I first learned about Alexander Muss High School in Israel’s (Muss) Heller High program during my Hebrew immersion summer at URJ’s OSRUI, and I was immediately hooked. When I came home and told my parents about it, my dad was livid. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of, “I did not give that camp permission to tell my daughter to go live alone in the Middle East for four months!”  

I left it alone for a bit, but I did not forget. In the following months, I continued to bring it up, trying to wear them down, and eventually, I put together a presentation about why I should be allowed to go, focusing on the academic accreditations, learning opportunities, and detailed safety procedures they had in place. Finally, after much discussion between my parents, they agreed to let me go on what became the journey of a lifetime.   

My time at Muss was absolutely incredible. I loved learning about the history of the Jewish people and Israel on location, and each of the field trips made me even more excited about being a Jew. During my seven weeks at Muss, I made the most amazing friends, and within the Heller High program, we created our own little family.   

Not only did I enjoy Muss and learn a lot academically, but I also learned a lot about myself and developed new abilities. During our hikes, I learned how to persevere. I had never been a huge hiker, but everything we saw was so gorgeous and had such a rich history behind it that it made the exhaustion and occasional ache or pain disappear. Most importantly, I learned how to live on my own and how to figure out what I needed to maintain my mental and physical health, which I know will be incredibly useful when I go to college in the fall.   

My semester was unfortunately cut short by the events of October 7, but Muss did not desert me when I got home. They continued to be involved in my life, making sure that we were able to continue our Israel Studies and Hebrew classes via Zoom, and every teacher continued to check in and send encouraging messages over WhatsApp for months.   

In addition, I was participating in the Teen Israel Organizing Fellowship through Heller High, and they gave me the opportunity to organize around a social justice issue of my choice when I returned home. After the October 7 massacre, I knew that I wanted to organize around Israel in any way I could.   

As soon as I came home, I began to organize a fundraiser for the Jewish United Fund. I planned a dance class full of a mix of camp dances and traditional Israeli dances, and ended up raising over $900.00 for aid to Israel. After the success of this fundraiser, I decided to organize an event for families at my synagogue, highlighting the beauty of Israel.  

While I was organizing these events, I was also doing a lot of public speaking about my experiences in Israel on and post-October 7. While I was not on the front lines, October 7 and the time after it was extremely difficult for me, and I knew how important it was to share my story.   

As a result of my activism, the Jewish United Fund recognized me for the 18 Under 18 award, for which I will be forever grateful. This honor gave me the opportunity to organize around a different issue that was important to me: social media’s influence on increasing political polarization. While a long and difficult process, I am excited to continue to work on it in the future.   

I know that without Muss, I would not have had the tools to do any of the things that I have done since my return. They gave me the opportunity to learn about my culture, the land of Israel, and myself simply by developing new relationships and exploring the land around me. I am so thankful to have been able to participate in Muss’s Heller High Program and I hope that I will be able to come to visit soon. Am Yisrael Chai.