Hayley Gold, right, wants to get involved in Toronto’s Jewish community. Which is why she’s going to India.
The Toronto resident will be one of five students to participate in Hillel Toronto’s “Travel with Purpose” trip to India.
Participants on the trip, which is in its second year and runs from July 7 to Aug. 12, will spend a week in Israel and then go to Dharmsala, India, 12 hours north of Delhi, where they’ll volunteer with a variety of organizations that work with the local Tibetan refugee population.
“My best friend went on it last year. She told me about it. I was extremely jealous when she was going, I saw how it changed [her],” Gold said. “I think experiencing another culture allows you to look at yourself and your own culture and reflect on it.”
Gold, a McGill University graduate who will be studying food and nutrition at Ryerson University in September, hopes the trip will help her connect to her community and heritage, something she’s found difficult in the past.
“Growing up in a Jewish neighbourhood, I didn’t really find my Jewish identity until I studied in Israel for a year,” she said, noting that, three years ago, she attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “It’s about the actual people. It’s the way you interact with people more than going to the synagogue.”
After her time in Israel, Gold tried to get involved in her local Jewish community, but it wasn’t quite the same.
“I made so many close friends [in Israel], it made me want to become more involved in my Jewish community… I tried when I went back to Montreal [for school], but it didn’t feel the same,” she said.
Laura Herman, the trip leader, is hoping to change that.
“One of the unique opportunities we present is to not have this trip be an isolated experience. We want to encourage people to use their skills when they come back to campus,” Herman said. “Our goal is that they use this as a jumping-off point to advocate for certain things that speak to them or become active in Jewish life.”
In order to accomplish this, organizers have enhanced the trip’s educational components, which will touch on international development issues and the importance of volunteerism. Students will volunteer both in Israel with local organizations and in Dharmsala, where they’ll be able to choose which charities and sectors to work in.
“They’ll focus on different community issues… [like] women’s rights, helping children in the community, working with the elderly,” Herman said, adding that some will teach English. “We’ll all be living together and learning together… but all the volunteers will be matched with different organizations.”
Herman hopes that this first-hand experience will help participants understand the importance of tikkun olam.
“There are many communities that need our assistance… we are obligated on a Jewish level to assist everyone,” she said.
The trip leader also hopes that the Canadians and Israelis will connect.
“That’s one of the focuses of the program. We want them to have these encounters with Israelis so it’s not just an isolated experience. There’s a lot we can learn from Israelis,” she said.
Gold agrees.
“I’m really excited about that. I think Israelis are amazing people. They’re… living in our Jewish nation and they fight in the army for it,” she said. “I think we have so much to learn from them.”
To participate on the trip, students must be heading back to school in the fall, and all must be interviewed and vetted by Herman.
“I’m just looking… to understand why people are motivated to go on the program. This is not going to be a sitting on the beach kind of thing. It’s not a vacation. We’re going to work,” she said.
For more information, contact [email protected].
