A supporter of the peace process and of the Oslo Accords, Ryan Dulkin grew up in a family that identified with such Israeli political figures as Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion.
And last month, the first-year San Francisco State University graduate student heard Shimon Peres speak at the Council of Jewish Federations’ General Assembly in Seattle.
“He [Peres] was amazing,” said Dulkin.
Now he is gearing up to join some 30 undergraduate and graduate students for the fifth annual Student Leadership Study Tour to Israel.
Sponsored by the Israel Project, which is the campus division of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s new Israel Center, the trip runs from Dec. 20 to Jan. 10.
Dulkin said he hopes his upcoming trip to Israel will help him better understand his ideology. He also looks forward to hearing the other side of the political spectrum.
Peter Altman, director of the Israel Project, said that is one of the goals of the trip.
“We show the students all sides of an issue so that they can look at a situation and decide for themselves. We want to break their American glasses and give them Israeli ones to see through.”
Participants like Dulkin must commit to returning to campus and applying their newfound knowledge of Israel by proposing two pro-Israel activities, which they initiate and oversee in the spring semester following the trip.
They must also participate in pre- and post-trip training workshops, designed to enhance and build on the experiences of the trip itself.
Students are recruited from campuses with high levels of anti-Israel activity, as well as those with the greatest potential for ongoing proactive Israel-oriented activities. This year’s participants come from U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, U.C. Santa Cruz, Stanford University, San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, Chico State University, Fresno State University, the University of San Francisco and Skyline College.
Although Dulkin was a bar mitzvah, was confirmed and currently teaches Jewish civics in a new program for SanFrancisco high schoolers, he has never been to Israel.
So, “going to Israel will be a culmination of my early Jewish education,” he said. “I hope this trip will give me firsthand experience that solidifies my Jewish identity and political views.”
Altman said the study tour is a training mission geared to deepening students’ knowledge of the Jewish state and sharpening their political organizing and advocacy skills.
“This trip is not a vacation. It’s demanding, and we have high expectations of the students to absorb the material and use it afterwards,” he said.
Vadim Rotberg, a U.C. Berkeley junior, will also be making his first trip to Israel with the group.
While growing up in Odessa, Russia, he said news about the Jewish state was very filtered, and he only began following the political situation during Israel’s war in Lebanon.
“I really formed my political views toward Israel in college. Here, most students are liberal, but I don’t feel I’m on the liberal side of most issues,” said Rotberg, who emigrated to the United States with his family in 1990.
“One reason I’m excited for this trip is because it will help me figure out what is better for Israel’s future.”
In Israel the group will cover areas from the Good Fence on its Lebanese border to the Erez checkpoint at Gaza on the southern coast. Along the way, they will tackle the debate over the Golan Heights, meet Israelis for and against exchanging land for peace, and get an insider’s view of living on the edge from the mayor of Barta’a, an Arab village on the Green Line (Israel’s pre-1967 border).
Other highlights include meeting with Ethiopian immigrants, Druze residents, Palestinian representatives and Knesset members.
“This trip is a concentrated effort to indentify individuals who are committed to carrying the torch and taking responsibility for Israel until it’s time to pass it on to someone else,” Altman said.
The tour is funded by the S.F.-based JCF’s Endowment Fund, the Jewish Community Endowment-Louis Dessauer Trust, the Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the campus arm of Hadassah and several other agencies.