IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING CSL IN ISRAEL 2024

With deep sadness, due to the ongoing uncertainty around Israel. and given the feedback we heard from our families, we have made the difficult decision to pivot to other programmatic offerings for summer 2024. We hope to be able to offer CSL in Israel again in summer 2025.

We remain committed to an amazing summer experience for our community, and are opening our SIT program to both rising 11th and 12th graders for summer 2024. Please see the Staff-in-Training page for more information, and contact CSL with any questions.

Camp Seneca Lake’s “CSL in Israel” program is our immersive Israel experience for rising high school seniors. This month-long program exposes participants to the beauty, depth, and complexity of Israel from the inside out. Participants will travel the entire country – hiking, touring, tasting, learning, and exploring. Each Shabbat will be celebrated with a different community, enabling participants to experience some of the many ways that Israelis celebrate and observe Shabbat. The program includes time at several kibbutzim, as well as in all major cities. Additionally, the participants will spend some time with families in Modi’in, Rochester’s “P2G” community in Israel.

Camp Seneca Lake works with BBYO Passport to operate this great program. BBYO is the leading, worldwide, pluralistic Jewish youth movement currently spanning 55+ countries and engaging more than 65,000+ teens as the principal provider of Jewish travel and service-learning. Organized in tandem with expert local travel partners, BBYO programs combine the best of informal education and travel expertise.

BBYO has extensive experience operating teen summer trips. CSL staff work closely with BBYO Passport staff to ensure the CSL in Israel experience best meets our community’s needs. On the ground during the summer, BBYO Passport provides a licensed tour guide with experience working with teens, a medic/security guard, and a bus driver, while CSL provides a trip leader.

Camp Seneca Lake is proud of our CSL in Israel program, and of our commitment to helping our teenage campers experience Israel through CSL. 

For more information about the CSL in Israel program please contact the
CSL Team at 
[email protected] or at 315-536-9981.

CSL In Israel Financial Assistance

In addition to scholarship funds available through BBYO Passport, the Jewish Federation of Rochester has a variety of Israel Scholarship funds and grants, including Gift of Israel and the Freddy Fund 360, established by generous donors to enable teens and college students to travel to Israel.  

For additional information, visit www.jewishrochester.org/israelscholarships or contact Marissa Barashi at [email protected] or 585-461-0490.