#amhsi

We have initiated a new service geared to parents who are coming to visit their children on our program here in Israel; it is a 2 day educational trip with one day going to the north and the other heading south, giving our parents a taste of what their children experience.

“I joined yesterday’s trip to the north led by David Mitchell, Dean of Education, and Mordechai Cohen, Head of School, and it was wonderful,” said Leor Sinai, AMHSI Co-Executive Director. “I can’t begin to tell you how much our students’ parents appreciated the service we provided. Not only did they get to see an Israel they haven’t before, but they actually learned and experienced AMHSI – allowing them to better understand how transformative our program is, how much effort is put into organizing our program, and how inspiring our educators are.” 

Here’s a short video clip of the parents singing HaTikva at the Akko prison:

Yishar Ko’ach to David and Mordechai for leading our trip and effectively conveying the message of AMHSI-JNF.

Our upcoming AMHSI-JNF Adult Journey to Israel is on May 1-12, 2016.  Click here for more information, consider joining this adult journey through Israel, and please share the link with your friends and colleagues.  

Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) is delighted to announce that Mordechai Cohen, a renowned educator at the school, has begun his tenure as head of school as of August 20.

"I am humbled by this appointment at the premier international semester abroad program in Israel for high school students.  This is a dream position for any Jewish instructor who is passionate about enabling the next generation to take pride in their Jewish identity and strengthen their connection to the land of Israel," said Cohen.

Rabbi Leor Sinai, AMHSI Co-CEO said, "Mordechai's wealth of experience and knowledge of Israel and Jewish Studies make him a key player at AMHSI.  We view his appointment to Head of School as a commitment to providing the best overall academic and immersive Israel experience for Jewish high school students anywhere."  

In October 2013, AMHSI partnered with Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA) to continue both organizations' mission to ensure Jewish continuity and strengthen the relationship between Jewish teenagers and the land of Israel.

Joseph Wolfson, Jewish National Fund’s assistant first vice president and president of the board of directors of AMHSI remarked, “After a careful and thorough search we were excited to offer the position to Mordechai and to have him accept it.  His background, experience, and dedication convinced us that he was the right person for this very important role and we are looking forward to working with him to continue the school’s growth.”

A member of faculty since 2013, Cohen has taught the AMHSI’s core curriculum program, Israel Studies, which explores Israel and 4,000 years of Jewish history, and utilizes the land of Israel as a living classroom.  Students get to climb the Roman fortress of Masada, explore the  Crusader castle of Belvoir, walk the ancient streets of Jerusalem, all the while learning and better understanding the rich history  of the region.

Prior to coming to AMHSI Cohen served in leadership positions at the To Build & To Be Built program in Israel (Livnot U'Lehibanot)  and the Danilack Middle School of Associated Hebrew Schools in Toronto.  He has also worked as an experienced teacher and tour educator at schools and organizations including New Jewish Community High School in Los Angeles and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.    

Cohen made Aliya to Israel in 1999.  He holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and has studied at several yeshivas in Israel including the Pardes Institute and Bat Ayin Yeshiva.  He has also completed post-graduate study in American Jewish Identity, Philosophy, and Practice of Jewish Education at Hebrew University's Melton Center in Jerusalem.

Over the past forty three years, Alexander Muss High School in Israel has been the leading high school academic abroad program in Israel. Twenty four thousand alumni have passed through our doors, the vast majority of whom consider our program the most transformative educational experience of their lifetime.

Since our merger with JNF-USA nearly two years ago, the school has been able to reflect and review our program to consider our strengths as well as our are areas of improvement.  As a result, AMHSI is preparing to invest in significant upgrades to specific areas to ensure that AMHSI remains the best choice for a quality Israel experience.

This past spring, AMHSI turned to Kenneth Stein, Emory Professor of Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israel Studies and President of the Center for Israel Education (CIE), to initiate a review of the AMHSI core curriculum with a focus on redesigning how modern Israel is taught.

