Israel trips with Habonim Dror North America

Every year, two groups of Gilboa campers have the opportunity to travel to Israel and participate in meaningful, hands-on programming through our movement, Habonim Dror North America (HDNA).  Rising 11th graders spend the summer on MBI, or Machaneh Bonim Israel, and graduating seniors have the option to participate in Workshop, a gap year program in Israel, before starting college.  Learn more about both opportunities at hdnaisrael.org. Gilboa subsidizes the cost of both these programs for our campers through our Israel program scholarship fund, generously created by Evelyn Steward Z”L, and campers are also eligible for RootOne vouchers to help keep the trip affordable.

Workshop

HDNA’s Workshop is the longest running North American gap year program in Israel. Fall 2025 will mark the 75th consecutive year of running the program! This 8-month program offers participants a fulfilling and engaging encounter with Israeli Society and their Jewish identity. During the first part of the program, participants take part in immersive group-centered learning on Jewish history, Zionism, and Hebrew, and contribute to Israeli society through agriculture. In the second portion of the program, participants work at a Habonim Dror summer camp in South Africa and connect with the world movement. For the last part of the program, participants move to Haifa - a vibrant multicultural city - where they build social justice through coexistence education and work with Israeli youth in schools and after-school youth clubs in connection with Habonim Dror North America’s sister movement, HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed. 

This year, in addition to the week long Conflict Seminar that has already become a staple in the program, the Workshoppers participated in an extended conflict course which included weekly peulot (educational activities) and special guest speakers, with an emphasis on individuals and organizations engaging in work toward coexistence and a peaceful future. The Workshoppers expressed that this was one of their favorite parts of their experience and that it gave them a chance to deepen their understanding of both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives surrounding the historical conflict and current war as well as engage with the many complexities and tensions facing Israeli society today.

Workshop is an unparalleled opportunity to understand, explore and experience both Israel and Socialist-Zionism. Participants leave the program with a deeper understanding of Israel’s complexities, Hebrew skills, personal relationships with Israel and Israeli youth, and a desire to educate other young people about Israel and Progressive Labor Zionism upon their return to North America.  Workshop alumni have consistently taken leadership in innovative Israel engagement projects at their summer camps and college campuses.

Click here to hear from Benji Dutta, Gilboa tzevet member who is on Workshop right now, about what he’s learned and what he plans to bring back to camp this summer!

Benji working at a Habonim Dror camp in South Africa while on Workshop

MBI (Machaneh Bonim Israel)

This summer, we are excited to be sending 8 Gilboa campers on MBI, where they will see Israel with their own two eyes and participate in programming that works towards a vision of Israeli society based on peace and coexistence.  MBI participants will engage with Israeli society in all of its beauty and complexity, hear from a wide range of voices, perspectives, and topics, and develop their own unique relationship with Israel.

HDNA partners with the Union for Reform Judaism’s YALLAH! Israel (formerly NFTY in Israel) to offer the MBI program. Participants will spend 4 weeks immersing themselves in iconic Israel adventures like climbing Masada, floating in the Dead Sea, wandering through Shuk Machane Yehuda, visiting old synagogues where mysticism and kabbalah were born, visiting the Kotel, riding camels through the Negev Desert, learning about Bedouin history and culture, delving into contemporary social and economic issues facing south Tel Aviv, hearing from a range of voices and perspectives on the current conflict, and more! They will meet diverse people from across Israeli society, for example past trips have included meeting with Druze representatives from our sister youth movement Hanoar HaOved veHaLomed (NOAL), and participating in facilitated dialogue with Israeli Arab teens from NOAL.

Gilboa campers participating in MBI also get to meet and spend extensive time with their national shichva: campers their age from the other five North American HDNA camps. Developing this idea of a national shichva is a powerful aspect of the program, as campers create a strong group identity and return home with new friends and meaningful memories that last a lifetime.

Click here to watch Gilboa camper Flora Woo share a story about her MBI experience at Gilboa’s “Stories in the Sukkah” event in 2023.  (Flora’s story starts at around  27:40 in the full recording of the evening’s program.)

Flora and her sister Talia at Camp Gilboa