USY Summer Experience provides life-changing summer travel opportunities. Our trip destinations include North America, Israel, Europe, and beyond, opening participants' eyes to new places, experiences, and different cultures all over the globe. Find out more!
United Synagogue Youth (USY) offers a broad variety of summer programs for Jewish teens. Whether touring across North America on USY on Wheels or exploring Israel and/or parts of Europe, USY has something for everyone!
USY Summer Programs provide an exciting way to explore your Jewish identity through experiencing the beauty of Shabbat, learning about the power of Tzedakah, and gaining inspiration through creative prayer and engaging interactive Jewish learning programs.
We look forward to seeing you on a USY summer program! Please read on for more details about the summer programs we offer:
North America Trips
- Classic USY on Wheels: Teens from across North America will gather in New Jersey for the journey of a lifetime – traveling from coast to coast for six and a half weeks, learning about what it means to live Jewishly across the United States, building community, and making friends and memories that will last forever. From riding a roller coaster in Disneyland to discovering the beauty of Yellowstone National Park to creating artistic masterpieces at Cadillac Ranch – USY on Wheels is an incredibly unique, meaningful, and fun way for you to spend your summer.
- USY on Wheels, East: East is USY Summer Experience’s premiere program for middle schoolers. Teens from across North America will gather in New Jersey for the summer of a lifetime, traveling up and down the Eastern Seaboard for 4 weeks. Learn what it means to be Jewish in diverse communities, build community, and make friends and memories that will last forever. USY on Wheels is an incredibly unique, meaningful, and fun way for you to spend your summer.
Dominican Republic
IMPACT DR: An Adventure in the Dominican Republic: This summer, USY is partnering with Cambio Trips in the Dominican Republic. Participants will engage in various community service projects, including teaching English, leading art projects, and facilitating sports games. USY is partnering with Cambio Trips this summer while in the Dominican Republic. Our groups will work on various projects with local community members, including working at a camp teaching children English, leading art projects, and facilitating sports games in local villages. Past projects have included building a swing set, repainting a school, planting a vegetable garden and trees for shade, and building a volleyball court. Participants have also cleaned and repainted tombstones at the Jewish Cemetery in Sosua. USYers will leave the DR having completed 40-50 service hours.
Israel/Europe Trips
- Yuval Yisrael: Yuval Yisrael’s mission is to make the Israel experience an integral part of the individual’s Jewish journey. Our program allows participants to intimately connect with Israeli society and culture by creating an immersive Jewish experience that speaks to participants of diverse backgrounds. Powered by Ramah Israel and USY, Yuval Yisrael benefits from over six decades of experience designing and running exceptional, safe, and meaningful Israel programs with a focus on building egalitarian Jewish communities. Approaching Israel as a dynamic arena in which various expressions of Judaism intersect, participants engage in both intellectual and experiential exploration of Jewish tradition. Yuval Yisrael encourages the development of a personal understanding of one’s Jewishness and an individually meaningful relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. All Jewish teens who are currently 10th, 11th, or 12th graders, regardless of prior Ramah, USY, or Jewish educational experience, are looking for a journey of a lifetime filled with fun, community, Zionist and Jewish values, and Jewish experiences and living!
Dates and rates vary by program