STEM Israel Trip 2016: Days 5 & 6

We woke up on Friday morning thrilled to be in Yerushalayim! After Shacharit & breakfast, we had the last of our series of entrepreneurial workshops, a very interesting and informative session on Industrial Design with Amir Kadouri. We learned about form vs function, how to make the form of your product match the function, and how to choose the right colors, materials and designs that will be the most appealing to your customers. We had design challenges- making a package to show and carry an egg, without breaking it, and other interesting projects.

After this it was on to the Machane Yehudah Shuk for lunch and a little shopping. Finally we went back to the hotel to prepare for an early ride to the Kotel for Kabbalat Shabbat. It was truly moving to see the soldiers dance and sing in the start of the Shabbat. We were praying with extra kavana as we thought about our brothers and sisters who had to flee the raging fires that were set all over the country. We prayed for the much needed rain and for Hashem to bring peace to the land of Israel.

We ate our festive and delicious Friday night dinner at Aish Hatorah, and heard Divrei Torah from our guide, Koby, and from Mrs. Bacon. After our brisk walk back to our hotel, we had optional team building and math games before turning in for the night. 

By unanimous choice, we chose to walk back to the Kotel for Shacharit. It was an incredible experience as Koby explained the history of Yerushalayim. It truly made us feel connected to our history and ties to Eretz Yisrael in a way that is almost impossible to experience in a classroom setting.

We had Shabbat lunch and an optional afternoon activity; most of us chose to rest - but some went to the park to continue to enjoy the Yerushalayim experience. After Seudat Shlishit, Maariv and Havdalah, we went back to our rooms to pack for our early morning departure from the hotel. Our closing dinner, which was held at Piccolino restaurant, included a conversation with Bob Rosenschein, the founder of answers.com, and a chance for each of us to say what they found most enjoyable and what they learned. The evening ended with an outing to Ben Yehudah Street for a little more shopping before finally going to bed for the night.

We're now all home, after a long day of traveling, but the what we learned and experience this week will stay with us forever.

STEM Israel Trip 2016: Day 4

After tefillah and breakfast on the 4th day of the STEM Israel Trip we started with a visit to an Israeli public school in South Tel Aviv where we met Israeli students our age. The program was organized by Am Yisrael Echad and led by madrichim Rachel (who grew up in Flatbush before moving o Israel) and Bina.

While initially everyone was reluctant to interact with their foreign counterparts, an intense speed dating style icebreaker helped warm everyone up to each other. After the ice breaker we continued on to a room with snacks for a break, which turned into an impromptu interschool mannequin challenge. After that we moved on to a play a treasure hunt game in small mixed groups. When the program was over we continued to informally talk and get to know each other while exchanging ideas and practicing foreign languages. It turned out to be an excellent cultural and personal experience with our Israeli brethren.

After that we went to the Azrielli Mall in Tel Aviv for a "working" lunch to fine tune our startup pitch to the Zell students. We had a contest in which we pitched our startup ideas that we had been planning for the past week to the Zell entrepreneurial students at IDC University . We had a "Shark Tank" set up and pitched our startup to the mock investors to invest in our company. There were many fantastic ideas, like the gyro toothbrush, the hydrological energy system, and many more. After each company had presented their ideas to the panel, the panel voted on the winner of best pitch and product. It was a great experience!

We then enjoyed a full Thanksgiving dinner with Eytan Buchman, Director of Marketing at Freightos, to discuss co-existence and how it affects the Israeli Startup Nation. Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari also joined us for the festive meal.  ~Jack Zeitouny and Jack Dweck, Class of 2019

STEM Israel Trip 2016: Day 3

The 3rd day of the STEM Israel Trip started with our long-awaited trip to the Technion in Haifa. It was thrilling to be in the university that started all of the technology research and industry in Israel and which is now one of the greatest science institutes in the world.

We took part in a robotics building workshop and produced robots that moved like snakes. It was a pretty thrilling challenge to see which team built the "snake" that was the fastest. We always love competing against each other- and of course it's always in good fun.

