Good opportunities reveal themselves when someone pays attention. Abraham’s House Israel teaches students to notice what others walk right past. Then we help them act. Not abstract, far-away stuff. Right here. The family next door. The neighborhood around campus. The local connection that becomes bigger than anyone expected. This is civic engagement rooted in achriyut, the kind of responsibility to others that lives at the heart of Jewish life. Students build bridges. They organize energy. They lead without permission. Here’s what we’ve learned: when you give people real agency to make impact where they actually are, they achieve wild things. This adds new muscle to Jewish campus life. For a lot of students, this is what speaks to them. They get beyond themselves. They make it real.
Devo Mayer is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently living in Be’er Sheva and attending Ben Gurion University, where she is studying social work.
Living in Be’er Sheva, Devo feels a strong sense of responsibility to engage directly with the social challenges and opportunities present in the city.
For Devo, being part of Abraham’s House allows her to be part of the building of Israel’s south, and actualize a modern Zionist dream.
Eliyahu moved to Israel 5 years ago. Today, he lives in Givat Shmuel and studies economics at Bar-Ilan University.
As an Abraham’s House Fellow, Eliyahu is motivated by the opportunity to create outward-facing initiatives that connect Olim to the broader Israeli society.
He values learning about and supporting communities beyond his Olim “bubble,” while also strengthening the bonds within his own community. He appreciates that Abraham’s House gives fellows agency to develop large-scale trips or smaller neighborhood-based projects.
