On June 19, Kayla and Eliana Wasserman returned to Milwaukee after completing an eight-week mini-semester program at Alexander Muss High School in Israel.
Kayla and Eliana, 16-year-old twins, have a familial relationship with the school. Their parents, Melanie and Russ Wasserman, met in Israel while living on a kibbutz, and then were both AMHSI madrichim (teacher aides) in 1988.
Melanie said that even though her twins went with their eighth grade class trip to Israel and have had numerous visits with family, it was important to the Wassermans that their daughters also got to experience AMHSI.
“We hope their experience gives them a stronger connection to Israel, which is more important now than ever before, especially with Holocaust deniers and anti-Israel sentiment brewing on college campuses,” said Melanie.
Eliana agreed. “I wouldn’t have the knowledge that I have today if it weren’t for this study abroad program,” she said. “I feel like now I really know what is going on when people talk about Israel.”
This April session was the first time AMHSI partnered with the International March of the Living.
Thirty high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, mostly from public schools across the U.S., spent the first week of the program in Poland, where many of the students met for the first time.
There, they learned about Polish Jewry, participated in the famous two-mile march from the Auschwitz to Birkenau German Nazi murder camps among thousands of their peers, and learned about the Holocaust.
After this, they went to Israel for seven weeks of intensive academic touring and studying of the history of Israel, the Jewish people, the land and culture. All this time, of course, students kept up with their school studies from home.
“The AMHSI program really puts Jewish history into perspective. Learning in class and then going to the places where history took place, as an extension of what we just learned about, makes it easier to relate to and get a better gage on Jewish history, and our place in it,” said Kayla.
Added Melanie: “For example, it’s one thing to read about the Yom Kippur War and another to have a lesson in a bunker overlooking the Hula Valley.”
Kayla said the AMHSI program helped her prepare for college. “I feel that I’m more equipped now to live on my own and to handle dorm settings, college life, and adult skills like managing my time and studies and social life,” she said.
The twins also said they enjoyed the social aspects of the program.
“Being so far away from home and being with all my new friends has been such an amazing experience,” said Eliana.
“Making new, close friends has been a definite highlight — I never imagined it would be like this,” added Kayla.
This family also shared some interesting trivia about its connection with AMHSI:
When Russell and Melanie were madrichim, the teacher of their group was David Mitchell, who, only a few years earlier had begun teaching at AMHSI (1984). Today Mitchell is AMHSI’s dean of education and was the core teacher for this April session, meaning he taught the Wasserman daughters as well.
One of AMSHI’s veteran general studies teachers, Dr. Glenda Sacks, is Melanie Wasserman’s sister (the twins’ aunt). She has been teaching English and art at AMHSI since 1996.
Rabbi Philip Nadel, AMHSI Head of School, was the rabbi at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School where the twins attended first through eighth grade.
Russell’s mother, Merle Wasserman (the twins’ grandmother), is a member of Congregation Sinai, Hadassah-Milwaukee Chapter, adjunct professor at Upper Iowa University and retired psychotherapist.
AMHSI, founded in 1972 and a partner of the Jewish National Fund since 2013, is a fully accredited study abroad program for international high school students in Israel. It runs programs of varying lengths, offering students the opportunity to live, study and travel in Israel. For more information, see www.amhsi.org.
Sarah Vanunu is director of marketing, communications and public relations for the Alexander Muss High School in Israel.
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