Colin Bulka
Outgoing Head of the Jewish Agency Education Department in Britain
Graduate, Cohort 21 Mandel Jerusalem Fellows

“My experience as a Fellow helped confirm my view of the world, the language that I speak and the way that I think.”

Colin Bulka made Aliya as someone who was as an experienced youth and community professional who worked within the Jewish community. In Israel, he decided to transform himself from a youth worker working in a Jewish context to a Jewish Educator who happened to work with young people.

“MJF was a good opportunity to think, study and develop myself as a Jewish Educator. I didn’t have a background of deep Jewish learning and over the course of my studies I gained confidence about myself as a Jewish educator.”

“I had a great year group that bonded together well. Jointly, we did a lot of reflective practice; we observed each other’s work and provided feedback on what we saw. I particularly benefited from the semester where we defined our own learning and focused on informal education with the support of one of the Fellow’s tutors.”

Colin is one of the graduates who formed a Mandel Jerusalem Fellows alumni group in Britain, which has been meeting for the last two years to share ideas and act as a support structure. He also describes how he gained from the ongoing mentoring (non managerial supervision) supplied by The Mandel Institute since leaving the programme:

“Those two frameworks have enabled me to feel part of a wider Mandel network in Britain and to feel well supported in several aspects of my career and development,” says Colin.