What is Otzma?

Shalom all. My name is David Weinfeld. For the next 10 months, starting August 21st, I will be in Israel, participating on a community service and leadership fellowship called Otzma. The 10 months is divided into three three-month long tracks, along with 3 vacations and one three-week volunteer stint with the Israeli Defense Forces (nothing military, just manual labour). Each track will take place in a different city.

The first will be in Be'er Sheva, where I, along with half of the 65 other fellows, will be living in an absorption center for recent immigrants to Israel. I will be learning Hebrew intensively for several hours each morning, monday through thursday, and then helping out in the absorption center for a couple of hours every afternoon and on Fridays. Every weekend and evening will be free, providing the fellows with an opportunity to explore the beautiful and exciting land that is Eretz Yisrael. On Sunday, there will be Otzma programming that takes us to different parts of the country to learn about different aspects of Israeli life.

In the second track, I, along with 7 others sponsored by Boston Federation CJA will staying in Haifa and performing community service full-time Monday through Friday. After the three-week stinit with the IDF, in the final track, Otzma fellows will have an internship with a non-profit, most likely in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

So that's the plan. I will post entries as often as I can to keep you up to date with my experiences, as well as to share thoughts, opinions and emotions about Israeli life, politics, society and more.