“Postponed, not cancelled.”
That’s the status of the 2020 Joyce Zeff Israel Study Tour (IST) as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as 93 high school juniors’ anticipation for the trip of their lifetime was revving up to full speed, the world basically came to a standstill. First, schools shut down in mid-March, followed by government stay-at-home orders and the cessation of travel in and out of the US and Israel. As stay-at-home orders were extended, it became apparent that COVID-19 would cancel or postpone certain time-honored spring and summer traditions, such as graduations and proms. The same for large Jewish community gatherings, such as annual dinners and the Walk for Israel.
IST was scheduled to depart from DIA on Sunday, June 14 and return on Sunday, July 19. On Monday, April 27, JEWISHcolorado announced its decision to postpone IST for one year.
This year’s would-be participants will be offered the opportunity to go to Israel in June, 2021. JEWISHcolorado will run two simultaneous trips, one for this year’s cohort and another for the 2021 high school juniors. As in the past, both groups will spend a few days in Poland for Holocaust education before spending four-and-a-half weeks in Israel.
Fees received for this year’s IST will apply toward the trip next year. Money will be refunded to parents whose children cannot or do not wish to go on IST next year.
This year’s IST with 93 participants would have been the fourth largest group since the program started in 1971. Next year, 2021, will be the 50th anniversary of IST. IST was cancelled only one other time, in 2002, due to the second intifada.
BBYO and NFTY have also cancelled their teen trips to Israel this year. Birthright Israel trips have been suspended during the lockdown, and will not resume until July at the earliest.
IST Director Josh Samet commented, “There were many factors that came into play with our decision. After careful and extensive consideration, and recent cancelations by airlines and tour providers, we have decided to postpone IST 2020.
“We know that our young travelers were looking forward to the experience, but we also know that this decision is the right one, given the circumstances.
“We are working with our trip provider to book accommodations for next summer, and we expect to be able to announce new departure and return dates in August.”
Samet told the IJN that IST will hire additional staff for next summer since there will be two trips running at the same time. It hasn’t been decided whether both cohorts will travel simultaneously or be staggered.
“We are looking into all possibilities for next summer as all depends on flight and accommodation availability.
If they are there at the same time, the group would be staggered in the sense of one group may be up north while the other group is in the south of Israel.”
Chelsea Becker, a junior at Mountain Vista High School, had been counting down the year, months and, most recently, days until she and 92 others would be getting on the plane to Poland and Israel for IST 2020.
Now she needs to add another 365 days or so to that countdown, but she’s OK with that.
Chelsea is the daughter of Amy and Jeff Becker and twin of brother Corey, who was not planning to go on IST. Chelsea has an avid interest in learning about the Holocaust, so in addition to experiencing the length and breadth of Israel, she was looking forward to deepening her understanding of the Holocaust with the few days in Poland at the beginning of the trip.
Chelsea has spent the past year or so saving her money from babysitting and other odd jobs so she could have extra to spend on her trip.
She was also excited about the experience because she was already friendly with many of the ISTers through her participation in BBYO, but she understands the reason for the postponement to next summer, largely because she and her parents implicitly trusted Samet and the JEWISHcolorado staff to make the best decision regarding IST this year.
“We were concerned the minute things started locking down,” says her mom Amy Becker.
“You worry about things like fighting in the Middle East, but things were going pretty well, but here came the coronavirus — who would have known?”
Chelsea is determined to make the best of the situation.
She’ll try to get a nanny job this summer to save up even more money for IST next year and for college. She plans to enroll in a certified nursing assistant program at Arapahoe Community College concurrent with her senior year in high school, so she can get a leg up on her plans to become a nurse. She will also her community service work.
Two years ago, Ari Levine, now a college freshman, came back from IST raving about the experience. His enthusiasm instilled the IST bug in his sisters Marina Levine and Caitlin Robbins, who were all set to leave on June 14. The girls, daughters of Leslie and Steven Levine, are juniors at Cherry Creek High School.
When the COVID-19 shut down started, the girls’ parents were “trying to remain hopeful, but we were also realistic,” Leslie Levine says. During conversations with the JEWISHcolorado IST staff, the Levines learned that a postponement of the trip, not cancellation, was on the table.
“We were excited about the option, but unsure about what the summer after their senior year would look like,” says Leslie.
They did not know for sure that the girls would be able or willing to go on IST next summer in lieu of other anticipated summer-before-college activities, such as internships, camping trips and free time.
Caitlin told the IJN that she’s “a little sad” about the development because “junior year is a perfect time for IST.”
She doesn’t know if all the kids signed up for this year’s cohort will be going next year, but because IST represents a “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she thinks she is going to make it happen by shifting her life to include the things she wants to do before going off to college. She has until the beginning of June, 2020, to opt in for next year, or opt out.
Rabbi Jay Strear, president and CEO of JEWISHcolorado, in a statement to the IJN, called IST “a defining expression of our community’s commitment to Jewish education and to Israel.”
He said, “Our dedication to the Zeff IST program is unwavering; at the same time our participants’ well-being is paramount.”
Over five decades, IST has become, as Josh Samet calls it, “a beloved rite of passage in our community.”
Like Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and weddings that have been postponed due to the coronavirus, IST will re-emerge, enabling the creation of lifelong memories and reinforcing values, even if it is a year later.
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News