Our History
Among the thousands of college students who flock to Israel each year for study or travel, many are looking for a reason to be Jewish. But it isn’t easy to tap into Israel’s vast world of Jewish learning. It isn’t easy for a student from New York or Philadelphia to look beyond the stones of the Western Wall and sense their history.
Old City Center Opened
The Old City Center opened in 1986, functioning as a resource center for the student traveler as a guiding hand and a place offering heightened Jewish consciousness.
Asher David Milstein Student Information Center Opened
The second Student Information Center opened in 1992 near the Hebrew University campus offering its students an array of services such as laundry service, e-mail, Shabbat meals, lectures, wide screen Television and much more.
Tel Aviv Student Center for University Students Opened
The third Information Center opened in 1994 near the Tel-Aviv University campus. Yearly, the Jewish Student Information Centers are visited by some 20,000 students and travelers.
Be'er Sheva & Herzliya Student Centers Established
Later on we opened centers in Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva and in Herzliya for IDC students.
"GetShabbat.com" Created - Students get free Shabbat Meals
Jeff Seidel Student Centers hosts shabbat dinners and partners with families to ensure that everyone has a place to be for Shabbat. We primarily focus on our Israel students, but we also help people get placed for Shabbat meals all over the world!
The Jewish Student Information Centers is a non-profit, tax-deductible organization. It relies solely on private contributions. You can send your gift, or receive more information @
Mailing Address
Israel
Ohel Avraham
17 Shonei HaLachot St.,
Old City, Jerusalem. Israel 97501
U.S.
Ohel Avraham Jewish Student Information Center
P.O. Box 95016, Palatine, IL 60095-0016
George Deek is an Arab-Israeli diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan. He is the first Israeli Arab Christian to become an ambassador. Deek grew up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, in a building where the other tenants included Muslims, Catholics, Jews and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry.[2][3] His father, who worked as a tax advisor,[3] was one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jaffa who served as chairman of the Orthodox Association, and was considered a well-known and popular figure in the city until in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor Ron Huldai.[4] According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety when the 1947–1949 Palestine war, having been told that the Jews would slaughter them if they remained in their homes, but expecting to return home once Arab armies defeated the Jews.[3] According to Deek, when the war ended, his grandparents felt that they had been “deceived”, and decided to return illegally to their home in Jaffa rather than remaining in Lebanon as refugees. Since reentering the country was illegal, Deek’s grandfather, an electrician, was arrested and jailed.
