Young Judaea head blasts predecessor for launching program day after quitting

The incoming director of Young Judaea's Year Course expressed "outrage" over learning his predecessor launched a rival gap year program merely one day after officially leaving the organization.

Keith Berman, who directed Year Course for more than a decade before he and other staff members last month surprisingly announced their resignation "for personal reasons," launched his new program - Aardvark Israel - on Monday. The program has been in the works for at least months, as evidenced by a Web site registered for the program in November, among other things.

Four former Young Judaea employees joined Aardvark, including Debbie Goldsmith, who was Berman's assistant director.

"Until last week, Keith and I were colleagues. My focus was on Young Judaea and I thought that was Keith's focus as well," said Adam Jenshil, who took over the post from Berman, after leading Young Judaea's short-term programs for four years. "I was surprised that he and others apparently were setting up their own for-profit competing organization. I'm not surprised that Keith is continuing in this field, but I was outraged by how soon after leaving Young Judaea he announced his program and how similar the materials were to ours."

Employees are free to seek new opportunities, Jenshil said about the defecting staff. "We only ask that while they are employed by Young Judaea, they dedicate themselves to our mission - We are taken aback that some employees, still on our payroll, are listed as part of the 'Aardvark' team."

Nancy Falchuk, the president of Hadassah, under which Young Judaea operates, told Anglo File yesterday that "Adam's views are totally consonant with those of Hadassah's."

Aardvark's 9-month program is similar to the multi-track gap year experience innovated by Berman at Young Judaea, which brought the organization unprecedented growth.

At $15,000 Aardvark, which doesn't include air fare or food stipends, is about 25%-50% cheaper than other courses, which Berman says is made possible by lower overhead costs.

The company is backed by private individuals. Berman did not disclose their names.

Berman said Wednesday he always encouraged the creation of more long term Israel programs, as the "resulting competition would require all programs to achieve excellence."

Young Judaea's Israel director, Dan Krakow, said everyone at his organization was "totally taken by surprise" by Aardvark's sudden launch. While he emphasized Young Judaea "feels in no way threatened, harmed or disturbed," he added it would have been "inappropriate" if staff had indeed created a competing program while working for Young Judaea and using its resources.

Kate Nachman, Year Course's incoming assistant director, told Anglo File yesterday that some might be angry while others will be excited about a new player on the gap year program scene.

One observer speculated that Berman split from Young Judaea on bad terms and that Aardvark was his "revenge."

Several educators in the field suggested Berman was displeased with Hadassah because of recent drastic cuts to his budget.

Aardvark's Web site was registered on November 23, 2009, by Joshua Deston, Young Judaea's former marketing coordinator who resigned January 10.

The site says the new program is about to finalize an accreditation agreement with the Jewish American University in Los Angeles, which led some observers to assume Berman and his team must have worked on this project for several months.

Marty Davis, a World Zionist Organization official and former Young Judaea executive, said it is Berman's right to want to move on with his career.

"Competition is also fine, if he succeeds in bringing down the price of the program that's great," he said. But creating a rival program while still in Young Judaea's employ might be "questionable," he added.

Some were even harsher in their assessment of Berman's move.

"Once you're no longer on staff you're a free agent, you can do what you like. But setting up a program B while you are employed at program A just strikes me as deeply unethical," a veteran education professional said.

Berman told Anglo File he didn't "dignify" such criticism. "I believe I positively touched the lives of thousands of young people and worked above and beyond what was expected of me," he said. Asked when he decided to create Aardvark, he said: "It is known that I personally am the leading expert in the field of long term Israel programs. This was not a difficult project for me to set up."