Yesh - Our Year 10 Israel Experience
Yisrael Sheli - Yesh: My Israel
Yesh is King David's peak Israel program that allows our students to transform Israel from being a place they learn about to a place that they directly experience. Students spend four weeks traveling through Israel, understanding Israel through the lenses of People, Land and State. Students explore Israel’s history, society, political system and natural environment, including meaningful mifgash (meetings) with Israeli teens. Students deepen their sense of Jewish and Israel identification, while developing the personal, social and emotional skills that come with living in a group setting away from home.
Israel on the Ground
From camping in the Negev to visiting the Kotel, from snorkeling in Eilat to touring the Golan, students touch, hear, taste, smell, and see Israel from north to south.
Highlights of the itinerary include hiking Masada, Havdalah on the beach in Tel Aviv, learning about life at Lotan and Kibbutz Ketura, hearing from a Bedouin, spending time at Machtesh Ramon, touring Tzafat, and visiting Yad Vashem.
Highlights of the itinerary include hiking Masada, Havdalah on the beach in Tel Aviv, learning about life at Lotan and Kibbutz Ketura, hearing from a Bedouin, spending time at Machtesh Ramon, touring Tzafat, and visiting Yad Vashem.
Every day of the trip I was in complete amazement of the sites we experienced, and I enjoyed learning more about the beautiful country of Israel. Being surrounded by my cohort made the journey even more exciting and a thrilling adventure. We bonded as a group and new connections and friendships were made. To be able to stand at the Kotel, where our ancestors stood many years ago, amongst my friends, the group experienced a spiritual moment of bonding and belonging with each other and our Jewish community.
Yesh for all
The King David School created
the Yesh Trip to Israel for Year 10 students in 2005. Since that time almost 1,000 students have benefitted and participated in this transformative Israel experience. Developing an attachment to Israel and Judaism at a formative period in a young person’s life has a significant impact on strengthening their sense of Jewish identity.
The School currently offers every student in Year 10 (approx 50 students) the opportunity to participate in this immersive four week trip to Israel. To ensure that no student misses out because of financial need, the School provides significant subsidies.
The School currently offers every student in Year 10 (approx 50 students) the opportunity to participate in this immersive four week trip to Israel. To ensure that no student misses out because of financial need, the School provides significant subsidies.
"Although my child had been to Israel once before with us, this was a completely different experience that they shared with their fellow students. Taking in the breadth of Israel’s diverse geography and ecosystems, the cities and the regions, students were immersed in the historical and the modern, the religious and the political aspects of life in Israel. All of this while having a ridiculously good time and being very well looked after by the teachers and guides. They came home to us happy and exhausted, with greater confidence in their ability to self-manage and with stronger feelings about Israel and their Jewish identity.”