In December, Yahel Fellows embarked on our North Seminar, three days spent as a cohort exploring the north and learning about Israeli society as a cohort. This seminar’s theme was models of community. After three months, fellows are deeply integrated into their host communities and volunteer placements. This trip allowed us to zoom out and examine the larger structures at work. 

How is it possible that in just a few hours, I have a place in my heart for these random children? For this place that I swear to protect with my life? For this community that I have only just begun to know?  4 months later, I am greeted with hugs from the children every morning. A beautiful thing to wake up to is the power of kindness, of care, and of connection. I will surely love these kids forever.

In June 2025 I began to embrace myself as trans for the first time. Four months later, I flew to Israel to spend nine months with the Yahel Social Change Fellowship. Just as I was beginning to figure out what being trans meant to me at all, I carried that into Haifa...Even amidst my great excitement, my most prominent source of apprehension was: How will I be trans in Israel? Will it be worth it to effectively come out” to every new person...How important is it to me?

These days, my life isn’t measured by material luxuries, but it is filled with meaning, and that meaning is more gratifying than I could have imagined. Volunteering this much doesn’t always feel easy, but it always feels real. In a world full of menial work and superficiality, giving myself fully to something that isn’t rewarded by a grandiose lifestyle is its own kind of satisfaction.

“Why do you want to go to Israel?” - The loaded question I continually faced, posed by so many people before coming here. My answer was simple: to be a light.

Immersive service creates real connections. It creates countless encounters that have the potential to move us and bring us together in ways we never imagined possible.

Starting over in any capacity can be scary and being so far from your family can be incredibly hard, but I have learned that starting again is part of life. Volunteering in schools to help Israeli kids practice their English language skills has made me reflect over my exposure to Hebrew growing up.

Which identity feels strongest? If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said I felt far more Jewish than British. Here, being Jewish is the norm — an incredible feeling in itself. Yet now, I’m the British one.

As I've grown older, something has become increasingly clear to me, that community is everything. It is the bedrock of a functioning society and an essential part of identity. 

Perhaps bravery is not something that you identify yourself as, a quality or action that you have or do. Maybe bravery is how others view you...What is important is the positive impact I can make in the community that has welcomed me as their own. 

I know that right now, shabbat is good, and more than I keep it, shabbat keeps me grounded.

When evil rises, you don’t stay silent. You stand up for what is right and show up.

As Pesach approaches, and as I sit here, a year or so on from making Aliyah I reflect on a trip to Sinai, Egypt. Around two years ago...

My roommate was the introduction to the overarching value within which I try to frame my interactions on a day to day basis: curiosity.

The life of Kiryat Chaim is something you can’t quite catch on camera. It’s something simmering below the sea’s gray-green surface. 

Programs like the Yahel Social Change Fellowship, or other Masa Israel Programs, provide opportunities beyond traditional language learning

Highly subsidized Israel programs, present an opportunity to experience everything Israel has to offer, in a cost-effective manner

I've discovered that life in Israel pulsates with energy, reminding me that every moment is precious.

While Birthright provides an excellent foundation and introduction to Israel, longer-term programs offer different kinds of opportunities

Participating in an Israel program provides an immersive environment that classroom learning simply cannot replicate.