Achva has been running summer travel programs for Modern Orthodox teenagers for 35 years. Thousands of teenagers have participated and come back with rave reviews for Young Israel’s Achva East program. While not as well-known as its bigger siblings, Achva West or Achva Israel, Achva East offers girls and boys finishing eighth grade a fabulous summer adventure that creates great memories that last a lifetime. Typical comments from East participants usually include something about how lucky they were to have heard about it in the first place.
Achva East is a three-week co-ed trip around the eastern half of the United States. The tour begins and ends in the New York/New Jersey area and includes touring through Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and more. Highlights include amusement parks like Cedar Point (near Cleveland) and Carowinds (near Charlotte); great attractions like the Willis Tower Skydeck (Chicago) and the Gateway Arch (St. Louis), and great activities like paddle surfing in Virginia Beach, and Zorbing in Pennsylvania.
Like all Achva tours, the experienced staff provides excellent supervision and attends to the needs of each participant. The tour is strictly kosher and Shomer Shabbat with davening three times a day for the boys and girls. Another nice aspect to Achva East is the warm Shabbatot spent together with some wonderful Jewish communities, which this year feature Chicago (Skokie), IL and Memphis, TN. This gives the participants an opportunity to meet the members of the community and have a beautiful Shabbat together. The last Shabbat takes place at a hotel in Williamsburg, VA.
Achva East runs in the latter part of the summer coinciding with most camps’ second session. That means some kids can go to their usual camp during the first session and try something new for second session. Of course, other kids may work in a day camp or go on vacation with their parents for the first half of the summer before coming on Achva East. Whatever the case, those kids who do attend Achva East seem to love it. Nikki Friedman of Englewood, NJ, who now attends the Frisch School, went on East in 2104. “Everyone grew so close and the trip was amazing” was one of Nikki’s comments, “I just loved it.”
One of the special things about Achva, including East, is that participants spend time in the real world meeting real people. According to Roger Braverman, Achva Director, “Achva is a special opportunity to see and experience the wonders of the world from the safety and comfort of a Jewish perspective and together with other great Jewish kids.” Also, the groups stay in nice hotels rather than camp bunks, which means if you need a towel you just call down to the front desk. The tour has its own traveling catering staff but also takes advantage of the many kosher restaurants located in the cities to which they travel. This means participants get to try a variety of great-tasting food.
So, whether you went on Achva or never heard about it before, you may want to look into Achva East and find out more about it. And if you know any post-8th graders from a Modern Orthodox background who are looking to travel and make new friends, tell them to check it out. The best place to start is the Achva web site which has full itineraries, prices and dates for programs, along with a lot of information regarding everything to do with tours, down to allowable suitcase size (pretty big) and policies on cell phone use (they allow them except for during davening and when disruptive to the program). Registration is ongoing using a simple form also found on the web site: www.youngisrael.org/achva
If you would like to hear more about Achva, call 212 929-1525 x181.