Following three introductory sessions, Prof. Stein is prepared to design a proposal for AMHSI to introduce or augment the following areas:

Zionism’s mulitiple origins

The up-building of the state

Lobbying for the Jewish state cause

Diplomatic quest for recognition

Unfolding of the Arab-Israeli conflict’s evolution and in the 1970s the negotiating process

Segments on Israel’s relationships with its neighbors and international community (particularly the US)

The proposed curriculum will be supplemented with a unique booklet of sources, readings and additional material that will focus on the above areas.

In addition, Prof. Stein will be leading two Israel enrichment workshops with our educators on the selected topics, which will be held in early 2016.  Prof. Stein has also suggested turning previously unseen archives sources about the JNF’s role in Jewish nation building into a reader that would be unique to JNF and AMHSI. 

The school’s goal is to introduce the updated curriculum by the Spring of 2016.

In addition to assessing the core curriculum, AMHSI recognizes the need to review the school’s general studies department to best accomodate today’s high school students.

The proposed changes will create permanent departmental heads for each subject area who will be able to better work with our partners and our students to ensure that each student is receiving the best instruction possible. Additionally, AMHSI is planning on offering ongoing training in AP courses to ensure that the AP curriculum taught by teachers is current with what is taught in prestigious US schools.

AMHSI is dedicated to ensuring that the general studies department reflects the intensive, academic nature of our program.

Lastly, as part of our upcoming accreditation through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in 2018, AMHSI has chosen four areas for improvement:

Better incorporating the instruction of Hebrew into the core curriculum and creating assessment tools to measure achievement

Developing a measurement system to assess the impact of the AMHSI program in fostering deep and lasting connections to the Jewish people and Israel

Increasing student enrollment, primarily of our AMHSI sessions

Creating professional development opportunities for our educators, administration and marketing

By Max Wolk

Max Wolk is an active member of JNFuture located in Denver, Colorado.  He is currently the JNFuture Colorado Vice-Chair, an Alexander Muss High School in Israel Alum, the Alexander Muss High School in Israel Mountain States Chair, and attended the JNFuture Leadership Mission trip in the summer of 2015.

“I have always felt the connection to Israel and the need to serve my local and international community by leveraging my passion, commitment and intellect.  I have been searching for the right outlet and opportunity to fulfill my purpose in life – to make this world a better place for generations to come. 

Since haivng received this outlet in the Jewish National Fund, I have been fortunate to have great mentors, leaders and further opportunities like the Jewish National Fund Leadership Mission (JLIM), where my experience in Israel gave me fresh perspective and a new vision of how I can be a leader in my community. This poem reflects my commitment, aspirations and passion for the actions I must take to be the leader I know I am capable of being and impact the world as I have always known I am capable of doing.”

Leadership is…

Commitment, Perseverance, Flexibility, Foresight, Ingenuity, Compassion, Bravery, Humility, Confidence, Sacrifice, Communication, Love, Faith, Intuition, Guidance, Cultivation, and Inspiration.

Leadership is all the things you believe, it’s all the things you regret.  It’s frustrating, and a continued struggle; it’s both a fascination, as well as a failure.  It’s the lessons you teach and the lessons you learn.

Leadership is Herzl, Ben-Gurion, it’s Begin and Rabin, Peres and Netanyahu, or just Michael Levin.

Leadership is Basel, It’s Kibbutz Degania, It’s Tel Aviv, It’s Akko, Ammunition Hill, and the Central Arava.

Leadership is 1897, 1901, 1948, 1967, and 2015.

Leadership is YOUR past, and Our Future.

Leadership is bending down to touch the earth and willing life to come from it, willing water to flow, then sharing this with your friends and rivals.

Leadership is the stubborn confidence to finish and follow through.

Leadership is the humility to learn, listen, and love.

Leadership is Bravery, and the will to do what is right, even if it’s wrong.

Leadership is Faith, not religious, but faith in yourself and those around you.

