Dr. Richard Freund, Director, Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, succeeded in bringing a small group of five people to a combined Ulpan and Archeology Summer program from July 8 to August 5, 2002.

This is the second summer for this combined program under the auspices of Partnership 2000. The Ulpan took place at Kibbutz Beit Hashita in the Gilboa Region, which is also the home of The Kibbutz Institute for Festivals and Holidays.

Four of the five participants were from Hartford. The Ulpan was ten days of intensive Hebrew and Israeli cultural studies. The group also participated in a Gilboa Region Tour connecting Biblical with Modern times; a trip to the ancient wine press on Beit Hashita; and a trip to the Sachne and the Archeological Museum on Kibbutz Nir David. Mordy Stein also familarized the group with The Kibbutz Institute For Festivals and Holidays. Matt Silver, a Jewish Historian at Emek Yizreel College gave the group a lecture on Modern Zionist History. Matt Silver will be a visiting Professor at the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at University of Hartford beginning in January 2003.

The Ulpan was a resounding success. Participants expressed how much they both enjoyed and learned. They also were able to meet and mingle with young kibbutzniks and get a feeling for kibbutz life in Israel in the 21st century.

After completing the academic part of the program, the group did excavations in Qumran, Field Studies at Kibbutz Tirat Zvi and excavations at Bethsaida.

Dr. Freund has a special status in the Professional field of archeology regarding his innovative methods for furthering the excavations in the Qumran area and for the significant artifacts he has found. During the period of this summer program, The Jerusalem Post Weekend Magazine Section wrote a feature article on Dr. Freund and his work in the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Local archeological buffs were also treated to a special showing of a video film explaining about Dr. Freund's work in Qumran.

We deeply appreciate both Dr. Freund's initiative in grounding a program of this significance in the Afula-Gilboa area and for the support of the Partnership 2000 steering committee in encouraging the development of this program as a part of the Living Bridge Component.

  Tishrei 5763 - September 2002