After lunch we went for a VIP tour of the underground emergency hospital at Rambam Hospital. They showed us videos of projects that they were working on, like how to restart a heart by using light pulses instead of a pacemaker. They also showed us videos of projects they already completed, for example there is new technology to help stop the tremors in someone with Parkinson's. Insightec has developed an MRI helmet that sends 100 very focused ultrasound waves into the brain. It eliminates surgery and the harm it can do the brain. Then they took us underground to a parking lot that can change into a underground hospital in case of war. Underground, there was a closed off room that was for patients that need to be isolated, like if they had Ebola. After showing us the isolation room they showed us a portable tent that they can be taken to crisis sites to assist patients. The last thing they showed us was the surgical unit they use underground in case of a terrorist or other urgent situation. From this tour we realized that Israel is prepared to medically help its people in any situation that might occur.  ~Esther Hidary, Class of 2019

We then went in to the educational science playground at Madatech and had a great time experimenting with the different machines - especially the giant lever. There was lots of fun action! After the visiting the educational playground at Madatech, we went to a workshop in their STEM research labs with a member of Technion, where we learned how to use the software PicoBlock. We worked in pairs, and each pair was supplied with a robot and computer. We learned how to use the block features on PicoBlock to make the robot travel, stop, and reverse its direction. We also learned how to use "if/then statements," which are conditional statements that search for an input in order to give an output. 

Lastly, we learned how to program an LCD screen, or display screen. Using the block features, we generated numbers to appear on the screen to depicted the number of times the robot touched metal. At the end of the lesson, we saw Madatech's robot that acted on voice command. For example, it obeyed when told to stand, sit, and dance. The robot performed an entertaining dance of the Macarena for us, until it was put back to sleep. After a long and packed day, we finally headed back to the hotel to prepare our start-up pitches in preparation for tomorrow's visit to IDC! ~Lauren Zami, Class of 2019

STEM Israel Trip 2016: Day 2

On the 2nd Day our STEM Israel Trip we met with Assaf Luxemburg for a session on “pitching your idea” at his Crowdmii office in Tel Aviv, followed by a tour of Crowdmii and MyMDBand offices. We then visited the Freetime Academy in Herzliya to see the world of Makaree for a step by step guide to the world of app design. Later in the day we met with Hillel Fuld, entrepreneur, and expert on the Startup Nation phenomenon.

Assaf Luxembourg, the CEO of Crowdmii, hadn't found his true calling until he was in his 20's. When he was younger he wanted to be a DJ - and he worked at it. At a certain point he said to himself "Do I really want to do this? Am I really going to be successful at this when I'm 40?" The answer (to himself) was no. So he thought about what his passion was and realized he loved Israel so much, that he had to have a job to represent her. He knew that what he described was being an ambassador to represent and honor his country- and get paid to do it. He went to Hebrew University and worked with big corporations to try to become qualified to be an Israeli ambassador. While in training with many diplomats around the world, they asked him to speak and teach them about Israel. After seeing that he loved speaking about Israel he realized that what he really was best at was being a consultant, talking about Israel and helping people to start up their own businesses- with the focus on businesses that are particularly helpful to many people. One example of this is MyMD band, a potentially life saving device that contains all of a person's medical information on a QR readable wristband. The product is funded to help Holocaust survivors live a healthier life.

Assaf explained to us what makes a successful pitch in order to successfully get funding for your project. When making a pitch you must follow a seven step pitch outline: Intro, team, opportunity, solution, competition, business model, and the ask. Most importantly is to convince investors that you're passionate about your startup. Then you must bring them the hard facts. Many questions were raised about the factual evidence needed. Assaf always led back to the idea that you must show devotion to an idea in order to catch an investors eye. You're really "selling yourself" and the investors need to believe that you're going to be successful.  ~Joseph Ezon and Jacob Shamah, Class of 2019

After having lunch on the beach in Herziliya, we went to Makeree at Freetime Academy. There, we had a fantastic time using their apps as a guide to build a variety of toys made from straws and a hand-made speaker. Going to Freetime academy, I had thought that we were about to learn the steps of how to build our own app. What we really came to learn, was that the company's workshop that we were about to attend was a hands on experience, which taught us how to build things using simple instructions and innovation. Makaree is a business that focuses on teaching people how to build things with their hands using simple steps and processes. They collaborate with other businesses in order to create apps in order to teach people how to create a certain device. 

