty Fellowship alumni dinner. 25 students and faculty shared their experiences visiting Israel with JNF. Everyone in attendance were tremendously impressed with how these college student leaders and faculty were positively impacted by their journey to Israel with JNF. The evening resulted in new gifts to the Caravan for Democracy program, and equally important, every person in attendance walked away an advocate for both of these programs. This was the largest gathering in the seven-year history of Caravan for Democracy Student Leadership Mission to Israel, and we plan to expand next year’s dinner to coincide with an early 2020 Jewish National Fund Board of Directors meeting.
JNF on Campus Alumni Dinner at AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
JNF hosted 15 leaders of the Campus Movement in Washington, D.C. 12 alumni of Caravan for Democracy and three JNF Campus Fellows gathered with JNF staff for dinner while attending AIPAC Policy Conference. This was the second year JNF gathered campus activists at AIPAC. We will expand next year’s dinner to include even more people involved with JNF. We will pick a date for the 2020 dinner soon so you can put it on your calendar.
Current Events Briefing
Given the recent news, we held a JNF Campus Current Events Webinar led by David Makovsky at the end of March for students in the JNF Campus Movement. Mr. Makovsky is the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute and was a senior adviser in the office of the U.S. Secretary of State from 2013-2014. He is co-author with Dennis Ross of a forthcoming book on historic decisions of Israeli leaders, “Be Strong and of Good Courage,” due out in September. His opinion piece with Dennis Ross, “40 Years of Peace Between Israel and Egypt” was featured this week in The Wall Street Journal and his opinion piece “Are Israeli Politics Dooming Kushner's Peace Push?” was featured last week in Politico. Mr. Makovsky’s webinar focused on the upcoming Israeli elections, the 40th anniversary of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and current events in the Middle East. Click here to view a recording of the webinar. We think it is critically important to keep our JNF Family informed about what is going on in the world and we strongly encourage you to watch the briefing.
Like the David Makovsky Facebook page and follow David on Twitter to keep up to date on his writings and appearances.
For more information on how you can get involved with Jewish National Fund, send us an email education@jnf.org or give us a call 212.879.9305 x245.