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The JCC of Middlesex County and Congregation Neve Shalom Israel Awareness Committee held an "Israel Info Evening" at the JCC in Edison on Jan. 5.

The purpose of the event was to inform parents and young adults about the various programs that organize group trips to Israel.

"I always think it's important for Jews to come to Israel," said Jennine Shpigel, director of Jewish and family programming at the JCC and a former resident of Israel.

Daniel Schuval, the director of academic programs at MASA, and Sael Abecassis, the Israel Emissary at the Jewish Federation of Central N.J. in Scotch Plains, were two members from the MASA organization who encouraged people to come to Israel.

"MASA is here to help you realize your dreams and interests of spending five months to a year in Israel learning about he country and the society," Schuval said.

MASA is the umbrella organization for 160 programs in Israel whose goal is to provide every Jew throughout the world a chance to visit Israel. The organization provides grants to every person that goes to Israel through MASA that range from $2,000-$4,500. The programs typically run from five months to a year for post-high school, college, and post-college students, and the programs include academic programs, community service, and internships.

Abecassis is a former Israeli soldier who now speaks throughout the tri-state promoting MASA and travel to Israel. He has spoken at Rutgers University, Kean University, the JCC of Central New Jersey, and many other places, he said.

People shouldn't be nervous or scared about going to Israel, he said.

"From here, it's a war zone, and it doesn't look safe," Abecassis said. "I have friends in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv -- they aren't seeing it, only what's in the news."

Another way of going to Israel for free is through the organization Oranim, which runs the program Birthright Israel. On this program, anyone from the age of 18 to 26 can go on the group's free, 10-day trip to Israel. Two people that went on Birthright recently were Andrew Tuckfeld and Lindsay Napchen, both college students and residents of Edison.

"It was a great experience," said Tuckfeld. "I did a little bit of everything. I did hiking, climbing, I did partying, shopping, a lot of walking, a lot of touring, a lot of beaches, I went to Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, the Golan Heights."

While there he said he made about 45 new friends.

"It was really a good experience for me, because I never went to sleep-away camp and I know a lot of people have," Tuckfeld said. "I never really got experience away from home, and those 10 days allowed me to be more adventurous and break out of my shell."

Tuckfeld, a junior at Pennsylvania State University, said Birthright helped prepare him for his spring semester in Spain.

"I feel like without going to Israel, I would have been less prepared and probably wouldn't have considered going abroad so much," he said.

Although he didn't grow up religious, Tuckfeld said he was able to connect to his Judaism while there.

"Going to Israel I was able to meet a lot of people who I share similar characteristics with, and that was a great thing too," he said.

Throughout the trip Tuckfeld said he felt safe the entire time.

"My trip had six or seven Israeli soldiers," he said. "We had one medic that was with us at all times, so if anyone got hurt or sick they helped out; they were pretty much our protection."

Napchen, a senior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said she shares a deep connection with Israel. After going on Birthright and having a great time, she said she still needed more of a connection to Israel.

"So the following winter I went back to Israel on a 10-day Hillel international mission, and when I came back from that I still didn't feel like I had made my connection with Israel," she said.

Napchen said she then spent a semester abroad in Jerusalem in hopes of finally making her connection with Israel.

While there she attended Hebrew University, traveled throughout Israel, made many friends and even experienced snow. In the end, she said she made her spiritual connection with Israel and plans to return sometime soon.

Joy and Joel Rubin of Woodbridge said finding out information about the various programs that go to Israel helped them feel safe about their son, Benjamin, going there. They both expressed excitement at the prospect of their son getting to see the Jewish state.

Myles Kaplan, of Edison, who attends SUNY-Buffalo, said he feels very encouraged about going to Israel after hearing about Birthright and the other Israel programs.

"I think I will go in the next two years," Kaplan said.

Event volunteer Linda Gottlieb said the evening helped people understand that now is the right time to go to Israel and there are many ways to go.

"A lot of people didn't know about these programs, and if you're a student, it is the best way to see Israel," she said.