Application process
Program overview
Financial Aid
Educational curriculum
Travel & Safety
Participant testimonies
Informational sessions
Funders & Partners
APPLICATION PROCESS
Complete a Schedule an Interview form today to reserve your space with Shalhevet 2010.
For further details, click here to download the Answers to FAQs: everything you ever wanted to know about Shalhevet.
Participation is limited and priority is given to early applicants. Apply Today!
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Shalhevet ("flame" in Hebrew) is a once-in-a-lifetime experiential learning opportunity.
In partnership with the international March of the Living program, Shalhevet is a way for local Jewish teens to participate in a program tailored specifically to the educational and cultural environment of the Bay Area. Shalhevet includes a spring semester in addition to a two week travel component to Poland and Israel.
Trip dates: April 7 - 21, 2010
Participants: 11th and 12th grade students from all over the Bay Area
Staff: two educators, spiritual leader, certified tour guide, and local Holocaust Survivor
Shalhevet tuition is offered on a sliding scale: $3,600-$4,600.
Families are asked to pay at the level most appropriate to their means.
Questions? Contact Roni Alperin 415.751.6983 x 228 or Morgan Blum 415.777.9060 x203.
Join us on
FINANCIAL AID
The Shalhevet tuition is subsidized, but additional financial aid is available for students throughout the Bay Area. The deadline for submitting a financial aid application is January 4, 2010. Please inquire today!
Contact Roni Alperin 415.751.6983 x 228 for details.
EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM
To deepen the experience, Shalhevet participants enroll in a special course, beginning in January, with convenient class locations* around the Bay:
- North Peninsula
- East Bay
- San Francisco/Marin
*changes may occur in class locations based on participant enrollment
Trained professional teachers and visiting guest speakers will cover the Holocaust Center of Northern California (HCNC)-developed curriculum about Jewish history, the Holocaust and Israel.
Participants will create personal projects throughout the program and present them after the trip at the program siyum (graduation).
TRAVEL & SAFETY
Shalhevet includes a journey of Jewish history, beginning with the life of pre-WWII Polish Jewry through the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel.
In Poland: teens witness the concentration camps through the eyes of a survivor traveling with the group; meet with Polish teens; and get a glimpse of Jewish life in pre-WWII Europe.
In Israel: : the journey follows the footsteps of survivors who came to Israel, explores the setting in Palestine during WWII that led to the establishment of the State of Israel, and examines today's political situation and geographical challenges. In addition, the teens experience the people, culture, and homeland.
Please note: Safety is our number one priority.
Special consideration is given for the trip to coincide with the participants returning to the USA for successful preparation and completion of Advanced Placement exams.
PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIES
What do Shalhevet participants have to say about the program?
"This trip was one of the more amazing events of my life. I would come back every year if I could. I can't thank the staff enough."
"The other times I go to Israel it's because I've lived there or went to visit friends and family (vacation), and this time I seriously felt the purpose of us, as a group of Jewish teenagers, coming to Israel and learning about the present and how it connects to the past."
"I have become a better person and a witness to a genocide. I will never forget this and will pass it on."
"I have such an amplified understanding of the Holocaust. I am now more grateful than ever for my freedom of religion and speech. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a part of this experience and would encourage anyone, of any age, to visit Poland and Israel at some point in their lives."
"There is no real way to describe Shalhevet and the effect that it has. It is simply something that everyone should experience and find out about for themselves. It is absolutely worth missing school for. You learn more than you could have ever imagined, gain better understandings of issues, and you make incredible friends that will last a lifetime."
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS
Find an information session near you on Facebook or contact Roni Alperin 415.751.6983 x 228.
FUNDERS & PARTNERS
Shalhevet is a dynamic collaboration between the Bureau of Jewish Education and the Holocaust Center of Northern California.
Shalhevet is funded, in part by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund; Jewish Community Federation (JCF) of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties Endowment Fund; Ingrid D. Tauber Philanthropic Fund; Jewish Community Endowment Fund's First Time in Israel Experience Scholarships; The Gift of Israel Program, sponsored by the SFJCF and the Janet A. Schultz Teens to Israel Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund; The Israel Trip Scholarship Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Greater East Bay; Jewish Family & Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; and Shalhevet Alumni Families. The travel component for Shalhevet is coordinated by International March of the Living.
