Journeys

A Trip transports you. A Journey transforms you.

At JCHS, our four-year Journey program is designed to guide students through their development as individuals, while also fostering a sense of community as a grade. Each spring, students take part in one-week class trips (two weeks for 11th graders), traveling to various destinations in the US and Israel. The Journeys combine learning with multi-day experiential adventures designed to teach life lessons on the road.

9th Grade Journey to Camp Newman

Making Our Machaneh: Creating Our Camp

In 9th grade, students travel to Camp Newman for an experience focused on building a strong “camp community.” Students and teachers engage in group challenges, team-building games, and wilderness skills while learning about what goes into a Machaneh: inclusiveness, respect, communal responsibility, and a deep sense of purpose. Throughout the trip, students reflect on the unique identity of their grade and explore key questions such as: What makes our grade community special? What do I receive from being part of this community? And, how can I contribute back to it?

This adventure not only deepens the bond within the class but also encourages each individual to grow and thrive.

  • What does it mean to discover my “Emet” – my inner truth, and how might I handle obstacles that stand in the way of that discovery?
  • How can I work with my grade to build a community inspired by Gemilut Chasadim –acts of kindness and compassion, one that supports each individual – who they are, as they are? 
  • What is the power of Kavannah, setting a vision for what type of person, student, and community member we want to be?

10th Grade Journey to Zion

The Magic of the Canyons: Discovering Our Authentic Self in Nature 

In 10th grade, students journey to Zion National Park, one of the most tremendous and beautiful landscapes in the nation, to explore the transformative power of nature. Together, they experience the joy of walking the trails as a community while also embracing new challenges: working together as teams to overcome outdoor obstacles, learning to trust senses other than sight, appreciating the stillness and peace that comes with solitude, and embracing the power of “deep silence.”

JCHS works with Zion Mountaineering School (ZMS), a Utah-based outdoor outfitter as the group hikes, rock climbs, and canyoneers through the canyons surrounding Zion National Park. ZMS is a recipient of the Trip-Advisor certificate of excellence, and their guides have eleven years of experience in leading groups through canyon/rock excursions. Their managers are AMGA Certified Rock Guides. ZMS and JCHS Professional Community members guide students through activities designed to develop knowledge and skills, to open the senses, and to form new friendships and foster grade-wide bonding.

  • How can nature help us discover not only our authentic, individual selves and our B’tzelem Elohim (shared humanity), but also the connection and responsibilities we hold, L’dor V’dor — to our ancestors & descendants?
  • How can a journey and the concept of “positive risk” help our grade to build a Kehillah Kedosha (inspired/holy community) — connecting in new and deeper ways?
  • What role can a special place (“HaMakom HaZeh”) have in helping us grow, transform, and evolve – and what might that teach us as we begin to imagine ourselves in the next chapters of our lives: as students, as young Jewish adults, and as a community?

11th Grade Journey to Israel

Toward Connection and Peoplehood 

Whether they have visited before, or are seeing it for the first time, JCHS students are forever shaped by their encounter with the land of Israel on the 11th grade Journey. 

The most impactful and tangible portion of our Israel curriculum is our 11th Grade Journey—Toward Connection and Peoplehood which takes the 11th grade students to Israel. Here they come face-to-face with Israel’s rich, diverse, complex society, meeting the people who live there and exploring the physical landscape first-hand. They experience the challenges of building a modern state and developing an energetic, expressive, and modern culture informed by ancient themes, contemporary Hebrew, and the rhythms of Jewish life. 

By the end of the journey, students return with a deeper understanding of Israel’s rich, diverse, and complex society. They have expanded their knowledge of Israeli politics and wrestled with the complexities confronting modern Israel. And through the experience of the physical land and forging personal connections with Israeli peers, our students have developed a meaningful relationship to Israel and discovered first-hand the role it has played in shaping the identity of the Jewish people. 

The experience engages these young adults with Israel and its culture in a way that supports the deepening of their own Jewish identities. Using guided reflection, they emerge with a broader perspective about the role of Israel in American Jewish life and the skills necessary to advocate for Israel on their college campuses.

Identification with the State of Israel plays a central role in the mission of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, which strives to shape a strong Jewish identity in its students. We seek to forge connections between each student and Israel that are positive, lasting, and personal.

Through the four-year experience at JCHS, we want our graduates to understand the interconnection of the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, and to develop a sense of personal responsibility for the continuation and strengthening of Klal Israel (Jewish Peoplehood). We provide the means to create this understanding and ongoing relationship with Israel through the academic study of Israeli history, both ancient and modern, politics, current events and culture, Hebrew language and literature, as well as through experiential activities.

JCHS graduates have gone on to study at Hebrew University, intern at Jewish Voice for Peace, make aliyah, work with J Street on social issues, and serve in the IDF, forever shaped by their encounter with the land of Israel.

In many ways, Israel is the ideal proving ground for the pluralism and diversity of the Jewish people. This two-week journey of our junior class is an encounter with contemporary Israeli society exploring three different regions and themes: 

– In the North students explore youth and responsibility, the spirit of conservation and development, security and Jewish values and economic development.

– In Tel Aviv students experience the dichotomy of rich and poor, of creating a modern Hebrew culture and cosmopolitanism. They meet the Israeli “left” and consider issues of social justice.

– In Jerusalem students investigate diversity, the verge between religion and politics, secular and religious, borders and boundaries. They learn about the legacy of the Six-Day War and engage the Israeli “right.” 

12th Grade Journey to New Orleans

In their final year at JCHS, seniors are poised to travel to new places and integrate into different communities. The 12th grade class travels to New Orleans to consider what it takes to deeply encounter new communities. New Orleans is one of the most culturally rich cities in the country: the birthplace of jazz, a culinary capital, and host to many celebrations including the annual Mardi Gras Festival. It also faced an epic disaster that has changed the city forever, Hurricane Katrina.

What does it take for the culture and people of a city to survive? During their time in New Orleans, students meet with local community leaders, activists, and youth as well as experiencing live music, hands-on service projects, the historical French Quarter and the swamp-laced landscape of this incredible city. Students explore how a city can change in a way that is sustainable and inclusive. All the while, they will reflect on what it means to have an authentic connection to a new place, as a traveler rather than as a tourist.

  • When learning about the history of a place, where should the story begin? How does the past shape the present? And how does the present affect how we read the past?
  • For diaspora communities, how might transmitting and preserving cultural practices (mesorah) be a source of meaning-making and resilience?