Amazing Testimonials From Current IAS Participants

Will Robbins:  "When I graduated I had this idea that I could better understand myself by understanding more of the world.  I called it an exercise in perspective, seeing that I had little money to travel the world to really experience its people, I had to choose wisely the destination that could offer me the most challenging exercise.  For me that place was Israel,"

"Now, I am not Jewish and the fine people of Mississippi and my home in Alabama do not just throw around the word kibbutz often in daily life, so when I read about kibbutz, I had to read more and my research ultimately led me to the MASA and the Givat Haviva Intensive Arabic Semester.  Learning Arabic and Hebrew language from an organization dedicated to reconciling Arab and Israeli relations seemed perfect for my exercise in perspective – I could challenge myself intellectually, socially and culturally amongst students from all over the world and so here I am – and I am certainly not disappointed "

Kerrie Sharon: "I decided to leave my job and life at home in order to pursue an interest in peace education and learning more about the ways that education was being used as a pathway to build confidence and co-existence between Arabs and Jews in Israel,"

"I have a firm belief in the power of education to build bridges in conflict situations from my work at home as a citizenship teacher.  A personal interest in the conflict in Israel led to my being very interested in the various peace and co-existence education projects going on in the country and was looking for an avenue to come to Israel and work in this field.  I eventually realized that I would have to speak the languages in order to undertake effective educational work so the program was ideal for me in terms of allowing me to be associated with Givat Haviva and learn about their work, whilst also developing language abilities."

"This program has allowed me to learn beyond the rhetoric, through classes and through meeting people from both communities – to learn to understand more deeply the motivations for Israel's actions, to find new ways of understanding the issues and dilemmas underlying the painful and enduring conflict."

 

Seth Norman: 28 year old from San-Fransisco, University of California at Berkeley alum, and a former officer in the US army, serving in Kuwait and Iraq.

"Last July when I returned to base in Frankfurt from Iraq I was given two weeks leave.  I decided on a whim to spend them in Tel Aviv, basically looking for a little bit of privacy in peaceful surroundings after spending 15 months with 80 men in a 60 man tent,"

"I had a great time and signing up for the Intensive Arabic Semester answered my search to find a reason to spend time in Israel and learn more about my heritage.  In Iraq I always had to work with interpreters and found it really frustrating seeing all this beautiful script everywhere and not being able to read or understand a thing."

"I was raised with the full understanding that I was Jewish, but with none of the religious and cultural foundations – this is all now being strengthened during my study period here in Israel."