November 2024 – Volunteering
We kicked the year off with a wonderful first event in Jerusalem!
We started the evening at Pantry Packers, processing and bagging up interesting foods for older Ethiopian Israelis without anything to eat. We began with green coffee and then continued with food products like orange lentils. We then took a tour of the facility. We checked out their food rescue program and learned more about how they send hot meals to thousands of elderly Israelis each week.
Our volunteer activity was followed by dinner at a speakeasy-style kosher Asian restaurant where the storefront looks like just a local supermarket shop! Sharing conversation over chicken and rice, the energy was flowing. We celebrated Evans’s birthday, as well.
November 2023 – A Reunion
We love keeping in touch with our scholars! This is Nisi Goldstein who came to Israel to study medicine at Ben Guriom University. Nisi straddles many worlds from Hasidic Williamsburg Brooklyn to serving Bedouin communities in Israel’s south in a medical capacity and more.
Nisi came back for a visit and reconnected with AJLI’s chairwoman and national president Ayo Oppenheimer.
December 2021 – A Day in Jerusalem
Ariana, Simone, and Nisi.
July 2021 – Overnight Experience
AJLI shared a 2-day and overnight immersive experience, a first of its kind.
May 2021 – Beachside Retreat
Catherine, Maya, Mia and Simone registered for our beachside day retreat. It was a sweet gathering with beachside yoga, healthy food, art watercolor workshop and a number of therapeutic services including acupuncture.
April 2019 – Jeeping, Dinner, and Yoga
We kicked off the event with a 2-hour jeep tour in Maaleh HaChamisha (the Jerusalem Mountains) on a beautiful and sunny day.
We paused in the middle of a national forest for a tea, coffee and Passover cookies break where one of our guides Sheli regaled us with stories of her upbringing and gave us insight into the IDF as a social service organization. Dinner and Yoga
We returned to downtown Jerusalem after the ATVing and meandered the Shuk, taking in the Passover hustle bustle. The group had dinner at Morris – the original grill and butcher stall in the market – with plenty of fresh salatim, matzah and grilled fish/meats.
December 2019 – Hanukkah Gathering
We started the day with a Sfinj-making workshop (Moroccan vegan donuts), where we learned how to make the dough and the toppings, which included a fresh-squeezed lemon juice and rose water sugar infusion (yum!).
We started the day with a Sfinj-making workshop (Moroccan vegan donuts), where we learned how to make the dough and the toppings, which included a fresh-squeezed lemon juice and rose water sugar infusion (yum!).
We continued to a late lunch/early dinner at a “gourmet street food” restaurant in the Shuk called Crave, and then embarked on a neighborhood Chanukah tour led by local educator Nili Shalem. We were treated to live music by professional musicians.
We had a candle-lighting of our own followed by traditional songs and then we partied it up with food, dreidel, Sfinj, music, and more.
December 2019 – Shuk Machne Yehuda
The AJLI cohort spent the evening at HaMotzi Restaurant by Shuk Machaneh Yehuda in Jerusalem. We enjoyed the delicious homemade salatim, fresh bread, muffleta entrecôte, mint tea and, of course, traditional desserts.
September 2019 – Early Morning Yoga
The AJLI participants were Jared Bach (’19-’20), Catherine Szkop (’19-’20), Anya Zimmerman-Smith (’19-’20), Joe Martin Brophy (’19-’20), Orian Raviv (’19-’20), Eliyahu Freedman (’18-’19) and Meirav Malter (’16-’17), and it was inspiring to see a blend of AJLI generations come together as a community and a network.
December 2018 – Hanukkah Event
Esther, Myahn, Danielle and Adam joined us for a culinary tour of Shuk Machaneh Yehuda, dinner at Jerusalem’s new gourmet street food restaurant Crave and Chanukah, candlelighting, and homemade Sfinj (Moroccan donuts) in Nachlaot near the market.
We learned about the development of the market and the special and authentic hybrid of influences that comprises Israeli food.
NOVEMBER 2018 – A FUN EVENING IN TEL AVIV!
Four AJLI Scholars (Danielle, Yannick, Adam and Eliyahu) joined Amy, AJLI’s Board President, for the first get together of the school year. The evening kicked off with dinner at DosaBar followed by a stroll through downtown Tel Aviv to the EscapeRoom. In the escape room, the team needed to figure out a series of unspoken riddles and – at one point – everyone was put in pitch black, and Yannick and Amy were taken “hostage” to a separate completely dark room, from which the 3 remaining scholars needed to guide Yannick and Amy through a series of activities in total darkness using a night vision camera. It was wild!
FEBRUARY 2018 – ESCAPE ROOM
Bonding time at the Jerusalem Escape room – AJLI Scholars Jonathan and Zvi, and our knightly AJLI President, Amy (February 2018).
JANUARY 2018 – DINNER IN THE OLD CITY
Dinner in the Old City, just outside Jaffa and Zion Gates – AJLI Scholars, Jensen, Jonathan and Emily and AJLI President, Amy (January 2018)
APRIL 2017 – SCHOLARS JAFFA OUTING
Special gathering of AJLI Scholars in Tel Aviv / Jaffa Port – Danny, Meredith, Leigh and Meirva (April 2017)
We gathered at the Jaffa Port at 6pm with four of the six AJLI scholars in attendance. The weather was gorgeous, and meeting early gave us time to catch up on life in Israel, academic studies and how each scholar respectively celebrated Yom HaAtzmaut. We were given an orientation just prior to our 6:30pm dinner seating at Nalagaat (Blackout), and asked to choose our selection from the menu as the meal itself would be in total darkness! We then formed a ‘train’ with hands on shoulders as our waiter Leah brought us to the table, and realized what pitch black meant – you couldn’t see a thing!
The entire experience was memorable and bonding – from learning how to pour (but not over pour!!) water from the table pitchers by touch to familiarizing ourselves more with one another’s voices sans sight to sharing a bit from our own lives. One of our scholars herself is visually-impaired. It was incredible how she opened up to share and all of us felt comfortable asking questions – the darkness creating a sort of slumber party and judgment-free type of environment. We also asked our waiter Leah questions about her life experience – she doesn’t see at all nor does her husband, but they raised two sighted daughters and now have three grandchildren as well.
The food was delicious and – after trying to eat our pasta a few times and coming up with empty forks – we dug in with our (pre-washed) hands and began to share dishes. At one point during dinner, the conversation went to deep political places and was subsequently lightened up by an Israeli birthday song being played for a nearby table as we all clapped and danced and celebrated in darkness. The meal was liberating, eye-opening and definitely memorable.
The theater show after was abstract and on the strange side, but gave us a lot to think about and boasted incredible costumes and a storyline that gave insight into human interaction, connection, isolation and the relationship between a service animal and its owner/guardian. All of the actors were part of the blind and/or deaf communities. The show was preceded by an Israeli sign language demonstration and we stayed afterward as a group to debrief.
NOVEMBER 2016 – AJLI GROUP
Group get together – AJLI Scholars, Meredith, Danny, Leigh, Meirav and Zoe, and Amy, AJLI President (November 2016)