Carine Warsawski
Carine Warsawski from Project Incite on Vimeo.
Im tirtzu ain zo hagada.
Organization: Union for Reform Judaism
Website of Organization:http://www.urj.org/, http://www.rjisrael.org/
Favorite Place in Israel: The Negev at night
How has Israel played a part in your personal Jewish identity?
Spending a year in Israel on a teen program was my first opportunity to confront, challenge and explore my Jewish identity. Throughout my year in on NFTY-EIE, we traveled the country learning about history right where it happened. Using the country as a classroom, blackboard and playground enabled me to not just see all of Israel and learn about our past and present, but also to kinesthetically understand who we are as a people, where history has taken us and internalize the responsibility that Jews have for one another and building this amazing country.
My journey abroad as a teen granted me the opportunity to decide what Judaism meant for me. Through study, community building and play, I became intensely connected to the land, people and culture of Israel. I came to learn that my Judaism was represented by these three facets, each of which played an integral part of shaping my Jewish identity, giving it a sense of connection and belonging for the first time. Today, each visit back to Israel provides me the opportunity to challenge contemporary and re-explore my Jewish identity and connection to Israel while helping others shape their own.
Who was the educator who most influenced your path to Jewish education? Describe the effect that they had on you.
Uri Feinberg, my Jewish history teacher and vice principal when on EIE, brought creative and engaging teaching to a new level. He exemplified Jewish values, humor, passion and wisdom in all that he did, from teaching to storytelling to giving advice, such that we kept coming back for more. He combined the outdoors and physical landscape of Israel with Jewish texts, values and community. Uri ‘s intense love of the Land of Israel was so singlehandedly contagious, that it inspired me to connect to Israel on the deepest level in order to feel the same fervor that he did. In striving to soak up all the history and sentiment that he sought to impart, I vicariously felt the need to pass on his teachings. Still today I feel the desire to teach about the land, people and history of Israel in tangible ways that will open eyes and hearts in the way the Uri did for mine.
If you had the ability to build the landscape of Jewish education, what would it look like? - in 140 characters or less.
A culture that utilizes nature, the physical land of Israel and the Diaspora to connect to our biblical, cultural and spiritual roots.
What are you looking forward to most in the InCiTE Fellowship?
I am looking forward to being part of a cohort of people who all share a similar passion and also towards implementing a project that is unlimited by creativity, guided by a professional in the field, and one that aims to mobilize teens towards Israel travel.