JCC Association Israel Seminars
The Israel seminars provide an opportunity for intensive personal and professional Jewish learning experiences in Israel. The idea for the project came out of the COMJEE recommendations and since 1986, over 135 seminars have brought more than 3000 JCC professionals and board members to Israel. Seminar participants not only visit the sites of Israel but meet and engage the people, allowing for group and personal reflection on issues relevant to the local JCC and community. This opportunity for Jewish learning and reflection has enriched Jewishness in the JCC, from program content to ambiance and mission.
Why an Israel Seminar?
The ongoing attempt to enhance the Jewishness of JCCs has focused attention on the JCC as Jewish space and a Jewish neighborhood in the community. The Israel seminar enables board members or staff to visit Israel as an exciting learning environment and an immersion experience in the public Jewishness of the Jewish State. The journey through modern Israel provides a useful prism for contemplation of Jewish issues and their implication for the local community. This process often sharpens participants Jewish consciousness and furthers their Jewish learning, which in turn finds its way into the JCC.
Types of Israel Seminars:
* Seminars for JCC board members and local lay leadership, which can also be designed as board-staff seminars
* Seminars for professional staff from one or more JCCs (and in some cases including professionals from other local agencies as well)
* National Special Interest Seminars for professional staff from a specific discipline such as Early Childhood Educators, 
Camp Directors, Assistant Directors or Camp Staff.
* Seminars for graduate students in Jewish Communal Service
What is Special About the Seminars?
* Most seminars are staffed by a tour guide-educator and an informal scholar-in-residence. The combined staff bring a special richness, enabling participants to experience Israel and explore issues related to the various sites or viewpoints they encounter.
* Each seminar is tailor-made to suit the needs and goals of a specific JCC, and is developed through ongoing exchange of ideas and drafts, in a way that reflects the Jewish educational vision of the JCC. The process includes extended preparation and follow-up for the participants.
* Each seminar includes encounters with Israelis, so that participants transcend the tourist experience and have an opportunity to exchange personal viewpoints on political, social, educational, professional and other issues. This often takes place in the context of Partnership 2000 communities as a way of creating more “people to people” contact and encouraging further dialogue and cooperation between Israeli and North American Jews.