Since Hamas’s deadly onslaught of Oct. 7, many college students have been looking to reconnect with their Jewish heritage and feel safe in their religious identity amid growing antisemitism on campuses across North America. This quest has driven many Jewish students to come to Israel this summer for internships in a wide array of different fields.
“Since the war in Israel began, I’ve felt a big divide on campus and a rise in antisemitism. I think that’s what pulled me to come to Israel,” said Michal Feigis, a pre-med student in Ontario, Canada, who is interning at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem through Olami’s Birthright Israel-Onward jInternship summer program. “I wanted to learn more about my Jewish identity and culture. This program provides me with those learning opportunities all while interning at a world-renowned hospital like Hadassah.”
jInternship was established in 2011 to provide Jewish college students and young professionals with the opportunity to spend time in Israel, developing themselves professionally and personally through engaging internship programs while connecting to their Jewish identity. With more than 1,600 different companies partnering with jInternship around the country, students can be placed in industries including medicine, finance, engineering, business, tech and politics.
In addition to Feigis at Hadassah, this year’s cohort of 62 students includes young professionals interning at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Moville Mortgage and Finance, Finn Partners, Rosenberg Law Office, and the high-tech company Sixdof Space.
Students say they are learning valuable professional skills.
“Every morning I take the vitals of all the patients on the plastic surgery floor and liaise with the pharmacy department as well as other members of the healthcare team. It’s really engaging and interesting work for me because every day is different,” said Rachel Rosin of Cherry Hill, N.J., a health-sciences student at The College of New Jersey, who is currently shadowing nurses in Hadassah’s plastic surgery department. “I’m really getting a feel for what it’s like to work in a real hospital and make connections with others studying in the healthcare sector.”
In addition, her jInternship program blends traditional internship opportunities with practical life-skills training and Judaic learning. Outside of working hours, Rosin and her fellow interns have the opportunity to learn with world-class Jewish educators on topics such as Jewish history, philosophy, the conflicts of today and more.
Others interning at Hadassah also say they are learning valuable lessons about Israeli society. The sprawling medical campus, on a small hill outside Jerusalem in the idyllic Ein Kerem neighborhood, services more than 1 million people each year from Israel and around the world and is designed as a teaching hospital.
Daniel Leybengrub, a nursing student at the University of Buffalo is interning at Hadassah Hospital’s cardiovascular intensive-care unit and was amazed at the diversity of the staff and even the patients.
“I saw staff treating a terrorist and was surprised,” he said. “But I learned that all politics and personal problems and biases must go to the side when it comes to healthcare and providing life-saving care to people, that’s what Israel is. Just talking to people at the hospital has been a bigger learning experience than I could’ve ever imagined.”
Feigis also says she values multiculturalism at the hospital. At the same time, she and others say they are deepening their Jewish identity while embracing the need for mutual respect, all while starting their days bright and early shadowing doctors and nurses.
“I’m happy to be here, surrounded by my people; growing in my professional and personal life,” Feigis says. “It feels like home.”
