Habonim Dror North
America Workshop 55:
- 4 Months on Kibbutz Netiv
HaLamed Hey outside Beit Shemesh
- 1 Month travelling around
Israel (Seminar Month)
- 4 Months living in Migdal
HaEmek (near Nazareth)
I always knew I wanted to
take a year off after high school. I just saw no reason to go 17 years straight
in school without taking a break. So when the time came, I applied to schools
that I knew would let me defer for a year.
I had an easier time than
most people deciding what to do with my gap year. I have been a member of
Habonim Dror (a socialist-zionist worldwide youth movement, see www.habonimdor.org for details) since
2001, and every year since 1950 Habonim has organized a yearlong program in
Israel for its members that have just graduated high-school. I won't go in to
the history of the program, but suffice it to say that it has adapted along
with Israel, so it presented me a great opportunity to fully experience a
culture very different from the one I grew up in.
My goals for my year off
were basically the following (plus the one i just mentioned): take time off
from school, educate myself in my own method, discover my beliefs and ideology,
and form relationships with the amazing people who would be on Workshop with me
(we had all gone to israel together after 10th grade, so I knew almost
everyone). I think that the first and second of these go hand in hand. You can
only really truly learn about yourself when you're not trying to learn what
other people are feeding you, and thus a gap year for many people provides the
first true opportunity for self-education. I think these are the main things
that anyone can take away from a year off. Sure, living in 2 apartments that I
shared with 22 other people was amazing, fun, and life-changing and all that
jazz. But it was really the time off from our traditional education system that
I feel was the biggest benefit for me.
Adam
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