Published: 26 May 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
HADARA BILSKY THOUGHT she’d spend her first semester of college making friends in her dorm, having discussions with professors and students in class, and attending Shabbat services at Hillel. Now the 18-year-old isn’t sure if any of that will happen.
Emory University, her school of choice, has yet to announce whether it will hold classes in the fall. But many U.S. colleges have said they are likely to hold at least some classes virtually this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rather than starting at the Atlanta school this year as planned, Bilsky is “highly considering” enrolling in Year Course, a Young Judaea program in which high school graduates spend a year in Israel traveling the country, participating in internships and volunteer programs, and taking college-level classes.
She wants to pick up where she left off when the pandemic cut short her high school’s Israel trip this spring. And Bilsky hopes that by spending a year in Israel, she can “ride out the wave” of the pandemic while immersing herself in a new culture and learning Hebrew — and then start college a year later than planned.
I wanted a more normal college experience, and no matter what Emory decides to do, it won’t be that experience,” said Bilsky, who lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Under normal circumstances, hundreds of American Jews travel to Israel after they graduate from high school for what’s known as a gap year. Orthodox Jewish teens tend to study in seminaries and yeshivas before beginning college, while dozens of programs — including Year Course — primarily offer Israel experiences to non-Orthodox teens.
FULL STORY As colleges go virtual, students instead are heading to Israel on gap year programs (JTA)
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Photo: Students at Nishmat in Jerusalem wear masks and are separated by Plexiglas barriers to protect against the coronavirus. (Courtesy of Nishmat)