Leadership is not right in front of you, rather it’s 10k miles away and 10 years down the road.

Leadership is inspiration, ingenuity, and compassion.

Leaders Inspire, Inquire, and Sacrifice.

Real Leadership is recognizing what needs to be done, then taking a giant leap past that to inspire others to accomplish feats that you had only dreamt of…it’s Collaboration and perseverance.

Leadership is never ME

This morning my alarm blared loudly and I groggily got up to turn it off. And then I just stood there, half-asleep, and realized I had 20 minutes until breakfast. So I went with the obvious answer and went back to sleep. The hostel's beds are much comfier than the campus's beds. 

Anyway, once my alarm went off a second time I speed-packed and went downstairs for breakfast. Cocoa Puffs. Yum.

The Jerusalem air was cold but refreshing. The city was still waking up as we boarded the bus. We drove to Sataf on Mt. Eitan. We stretched and walked across stone steps. The hike was long enough to hear my friend Reegan's entire life story. We sat on a flat terrace we took notes and I spaced out and stared at the beautiful nature around us. My brain still wasn't awake. At least I had something to stare at instead of a classroom wall.

Abruptly, Aubrey said to grab our flashlights and cameras. We jumped up and followed him to a hollowed out rock and entered. The tunnel had low ceilings and narrow walls. All the tall people (not me) had a hard time with the space. Then we climbed up a small waterfall and shone our lights onto what Aubrey was trying to show us. It was a spring with the clearest water I've ever seen. He told us how springs are formed and how people used to use it, then invited us to drink it. IT WAS SO GOOD! It put all mineral water and tap water ever to shame.

Aubrey told us to turn off our lights and stand in a circle. We stood in silence listening to the water trickle. It was really dark. Then Aubrey taught us a weirdly Scottish-Israeli song about "returning to the land of your soul".

We exited the cave and into the bright sunlight. Aubrey made us scalding hot leaf tea as we talked about how the Torah's value system can be applied in our own lives. We also discussed the Book of Ruth. She was one tough cookie.

Then we jumped down the super-long staircase down the mountain and we drove to the Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem from the south.

Before leaving the area, we ate a very ​delicious Israeli lunch of bread, hummus, olives, and strawberries and chocolate spread.

After lunch we drove to the City of David and learned about King David on what probably was his palace basement. The view was beautiful and I'm so proud of the panorama I took:

Then we saw a 3D movie where the acting was cheesy and the 3Dness hurt my eyes. I don't think the 3D glasses were made to fit over my eye glasses. Some of my friends fell asleep. Oops.

Then we climbed downstairs into an actual​ cave and into water. (My water shoes were definitely a good investment.) The water came up to my thighs but then it receded to my shins. The cave walls were about as wide as me and the ceiling level changed throughout the walk. Sometimes it was super high, and in some parts even I, a short 5"2, had to duck. As you can imagine, some of the taller guys had a hard time with it. The cave was very dark and I was in the back of the line with Aubrey and some other students. We were guided by my very bright headlamp and the voices ahead of us. To ease the tension, we sang everything from the national anthem to songs about water. Then Aubrey told everybody to turn their lights off. It was very scary and the water was kind of cold. But we learned to trust each other and trust that the people in front of us wouldn't stop suddenly​.​ At the end of the tunnel, I felt so relieved and accomplished and immediately wanted to do it again. 

​The bus drove toward the Kotel and I did a magical speed-change into a skirt. The Kotel was a very emotional moment for me. The women's' side was very crowded and there were foldable chairs everywhere. When I got the chance, I put a prayer in the wall. The weather was cold, and the wall was even colder. I hope I can come back soon.

We got back on the warm bus and drove to Ben Yehuda St. for DOTS, dinner on the streets. Talia and I got shawarma and falafel respectively and then shared the most amazing giant waffle with chocolate on chocolate on chocolate with loads of whipped cream. IT WAS SO GOOD!