The typical mental image associated with a sleep-away summer program is a cabin by a lake, but some sleep-aways, like Achva, go way beyond that. Three years of Achva programming will allow teens to visit a majority of the 50 states. “We’re hoping to give Jewish teens the experience and the summer of a lifetime,” Ari Matityahu, a program leader, said.
Achva offers different programs according to age group: an East Coast tour for teens who have just finished eighth grade, an out-West tour for those finishing ninth, and a tour of Alaska, Seattle, and Hawaii for teens who have just finished tenth grade.
The final trip is a relatively new one; it was started just two years ago. Teens of that age used to tour Israel, but given the plethora of Israel trips, Achva felt the need to change things. Participants now spend 10 days in Alaska, one week in Seattle, and three weeks in Hawaii. Matityahu noted three highlights to the Alaska portion of the trip: visiting Denali, the largest national park in America; training sled dogs—teens mixed with puppies is, according to Matityahu, “the best combination”; and interacting with the Jewish community in Alaska.
The program involves two Shabbosim in Alaska. Participants baked challah for some of the Jewish residents in Anchorage and hosted a Shabbat dinner for the community at the local Chabad. Shabbos in Alaska at that time of year lasts from 10:40 p.m. on Friday to 3 a.m. Sunday.
“The sun doesn’t set there, it just gets dimmer,” Matityahu said. “There are just a handful of places on the planet where you can experience Shabbos for that length of time.”
Benji Dukas, a 17-year-old student at Frisch, has done three years in Achva and agreed that seeing Jewish life in both Alaska and Hawaii was a trip highlight. “We saw these tiny communities that were so small, but so strong,” Dukas said. “It was great to see that there was Torah and Judaism flourishing in these remote parts of the world.”
Other Alaskan highlights include: a visit to an ice castle, glaciers, a six-hour whale watching cruise in the Arctic Sea, and local wildlife. “They loved every inch of that program,” Matityahu said.
After a week’s stop in Seattle that includes Pike’s Place, a private tour of the Boeing factory, and the first Starbucks, participants spent a final three weeks in Hawaii with Achva director Roger Braverman. Hawaii has a wide range of ecological areas for exploration, including rainforests, beaches, deserts, and volcanoes. Dukas noted a beach with green sand as a highlight.
Program participants come from across America, Canada, and Israel. In addition to sightseeing, they partake in various chesed projects. “At the end of the day, our kids leave the program with a tremendous understanding of the bigger picture as regards the wider Jewish community,” Braverman said.
While doing all of this, participants stay in hotels—many three stars—and have nutritious kosher food prepared by an Achva catering staff who travel with each tour. They also visit kosher restaurants in all major U.S. cities.
For more information, visit http://achva.youngisrael.org/.
By Aliza Chasan
