Gift of Israel

GOI is a cooperative savings program in which families and Federation share the cost of an educational trip to Israel during the participating student's high school or college years. This educational opportunity is available to all Jewish young people in our community. Families may enroll their children in the program at any time from 1st through 10th grade and receive matching funding of up to $200 for each year that the child is enrolled in the program. These matching funds are available for travel to Israel until the enrollee turns 26 years of age.
The goals of the GOI program continue to be:

* To enroll every Jewish young person in our community, making an educational trip to Israel available and affordable
to all of our children.
* To educate as many people as possible about GOI through articles, phone calls, mailings, visits to the Religious School, and a presentation to each Bar and Bat Mitzvah.
* To facilitate the choice of an educational trip to Israel for the youth enrolled in our GOI program.
* To keep in touch with young people who are planning trips and to expedite transfer of funds to their chosen programs.
* To arrange for the opportunity for our students returning from Israel to report to the community about their experiences, through our CUJF Bulletin or another community forum.
Our community's GOI program is now facilitated by Signature Bank, a subsidiary of the Israeli bank, Bank Hapoelim.

There are a large number of educational programs that meet the criteria for GOI support. Visit www.youngjudea.org, nftyisrael.org, or www.usy.org for some examples of shorter trips, and www.masaisrael.org for year-long educational experiences. Your child can also consult one of our local GOI alumni to find out more about the program.

For further information, contact CUJF (367-9872, cujf@shalomcu.org). If your child is already enrolled, please help us to promote and educate others about GOI whenever possible. Jessica Kopolow (jessicakopolow@yahoo.com) and Kathryn Weisbaum (ksweisbaum@gmail.com), Co-Chairs

Listen to what local young adults had to say about their experiences in the Gift Of Israel program and traveling to Israel. Watch the video below.

Our Annual Report & Allocations Guide for 2010-11 is now avaliable on line. A full print hard copy version is available upon request from the CUJF office at 217-367-9872

503 East John Street
Champaign, IL  61820
(217)  367-9872
cujf@shalomcu.org

We are located on the 2nd floor of the Cohen Center for Jewish Life/Hillel on the U of I campus

Contact Form

Directions to our offices

United Synagogue Youth offers a broad variety of summer programs. Whether touring across North America on USY on Wheels or exploring Israel and/or parts of Europe on our various Israel Pilgrimage programs USY has something for everyone!