| HELIX PROJECT 2015 This summer, turn those black and white landscapes into IMAX 3D | | Helix Project | | this summer, step out of the classroom and into the streets | | The Helix Project offers undergraduate and graduate students the rare opportunity to explore the history of Central and Eastern Europe through the interdisciplinary lens of Jewish culture. Over three weeks of travel through Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, the Helix Project traverses the historical heartlands of a millennium of Jewish life in Europe. Breaking down barriers between past and present, students are immersed in everyday cultural life of this fascinating region. The Helix Project gives unique insight into the pre- and post-Soviet borderlands of the historical Pale of Settlement, while gaining new understanding of the complex multi-cultural, multilingual worlds that have existed in these lands for centuries.
 This is not a trip only for or about Jews. The program approaches Jewish culture as the product of many different traditions, places, and ideas across national, ethnic, religious, and cultural lines of all sorts. The Helix Project explores these messy, joyful, sometimes tragic, sometimes beautiful realities. And Helix welcomes the participation of people of all backgrounds.   Applications for Helix 2015 are due March 2nd.
We welcome applications from students in all fields, and a background (personal or academic) in Jewish Studies is not required.
The program begins on July 6, with an intensive week of cultural and language education in Southern California. Then, students spend the next two weeks exploring the heart of Jewish Europe, learning and discussing with leading scholars and with a challenging and inspiring group of peers. CLICK TO SEE WHAT'S IN STORE ON THE HELIX ADVENTURE
WHAT ARE STUDENTS SAYING ABOUT THE HELIX PROJECT? | | 
A Dynamic Past & Present While I did experience history in an intense and personal way, it was not in the sense I anticipated... I was never simply "transported" as if in a time machine—without context or historical orientation. Instead, my fellow Helixers and I functioned as cultural archaeologists, excavating narratives that cut across place and time. By initially assuming that I would only be learning about the past, I overlooked the fact that these countries have thriving, growing cultures today. The communities in Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania possess complex pasts but also dynamic presents. In learning about these presents I was able to better understand the aftermath of the social and political movements that impacted Jewish life in the 20th century. — ELLA • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY | Cultural Time Travel It was fascinating to be exposed to the vast array of Yiddish creative minds. This experience was particularly meaningful since we got the opportunity to visit the places where so many literary figures were born, grew up, lived, published and, for some, ultimately died.
The program contextualized their work and helped me to really visualize what life must have been like for them. Overall, Helix gave me more clarity on this complex region and provided me with tools to help reconcile, engage with, and understand the Jewish past and present of Eastern Europe. It was a special time-warp experience chock full of music, literature and history that I will cherish. — ADAM • BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | | | Difficult Yet Vital All of this cultural exploration, of course, presents us with questions which are just waiting to be investigated. The exploration of these difficult yet vital questions was a part of Yiddish that, for whatever reason, seemed to have eluded me. Helix not only brought many of these issues to the fore for me, it made them tangible. Material aside, it was the community of students and educators on Helix that really made the trip what it was. I feel lucky to have shared my Helix experience with such a widely distinct and hilarious group of peers. We all ended up on Helix for very different reasons, and it was these various individual questions, struggles, and triumphs that made the group what it was. — MAX • HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL | The Way I Want My Life to Be...Every Day The most extraordinary thing about the Helix Project is the kind of world it opens up for students. Where else in the world can you consciously cross historical, political and linguistic borders every day? Where else can you start the morning in Belarusian, read Yiddish poetry through the day, order lunch in Polish and say goodnight in Lithuanian?
This is the way I want my life to be every day, and this is the kind of world that countless Yiddish-speaking activists fought for. For three stunning weeks the Helix Project makes that a reality, and it leaves us brimming with possibility. — CLARE • MONASH UNIVERSITY | | | | | You are receiving this email because you've either opted in or you can always blame a friend for signing you up. If this email was sent to you in error, you can click to unsubscribe. © 2015 Yiddishkayt, All rights reserved | | | | | |
