VolunTour Israel – "Israel Programs With A Heart"

Jewish people and Jewish communities worldwide have been searching for a meaningful way to bring a smile to the many faces in Israeli society.

For 2008, VolunTour Israel has developed an effective and inspiring framework in which Jewish High School students can give the best of themselves to people in need. The programs are well-suited to young Jewish people who are instilled with the desire to fill their vacation period with chesed, growth and giving.

VolunTour Israel was established by Michael Lawrence and Lior Salomon, who between them have over 25 years of experience in informal Jewish education in Israel and in Jewish communities across the globe. They both have extensive Jewish project management experience and have led teams of educators in all spheres of Jewish and Zionist education.

Congregations and schools across the Jewish world are invited to contact VolunTour Israel about building an Israel program tailor-made for their participants.

DIRECTORS:

Michael Lawrence is a qualified lawyer in Israel and New Zealand and is an independent lecturer on Israeli Current Affairs & Israel Advocacy. He was a respected leader in the New Zealand community before making Aliyah in 2000. For four years, he led many educational teams to Jewish communities worldwide for the Jewish Agency. For the past two years Michael was the Director of the Camp Koby Summer Program at The Koby Mandell Foundation. He is married to Lisa, has 2 children and lives in Neve Daniel.		Lior Salomon was involved in many Jewish organizations such as Bnei Akiva, AUJS, and the JNF in Australia. After making Aliyah in 2000 he worked in Israel’s hi-tech industry before moving to the Jewish Agency’s Education Department. He has represented Israel in educational and marketing roles across the Jewish world. Lior has a BA in Information Technology and Business Management. He is married to Tzila and lives in Neve Daniel.

THE ISRAEL EXPERIENCE:

The Israel Experience Educational Tourism Services Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). They have agreed to provide their professional services for the VolunTour Israel programs. Their vast experience in this field is the result of more than 30 years work with hundreds of groups and thousands of participants, who have walked in the footsteps of our forefathers and traced their historical roots in Eretz Israel.

The company specializes in providing organized trips to Israel for teens, university students and adults from all over the globe. The mandate of the company is to facilitate and implement Jewish-Zionist experiential and educational visits to Israel in order to strengthen Jewish identity among Jews – especially youth - living in communities outside of Israel.

SECURITY & SAFETY
The safety, security, and well being of our participants remain our primary concern. We at Israel Experience Ltd. firmly believe that we can provide a meaningful experience that will strengthen the Jewish identity among the participants, while maintaining the highest level of security and safety.

All of our activities are carried out in compliance with the strictest possible safety requirements, in accordance with the standards set by the Ministry of Education and the Security Department of the Jewish Agency. These bodies coordinate their activities directly with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israeli Police and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.