KIVUNIM Americas: Mexico

KIVUNIM Alumni – alongside other young Jews – travel, learn, and grow during an unforgettable week in Mexico City


MARCH 6 - 13, 2022
MEXICO CITY

Facilitated by The KIVUNIM Institute
with support from Jewtina y Co.

 

Beginning in 2022, KIVUNIM Alumni will take the lead in building the breadth and depth of the gap-year’s mission. In this first moment of expansion, alumni will partner with other Jewish leaders from the international ROI Community and live for one immersive week in Mexico City.

The trip will feature a familiar variety of unparalleled encounters and experiences that shaped us in Morocco, in India, and all around the world. And as Jewish adults with critical eyes for the issues that impact our planet and equipped with a hard-earned KIVUNIM optimism, the trip will also be an incubator for imagining global change.

Starting in Mexico, and in the years to follow expanding outwards toward the Caribbean, Central and South America, led by the spirit, intelligence, and community of dedicated KIVUNIM alumni, KIVUNIM Americas represents an urgently necessary project trailblazing the next era of both Jewish education and intercommunal life.

 
 
 
El Zócalo, CDMX (Mexico City)

El Zócalo, CDMX (Mexico City)

TRIP DETAILS

Duration: 7 days
Start Date: Sunday, March 6th, 2022
End Date: Sunday, March 13th, 2022
Pre-Travel Online Learning Module: Opening February 2022

Participants: Alumni of the KIVUNIM gap-year program, their partners, friends, & siblings, and members of the ROI Community
Goal: To travel, learn, enjoy, and be pioneers fostering relationships and understanding between KIVUNIM and new people, places, and communities.
Location: Mexico City (CDMX)

Cost: All-inclusive price includes lodging, coach buses and metros, meals, and museum entrances. (Flights are separate and booked individually by participants.) The discounted cost for KIVUNIM alumni is $1,200; the price for other participants (friends of alumni and ROI Community members) is $1,350.

Registration: Begin by clicking here.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The world is changing. That statement is a platitude when left untouched: We live on a planet with shifting tectonic plates, a warming climate, evolving economies, and constantly changing cultures. In order to create better ways to adapt to change and to offer tools to others to adapt to emergent challenges, we must hone our abilities to understand these changes over time. 

Students of the of KIVUNIM gap-year have had the unparalleled opportunity to witness and participate in the shifting tides of Jewish communities across the globe.  The KIVUNIM Institute’s first trip for gap-year alumni and other young Jews offers a new perspective on the evolving narratives of those people coming, staying, and going from Mexico.

By acknowledging that nothing is static, that communities as much as our planet, are always in flux, we open the door to an optimistic outlook: While some changes are destructive, others can inspire innovations, collaborations, and hope. During our journey we’ll learn about how Mexico and its Jewish communities have grappled with change, which will, in turn, raise our consciousness about change taking place in our own lives and communities. Through this engagement, we begin to imagine more vividly and creatively how we can effect positive outcomes on local and international scales.

Tepotzlán

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan

Itinerary Outline

Starting in March of 2022, KIVUNIM Americas: Mexico will take travelers on a journey for 7 days in Mexico!

The itinerary features a full week of adventure within Mexico’s capital city, locally known as CDMX (la Ciudad de México) or D.F. (Distrito Federal). We will immerse ourselves in this metropolis of over 20 million people, getting to know the most historic and hippest neighborhoods: Centro, Cuauhtémoc, Colonia Condesa, and Roma. 

The following are just a few highlights from our week, which is also sure to be full of KIVUNIM-caliber surprises: 

  • Teotihuacan Nocturno - a nighttime tour and light show at the famous Aztec pyramids 

  • “Eat Like a Local” - a vegan food tour written up in the New York Times

  • An on-the-ground overview of Mexican history

  • A walking tour of Jewish CDMX 

  • Day trip to the “Magical Town” of Tepotzlán 

  • Ample free time to explore, eat, drink, and enjoy

  • Flexibility to enter “optional” museums from a curated list

  • Local community Shabbat dinner hosted by the JCC of Condesa

 

To KIVUNIM Alumni:

Our gap-year experience left us with many burning questions, including a central one: What opportunities for meaningful encounters with the world are there after KIVUNIM? For the first time ever, a travel program designed by alumni for alumni aims to deliver an answer. KIVUNIM Americas: Mexico is a new and unparalleled adventure.

Participating in this program is a chance to extend ourselves as alumni and to be together in curiosity and community with Jews who aren’t so very far away.

Engage in seven days of exploration, investigation, reflection, and fun. 

Be a part of KIVUNIM history by learning our histories and building international community like never before. 

Bring your partners, siblings, and friends so that they can experience the KIVUNIM magic too.

Join us and our collaborators in Mexico for an unmissable and unforgettable week.

Important notes about the trip:

  • Our group will be comprised of between 10-20 KIVUNIM alumni participants and individuals “endorsed” by alumni, e.g. a spouse, partner, friend, or sibling.

    • Joining us in Mexico will also be 5-10 representatives of the ROI Community.

    • 2 full-time staff members will be with the group throughout the adventure: the KIVUNIM Program Coordinator (also an alumnus of the gap-year) and a full-time staff member from Jewtina y Co.

  • All group meals will be kosher or vegetarian.

  • The KIVUNIM Institute, as a pluralistic Jewish organization, observes Shabbat. That means the group will not travel from sunset on Friday night until sunset on Saturday, nor will we as a group do any activity that is in violation of a traditional Shabbat observance.

  • KIVUNIM Americas: Mexico is committed to providing a healthy experience for all participants and has developed a COVID-19 safety plan, which includes policies and procedures to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19, in accordance with CDC standards.