Rena Auerbach, ’16

After graduating from ICJA in 2016, Rena Aurbach attended NYU, then made Aliyah in 2020, moving to Herzliya.  “I figured there would be a lot of people my age here” because of the presence of IDC Herzliya – “and I was right.  But this past summer, all the amazing friends I made in Herzliya graduated from IDC and moved to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem because there ‘aren’t people our age (in Herzliya)’  But that’s not true!  So I decided to create Netzach Herzliya to encourage young professionals and recent college graduates to stay in Herzliya.”

Since starting Netzach just a few months ago, Rena has already organized a group of 100 active members of the community from 20 different countries.  “We have bi-monthly Shabbat Onegs on Friday nights,” she explains.  Each week, Rena hosts 20 people for Shabbat dinner in her apartment.  The community is growing now and Netzach is beginning to add weeknight events to its programming.

Rena credits ICJA with inspiring her to build Netzach, particularly the strong Zionism that infuses the school.  At ICJA, Rena absorbed the value “of coming to Israel and making a difference – not just learning about Israel, but actually living the life” there.  Since making to Aliyah, Rena has grown her connection with ICJA by becoming a resource for information about Israel for students and alumni who are considering moving to the Jewish state as well.