Sunday Field Trips

The IMPJ Mechina in Jaffa emphasizes tikkun olam and social justice and tries to practice it daily. Besides trying to live a better life together, the participants volunteer four days a week in various projects. Although they are merely 18 years old, they run serious volunteer programs on their own. Joining an afternoon with the Mechina, you will see Jaffa first-hand; help a local child with his or her schoolwork at the Mechina's Learning Center, play Soccer with kids at the Mechina’s after school program or dance with the elderly at a senior citizens club in the neighborhood. You will also meet with Mechina participants to hear about their experiences, visit different volunteer programs and learn about issues and challenges at the heart of Jaffa.

The media have always played an important role in mirroring the face of Israeli society, and Israel itself is frequently a leader in  foreign modes of communication. Come learn how news is made and reported, how Israel and the Jewish world is perceived through different eyes and find out what makes a good story.

Israeli industry has come a long way since the Jaffa orange was its leading export. Today, Israel is an innovative, dynamic source for high-tech invention, particularly those that mold and shape the future of communications and lifestyle.  The lecture takes pulse of today's Web and telecom ecosystems and looks into their future to illuminate how the internet revolution will inspire the traditional communication.  It will also elaborate on Israel's key role in the global High-Tech telecom industry.

Israeli TV is often criticized as becoming too commercial and tuned to the lowest common denominator, often stigmatizing facets in Israeli society. Others claim it is merely a mirror or reality. Come and visit the famous Herzelia tv studios, meet the director of entertainment of Keshet TV, and discuss on set the way Israeli society is portrayed in this media through the eyes of "big brother Israel", as well as the role TV plays in our lives today.

Israel is actively working to increase public awareness of the state of the environment in Israel and to inform decision makers about the latest environmental and sustainable development trends. In this study tour, supported by the ministry of tourism, we will visit Hiria, a former garbage dump that began operation as a waste disposal site for the greater Tel Aviv region in 1952. Today, Hiria is a symbol of renewal and rejuvenation that is Israel's green future. Come see how past environmental indifference and destruction is now being replaced with action and hope.

In Israel, the role of public art helps to express and define the concerns of a common, yet diverse, culture. Part of what makes the art scene in Israel so unique is that the country blends so many varying influences from all over the Jewish world. In a country that struggles daily to protect its inhabitants, art is considered to be a necessity, rather than a luxury. In this tour we will visit some of Tel Aviv's exquisite art galleries and learn how Israeli art has matured throughout the years to express the range of opinions and emotions circulating in Israeli life.