April 22, 2010 / 8 Iyar 5770

Fifty-five students from the San Diego Jewish Academy visited the San Diego Ibim Student Village near Sha'ar HaNegev and the city of Sderot over Israel's Memorial Day, April 19, 2010.

Since 1991, the Jewish Agency's San Diego Ibim Student Village has provided both a home as well as the tools for absorption into Israeli society for thousands of young, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, North and South America, Ethiopia and Europe.  In 1998, the United Jewish Federation (UJF) of San Diego County adopted the village and has been a devoted supporter ever since.

This past Monday, Soni Zinger, the village director, welcomed the students to the village, and Jan Tuttleman, the upcoming Chair of the Board for the UJF of San Diego County addressed the group, stressing the mutual bonds between Ibim and the Jewish community of San Diego and urging the youth to begin connecting with the project that has received so much support and dedication from their parents.

During the visit, the students learned more about Memorial Day, Israel's wars and those who have fallen for the country. They also had a chance to hear from several representatives of the community currently living in Ibim: Lone soldiers, Israeli residents and students studying Hebrew at the village ulpan. In addition, the students graffitied their names in the village's bomb shelter as a permanent mark of their visit. The visit ended with a touching memorial service for Marla Bennett, the 24-year-old San Diego native killed in 2002 in a terrorist attack at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.