RootOne Trips Plant the Seeds of Connection to Israel: Part One
Anyone who’s participated in a group trip to Israel can attest to how powerful and transformative that experience can be. But there’s something particularly special about visiting Israel as a teen, and that’s where RootOne comes in.
RootOne helps thousands of Jewish students travel to Israel each summer, providing funding for teens to visit the country with programs that span the entire Jewish community: scholarships with youth groups like NFTY, BBYO, or NCSY, trips with their local communities or synagogues, and more. Teens who go on RootOne-funded trips are more likely to continue engaging in Jewish life and community, and seek out more opportunities to get involved. And many of them find those opportunities at Hillel.
Check out these stories of student leaders who participated in RootOne trips as teens, and see how they’re making a difference on campus today.
Alexander Nadelberg, Trinity College
For Alexander Nadelberg, who grew up as a reform Jew in Lexington, Massachusetts, being part of a Jewish community was an important part of his life. He attended URJ Eisner Camp, where he learned to be a song leader, and worked with his synagogue’s cantor to song lead for his congregation during the school year.
Alexander’s planned trip to Israel in 2020 was canceled because of COVID-19, but he got a second chance, thanks to a RootOne-funded NFTY trip during his junior year of high school.
“It was life-changing,” Alexander said, describing one of the most powerful moments of the trip, visiting Masada.
“I realized [then] that the way I could make a difference in the world was by serving the Jewish community. That’s where my passion is,” he added.
After his trip, Alexander changed his college search to focus on schools with vibrant Jewish communities and active Hillels. He landed on Trinity College, where he now serves as Hillel president and majors in Jewish Studies and International Studies, with a focus on the Middle East. In the post October 7 world, Alexander has taken his role at Hillel and as a Jewish student even more seriously, and is working to combat antisemitism on campus. This year has only sharpened the realization he had in Israel on his RootOne trip: his future is working in advocacy in the Jewish professional world.
Amy Nossal, University of North Texas
For Amy Nossal, traveling to Israel with RootOne wasn’t just transformative — it was healing. Her mother passed away only two months before her trip with Kehillah High, a post B-Mitzvah education program in Houston that had partnered with RootOne. The financial support from RootOne and local Jewish federations made the month-long trip possible for Amy.
Amy’s mother had always dreamed of traveling to Israel with her two daughters. While Amy and her sister took the trip with their high school peers instead, she felt her mother’s presence throughout the journey.
“When we went to the Western Wall as a group, I leaned my head against the Wall and wished my mom was there with me,” she said. “As I walked away from the prayer area, I saw my sister walking toward me. We ran and held each other and cried together. Being with my sister in that moment and in that place is a happy memory for me. My mom would have been filled with so much joy and pride to see us together in our homeland.”
Since her trip, Amy has remained involved with Israel programming and with her Jewish community. As a college student at the University of North Texas, she’s gone on a Birthright Israel trip, plans to visit again with Onward Israel this summer, and is currently doing a fellowship with Hillel.
“That one RootOne trip changed the course of my life,” Amy said.
She’s not done with her Israel engagement anytime soon — after college, she plans to make Aliyah.
Chuck Rutberg, Washington and Lee University
Like many other students, Chuck Rutberg’s planned trip to Israel with Camp Seneca Lake was rescheduled due to COVID-19, and then pushed again. But Chuck was determined to experience the summer Israel trip he’d looked forward to for years. His friend’s mother reached out to BBYO, and thanks to some additional support from RootOne, a group of teens from his camp took a three-week trip through BBYO Passport.
This wasn’t Chuck’s first visit to Israel, but it was one of the most impactful.
“My most vivid, powerful memory was visiting a moshav, [a village] on the border with Gaza,” he recalled. “People there were living a simple, small-town life. It was so peaceful. These days, I think about that a lot.”
Sadly, Netiv HaAsara, the village Chuck’s group visited, was attacked by Hamas on October 7.
“It was very scary to think about,” he said, upon learning the news. “What I saw when I was there was a place where a family with children would go to live a peaceful life, and it is painful to imagine what may have happened to some of the people we met there.”
Chuck, who now attends Washington and Lee University, credits his decision to get involved with Israel leadership at Hillel to his experiences in Israel, including his RootOne trip. He currently serves as the Israel chair on his university’s Hillel board.
“There’s so much value in having had opportunities to engage with Israel’s modern history while visiting,” he said. “It would have been so much harder to maintain my connection and support for Israel if I hadn’t experienced it for myself.”
Jake Powers, University of Cincinnati
Jake Powers had a different journey to Israel — instead of attending a RootOne program as a participant, he was there as a staff member last summer, as part of an Israel Leadership Summer through Camp Wise in Cleveland.
“We focused on Israel engagement before and after the trip to keep the campers involved throughout the year,” he said. “It was amazing to see the ongoing growth in their Jewish identity and their connection to Israel.”
Jake credits the online learning his campers did prior to the trip with the deeper, more significant experience they had once they arrived in Israel.
“It made it more than just touring around,” he explained. “RootOne’s focus — the trip, the big tent event — makes it such a meaningful experience for them.”
After his trip, Jake became a RootOne Fellow through his camp, and now runs Bearcats for Israel at the University of Cincinnati Hillel, where he studies middle childhood education, focusing on math and natural science. He and his sister also founded an organization called Ohio Students for Israel. His trip had a profound impact on him that he still feels today.
“My campers learned how to carry the part of themselves that they discovered on the trip forward into their future. And so did I,” he said.