We used the app that Makeree had developed for Strawbees, a toy company that allows its users to make creations out of drinking straws. Using the app, we created catapults to launch projectiles in the air. The projectiles we used were pretzels, and we began to shoot the pretzels across the room using the catapults. We decided to create a competition to judge the accuracy and strength of our different catapult designs. While Teddy Gindi did in fact beat me at this challenge, we both learned a valuable lesson today. When we walked in, and we saw the straws, we asked ourselves, “Why are we using drinking straws to build these catapults? Why not wood?” Well, there was a definitive reason as to why the building materials were straws. It was because we needed to learn the skills of improvisation, of using your brain, in order to best utilize the supplies that are given. In life, and certainly in business, we will be given challenges, and we may think that we can not overcome those challenges, but we must use the skills of improvisation in order to combat these challenges.  ~Jack H. Dweck, Class of 2019

Later in the evening we heard from Hillel Fuld, one of the top 100 innovators in Israel, speak to us about Israel being a "Start-Up Nation." He told us how almost every big tech company in the world has development centers in Israel, and that people agree that of all places in the world, the tiny country of Israel is on par with Silicon Valley. Israel keeps coming forth with new, innovative technology. For this reason, many companies are eager and willing to fund Israeli start-ups. And now, Tel Aviv and Haifa are not the only high tech cities in Israel -Jerusalem is now also a major development city. Despite its outward image of pretty much being the "Old City," Jerusalem is producing a large amount of successful new tech. Israelis are particularly successful in the field, according to Hillel, because they are naturally determined, hard-workers. He opened our eyes and really made us proud to learn just how relevant Israel is in our modern world -it's really just about the top country in the industry - a great place to live and to work.  ~Joseph Braha, Class of 2019

STEM Israel Trip 2016: Day 1

 Wow! We've just completed the first day of our trip and what a day it has been! After arriving at Ben Gurion airport, we collected our bags, prayed, and met with our tour guide, Kobi, and security guard, Peleg. We then boarded our tour bus to head to the warm boardwalk of Tel Aviv. There we found a barbecue spread prepared by our friends at The Jewish Journey. Having replenished our energy, we then headed to the Grand Beach Hotel where we unpacked and debriefed, and got a much needed night's sleep before our first day of activities.

This morning we were out of bed by 6am and after Shaharit and a great breakfast at the hotel, we were off to the first Entrepreneurial workshop of the trip. We met with 2 facilitators from Presentense to brainstorm ideas for social startups. They gave our students a task of coming up with an idea that will improve students' lives. Some ideas we came up with were to use social apps to help students get to school on time, eat healthy lunches and improve curriculum for seniors. One group even had an idea to invent a new type of nasal decongestant! Our groups thought of their target audience, their goals, the purpose of their startups, and catchy names. We then presented our plans to each other to begin the process of becoming comfortable with pitching ideas. We will fine-tune that skill tomorrow when we meet with Assaf Luxemberg of Crowdmii.

After, we went to the "Invitation to Silence" program at the Holon Children's Museum. In this amazing exhibit we learned how many ways we can communicate with each other besides speaking. We used hand gestures, facial expressions, body language and learned some basic sign language. There was even a new appreciation of the concept that a deaf person doesn't relate to their names the way hearing people do - and in fact we made up new names and signs for ourselves that represented who we really are. Our guide, who is deaf, shared that she often feels left out in social situations, even when she's with her family. We came away with a new awareness of and sensitivity to people who are hearing impaired.

