Yahel Alumni
Ethan Kahn Yahel Social Change Fellowship 2020-21
I am incredibly grateful to have participated in the 2020-2021 Yahel Social Change Fellowship in Lod. This experience brought meaningful service opportunities, fostered strong personal growth, and deepened my commitment to engaging positively in the world.
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As part of the fellowship, I taught English at a public Arabic-language high school and at two after-school programs serving Arab and Eritrean youth, which strengthened my language skills (both Arabic and Hebrew). I also supported an Arabic language and cultural education organization, Blend.Ar, by assisting with development and translation work. I also worked in a community garden. In addition to organizing opportunities for volunteer work, Yahel provided support for participant-led activities: for example, I co-organized a cohort trip with my Arabic language partner to her town (Kufr Samea’) to learn about Druze society. I also teamed up with my roommate, Daniel, to produce two podcast episodes interviewing social change-makers in Lod.
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"These activities, plus frequent educational programs, were tremendous opportunities to experience Israeli society in all its cultural, social, and political complexity. I left with an even deeper curiosity about Israel, the region, and the world, along with a strong desire to understand the politics and policies shaping the communities and institutions with which I engaged. "
Yahel taught me some key lessons:
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Making change at any scale requires tenacity, creativity, excellent communication skills, and strong relationship-building.
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My personal impact consists mainly of 1) a continuous process of incremental progress, and 2) treating the people around me well.
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Acting in a humane and empathetic way is not always intuitive, easy, popular, valued, or rewarded. Which means that when I succeed in doing so, I have made a positive contribution.
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These lessons have influenced my public service work at home (in the United States). Following Yahel, I began a four-year program at Princeton University called the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI) Graduate Fellowship. SINSI combines two years of coursework for a Master in Public Affairs and two years of (professional) work in the U.S. government. I have had the opportunity to work on regional and thematic foreign policy issues at the U.S. Institute of Peace; the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
“I strongly recommend the Yahel Social Change Fellowship to anyone with curiosity about the world and a desire to join a team of committed people working to help communities thrive. ”
