Israel Programs

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To submit your 2008-2009 AUJS Israel Programs Expression of Interest, click here.

Interested in going on a truly life changing experience? Check out this customised booklet on AUJS Leadership Development Program.

AUJS Leadership Development Program (LDP)

AUJS LDP 2007/2008 Highlights, by Neil Sher

AUJS LDP is AUJS' investment in the future. This program aims to equip future AUJS leaders with the skills and knowledge that they will require to be community leaders in the coming years.

The program includes educational and leadership skills training components and challenges the participants' attitudes towards Judaism, the Jewish community, Israel and life in general. It inspires participants to become active and enhance their respective Jewish communities. The group will meet inspiring and leading people in their fields worldwide.

In Israel, participants will attend the annual WUJS Congress, meet with prominent Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders; and investigate contemporary Israeli issues. The tour will also visit at least one Diaspora community. In previous years the group has traveled to Greece, France, Belgium, Brazil and Argentina.

AUJS LDP - Experience of a lifetime

By Daniel Lazarus

AUJS LDP 2006/2007 Highlights, by Adam Broons

Boys and girls. We want to take just a few minutes of your time to explain and show to you the life changing experience that 18 of us underwent through during the 6 weeks of LDP. Through pre-seminar, to Mexico, Washington, New York and Israel, 18 strangers became a family through happy, sad, triumphant, depressed and 'sexy times'.

LDP or the 'Leadership Development Program' is a 6 week program around the world, to flourishing and impoverished Jewish communities, world renowned and influential speakers, performances that have to be seen to be believed and meeting young Jews like ourselves around the world.

What we came back with was a plethora of knowledge. How the community in Mexico stay so tight-knit with minimal intermarriage rate and their extreme fundraising power. Hillel and their operations and how they engage the Jewish youth in America in almost every state, the extreme lobbying power of AIPAC raising billions of dollars for Israel and their techniques for building networks and power. Listening to countless Israeli diplomats and spokespeople outlining details that you don't get from people you see on TV whether from the dean of political science at Hebrew University, to Mark Regev, the international spokesperson for Israel to someone who actually lived in Gaza who was taken from her home during the disengagement, a man who was actually present at Camp David in 2000, visiting the anti terror barrier, the Green Line and Kiryat Shmona where 1500 bombs fell during the Lebanon conflict and much more. There is no other event where such a breadth of information can be collated than on LDP. The amount of knowledge that you come back with about Israeli, Jewish and global history, events, politics, monuments, and ladies of course is unparalleled.

And if you think LDP is just lectures, you couldn't be further from the truth. Aztec Pyramids in Mexico, to the monuments of Washington, the skyscrapers, Times square and Matisyahu of New York, Percussionists and Subliminal in Tel Aviv and of course, the parties - Mega Event, New Years and many more. We want you to experience a glimpse of this journey to explore how much the globe has to offer, and how much it can offer you.

We have grown as individuals, but also as leaders of this amazing organisation. We have taken ideas from around the globe and will work to apply them to AUJS in the years to come. If we came back with something, for me and I'm sure for the rest of the participants, it is how truly amazing this organization is. We all came from Mexico thinking why can't we raise $30 million in a morning like they do and why can't we put on parties for 2000 people in a $600 million sports centre. But then we thought of what we do do and what they learned from us.

Our fight for Israel and against anti-Semitism on campus, leadership seminars, trips to our nations capital, subsidize hundreds of students who go to Israel, Derech Eretz programs, conferences, pub crawls, parties, the list is endless. We are part of something huge and its because of all of us, not just the LDPer's, that it is where it is, and where its going to be.

This is exactly why I went on LDP. Of course for the ladies, the spitroasts, the drunken nights, but also something deeper. It makes you inspired to not only become a leader in your own right, it equips you with the knowledge and skills I have been talking about to make this difference. The word hazbora was nailed into our head, especially by the likes of David Olescar and Neil Lazarus. Belief in yourself is a hard thing to acquire, but if the program does nothing else is creates this through such breadth of speakers, information, social events and just mucking around with fellow LDPers. It creates a family that you trust, and through that, real progress can be created.

Through special projects we are looking to create a national video, a possible magazine, a Jewish yellow pages, interfaith committees and many more. These are projects which we are all a part of, and that can make a true difference in our communities. We are the single most influential group for Jewish students on campus, and as such our role is huge. LDP exposed us to not only what is against us, but what is for us. This organisation provides a perfect medium to meet friends, network and meet contacts now and for the future, learn about Israel and Jewish history and identity. That's the essence I'm trying to get at. We are for the youth, and so we are always re-branding.

What you guys want is what we want to become, so make sure your ideas are heard and listened to, as that is the way a difference can be made.

Information Evenings

Information evenings are coming soon in the following locations around Australasia:

Sydney Wednesday July 2 & Thursday July 3 at 6.30pm Eric Caspary Learning Centre Shalom College, UNSW (entry off Barker St)	Melbourne Tuesday July 15 & Wednesday July 16 at 7pm Beth Weizmann Community Centre 306 Hawthorn Rd, South Caulfield	Perth Sunday June 29 at 6.30pm Jewish Community Centre 61 Woodrow Ave, Yokine
Brisbane Thursday July 17 at 6.30pm Memorial Hall Brisbane Synagogue	Adelaide Sunday July 20 at 6.30pm Community Centre	Auckland Wednesday July 23 at 7pm Location TBC

Please stay tuned via email for all the information on AUJS Israel Programs 2008/2009 or join the AUJS Israel Programs Facebook group for a constant stream of updates!