Next we visited Israel's premier water purification plant, Shafdan. There we learned about how Israel, a desert country, is able to maintain its water supply. One major way they do this is by purifying the sewage waters coming out of Israeli homes and industries. Shafdan has built a 120 km network of pipes to transport the waste water to their facility. There, they filter out the rocks, sand, and microorganisms to a point where the water is safe for agricultural use. The water produced here and at the 89 other sewage treatment plants supply 70% of the water used to irrigate the Negev. This water translates to about 10% of Israel's total water consumption. No other country recycles anywhere near the 86% of its water that Israel does - the next closest country is Singapore with 35%! We have learned about this process in our Global History classes, and it really was great seeing how it all actually happens.

After visiting the Shafdan sewage treatment plant, we drove to Ramat Dan to visit the educational tech company, Compedia, a privately owned tech company which is motivated to help innovate classroom education. They have many upcoming projects which they hope can change the way we teach our children. Their most recent project has children jumping for joy to learn the Bible. The company has created an application, which when paired with their "Tamar" textbook, brings augmented reality to the classroom. This application scans the textbook page and converts dull text into a live and interactive movie for the children to watch and manipulate. They hope that as more and more schools adopt the software, more students will begin showing interest in the ancient biblical text which many secular Israeli children find irrelevant to their lives.

Compedia doesn't only help in classroom education, they are also helping the military train for future scenarios. They have been using Augmented and Virtual Reality technology to imitate battleground conditions from the safety of a control room. This type of virtual training allows soldiers to have seemingly first hand experience of fighting in Gaza without risking their lives. Compedia is also working closely with the new Biblical Museum that will be built in Washington D.C. to develop a personalized GPS system for visitors which is geared to their particular interests. Compedia is apparently involved in a multitude of technical ventures in Israel and abroad. They seem like a small company, but in truth their impact goes farther than any of our group expected. All we saw was a small office and some workers, but after our time with them we truly understood that this seemingly small company is revolutionizing secular education, biblical education and even the military. We can all learn from what Compedia has accomplished because this small company has the power to change much more than we think. When Ezra Faks asked Shai Newman, the PR person who met with us, how we can be successful he said, "Keep an open mind, be a believer, don't think it can't happen, don't be afraid of failure and believe that you can be someone who can change the world."

We ended this incredibly jam-packed day by going to an exciting and very loud soccer game in Yerushalayim - between the two biggest rivals in Israel. We even joined in the cheering for Beitar Jerusalem! But the game ended in a 1-1 tie, and now we're back at hotel in Tel Aviv getting ready for bed and resting up for another great day tomorrow! ~Moses Bakst and Yair Chaya, Class of 2018

YOF Israel STEM Trip 2014/5774 - Day 7

This is the final day of our STEM trip to Israel.  Waking up was a little difficult and our first stop was to the Tel Aviv University to visit their Gevahim center. This program helps Olim Chadashim with all aspects of making a Start Up in Israel. The job market is very difficult, with the average Israeli taking over 8 months to find a job. Asaf Luxembourg, an extraordinary motivator and marketer,  stepped up and with his high intensity and winning personality woke everyone up with his formula for the successful pitch.

Each group worked on their Start Up idea which they brainstormed at Presentense, building websites for at Wix and now, with Asaf's guidance, worked on their 'pitch.' Each group then presented, and Asaf's great advice helped each group perfect their presentation.

After lunch on the campus, we traveled to IDC, a beautiful college in Herziliya, which features the Zell Entrepreneurial Program. This is a year- long project based program for students to produce and launch their own Start Ups. We were treated to two student teams who pitched their Start Ups to us who then listened to our own presentations. The energy in the room was palpable and everyone came away with new ideas and goals for the future. 

We went to Mazeh 9, another social start-up where we gave advice to help a non-profit Jewish Heritage group with their project. 

We were regretfully at the end of our trip - and went to the beautiful Papagaio restaurant for our final dinner. We each expressed how we were changed by this experience. We know that we each can make a difference in the world, that we have abilities, drive and, now, a new network of mentors to guide us on our path. 

