Zev Mendelson

Seniors from the class of 2025 disembarking at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel for their capstone trip last year.

After being delayed due to weather, the Irene and Daniel Simpkins Senior Capstone Trip has once again been postponed indefinitely after back-and-forth military strikes between Israel, U.S. forces, and Iran. The Middle Eastern airspace is closed for the foreseeable future. On March 2, CESJDS announced to the families of the seniors that they would be completely pausing all portions of the three-month capstone trip until further notice. 

While the seniors were originally supposed to leave on Feb. 22, the trip was delayed because of a major blizzard that hit the Northeast. This was done in order to ensure that students were able to make it to Israel without an extended layover in New York. The capstone trip, which involves students graduating in just seven semesters, has been a permanent fixture of JDS’ senior experience since 1978. After the first delays were announced, senior Tyler Portnoy said that while he was frustrated that the trip was delayed, he understood why it had to happen.

“I’m upset because I want to be in Israel right now, but I know [the delay is] not going to take away from the trip, and I think most people feel that way,” Portnoy said. “We just want to be in Israel right now with everybody.”

Though the snowstorm forced them to reschedule departure to March 1, Israel’s Operation Lion’s Roar and the U.S.’s Operation Epic Fury, a series of coordinated missile attacks targeting the Iranian regime that began on Feb. 28, have made any air travel to and from Israel impossible for the immediate future. 

After deliberations with the Alexander Muss High School (AMHSI) program, JDS’s partner school on the trip for over 20 years which hosts the students in its campus near Tel Aviv, the decision was made to indefinitely postpone the trip. In an email on March 4, the school announced that they are monitoring the situation and will make a decision by March 11. According to High School Principal Dr. Lisa Vardi, the decision may include extending the trip, which was originally set to end May 15, into mid-June. 

“March 11 is a key decision checkpoint,” said Vardi, “So we will know [about] the situation on the ground, what air travel will look like, whether or not our criteria of a safe, robust educational experience is met by that point.”

If conditions in the area stabilize and flights resume, a departure is possible around mid-March, according to an email sent out by JDS Head of School Rabbi Mitchell Malkus and AMHSI Head of School Stephen Kutno. However, if the situation remains unstable beyond March 11, the likely plan would be a post-Pesach departure and trip.

In addition to spending time in Israel with AMHSI, the students spend two weeks visiting multiple cities in Europe, including Warsaw, Krakow and Berlin; this portion of the trip gives a glimpse into Jewish history specifically during the Holocaust, with visits to concentration camps. However, this portion of the trip has also been paused, since AMHSI staff based in Israel are not able to travel to Europe and help coordinate that portion of the trip. 

“I think a lot about the staff at Alexander Muss and what is going on in Israel and the amount of sirens that go off,” Vardi said. “If our students would have gotten there that first week, they would be in bomb shelters most of the time.”

For the seniors, the disruption has affected them greatly. According to senior Ella Arking, the past two weeks have been “a rollercoaster.” She says that the delays have been difficult since so many of her classmates have been anticipating this trip since kindergarten.

“I was pretty devastated at first, but there was also a level of understanding,” Arking said. “If I was in Israel right now, I’d be really scared, so it’s a big mix of emotions. I just wish that none of this was happening.”