London Calling Givat Haviva
December 23, 2007
During a recent visit to London Givat Haviva’s International Department, lecturer and study tour guide Lydia Aisenberg met with Israeli emissaries working with youth movements, student and synagogue groups in the UK and Ireland.
“We have had a long and fruitful relationship with so many organizations in Britain that one would probably ask why would we make the effort to come a-knocking on the door,” said Aisenberg this week upon her return to Israel.
“The emissaries and locally appointed officers and administrative staff are constantly changing and we have learned that one cannot be too complacent in expecting that because our seminars are so well thought of that the information will automatically be passed on,” she explains.
“In this day and age marketing is such an important factor and in our case – dealing with such sensitive issues such as Jewish-Arab relations in the State of Israel amongst others – talking about coexistence projects and taking folks to actually meet the people involved, we tend to expect would be high up on the priority list, but that’s not always the case,” she commented.
One of the London based Israeli emissaries is Michal Ben-Atar who recently took up her post with the Union of Jewish Students of Britain and Ireland, the main representative body for Jewish students on British and Irish campuses.
Michal is more than familiar with Givat Haviva and the International Department programs, having guided many a group of Australian and North American students visiting Israel on study tours for whom a half day seminar with Givat Haviva is an almost permanent fixture on the program. Michal was also a staff member of the Jewish Agency run MACHON in Jerusalem, a center for preparation of Jewish youth leaders from abroad and with whom she also paid regular visits to Givat Haviva.
During Aisenberg’s visit Michal was in the midst of dealing with the pressures of elections for chairmanship of the Union of Jewish Students which provides social, cultural, political and educational programming, training, resources as well as organizing national events for its student members studying in universities – large and small – across the British Isles.
In the past Aisenberg was invited by the UJS to speak on British campuses and also attended the Student Union Conference (a major annual event held in Blackpool) at the invitation of the UJS some years ago.
With the UJS offices looking like the campaign center it had become over the last month or so, Michal - a graduate in Israel Studies and Political Sciences from Ben-Gurion University – told Aisenberg of her experiences growing up on the ‘Seam Line’ (pre-1967 border between the State of Israel and the West Bank) in the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood (Ramat Eshkol in Hebrew) of Jerusalem. Michal speaks Arabic from childhood, her family having originated from Iraq.
“As far as I am concerned, offering students the opportunity to actually go out in to the field and experience the realities and learn the facts on the ground through their own eyes is of utmost importance,” said Michal, who remembers vividly past visits to Wadi Ara villages with student groups, that were organized, facilitated and guided by Givat Haviva’s International Department staff.
“Givat Haviva offers the chance, through expert academic facilitators, for students to experience in as truthful a manner as possible the human side of a very complex and sensitive situation,” said Michal who is presently organizing a group of student leaders due to visit Israel during 2008 as well as encouraging British students to join the Taglit-Birthright ten day study tours that have become so popular with unaffiliated students and who usually also have a Givat Haviva visit on their program.
It is obvious that Givat Haviva sits high on Michal Ben-Atar’s list of ‘Things To Do’ for students visiting Israel. The International Department staff looks forward to working with them in the near and distant future.