Shalom U'Lahitraot!

YOF Israel STEM Trip 2014/5774 - Day 6

Tuesday morning started with a trip to Yokneam to visit Given Imaging, the company that developed the Pill Cam. This bio-tech company revolutionized the methods of diagnosing problems in the Gastro-intestinal tract by producing a pill that contains a tiny camera designed to take  pictures from inside the body as the pill passes through the GI tract. A researcher and developer described to us the unique capacities and technologies on a variety of their Pill Cams inventions.  As students began to understand how the pill cam works, they thought about ways it could be improved, offering various suggestions for the future. All of these ideas are in development!

We then traveled to the Carmel where three jeeps were waiting to take us on a tour of the mountains. The site was in the same place of the terrible fire of a number of years ago. It was truly miraculous to note that from beneath the devastation and burnt forest many new flowers, shrubs and tree new growth was starting. (The information that was shared over the walkie talkies was an inspiration to all! )

We prayed tefillat Mincha on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The silence during shmona esrei was awesome.

We continued our STEM education with a visit to Avi Buzaglou, founder of Geomine, a system to observe land mines from the air. This new technology allows countries to develop more land and to fence off dangerous areas. 

We went back to the hotel for dinner and then indoor rock climbing before getting ready for our last day of this super trip. 

YOF Israel STEM Trip 2014/5774 - Day 5

Wow. Sunday was an incredible but really long day, but there was very little rest before waking up early to pray Shacharit at 6:45 am. We didn't want to miss one minute of our visit to Google headquarters in Tel Aviv!

The first thing we did was to hear all about a new elevated transportation system called "Skytran" from its CEO, Jerry Sanders, (with our group pictured above). To picture this system think about a cross between Star Trek and The Jetsons. Tel Aviv will be the first city to use this new wave rapid transit and we can't wait to see it in action! We then had a tour of the beautiful Google offices. Each floor has a different theme, related to the different cities and geography of Israel. 

After lunch at the Carmel Market we visited Wix, one of the most recent of Israel startups to go public (2 months after its IPO it's worth over 1 Billion dollars!). We learned how to make a website for the StartUp ideas that we brainstormed and worked on at Presentense. 

After dinner back at the hotel we all visited the Blind Museum. It was a truly sobering experience to try to navigate in total darkness - we came away with a greater empathy for the blind, and truly grateful for the gift of sight.

YOF Israel STEM Trip 2014/5774 - Day 4

Sunday felt like the real start of the mission of the STEM trip. It was all about learning about starting up a business and how to follow through. We began with a visit to JVP and heard from Hanan Brand about how they go about deciding which startups to finance. To him it was about passion and the desire to innovate for the betterment of mankind.

Our next stop was a visit to Presentense for an interactive seminar on the development of social entrepreneurship. The students split into groups of 5 and had an intense brainstorming session with the help of our leader. We then went up to the front, explained the innovation and clustered ideas as we went on. Students came up with ideas for smart homes, smart sports uniforms, new ways to interact with fantasy sports, sensors that prevent 'friendly fire' and more!

Our next stop was lunch on Ben Yehuda and the 'Nu Campaign' - a T-Shirt store which is really a Chessed Social Start Up. The founder of the company is devoted to help others in need and to help end violence in the world. His T-shirts carry these messages of social justice. We were touched by his passion and drive. After this we headed back to Presentense to meet with Saul Singer, author of Start Up Nation.  It was great to hear about Israel's place in the world as a leader in innovative businesses and technology.

After this it was back to the hotel for a panel discussion with Josh Hasten, journalist for the Jerusalem Post, and Fadi Rabia, a Palestinian who wants to help open a dialogue for peace. It was fascinating to hear from both sides and it helped give us ways to understand the true story and advocate for Israel.

After a brief rest - we went out to eat at the fabulous Jerusalem restaurant Ana Ticho.

 And THEN went bowling! 

Finally- Arvit at the Kotel and back to the hotel.