What are we fighting for?
They’re smart, inquisitive and the future leaders of Israel. Without a doubt. But before these elite high school graduates button up their army fatigues, they want to know more. They want to arm themselves with knowledge about their land and perhaps more importantly, about their Jewish heritage.
Col. Gilad Olshtein understood their desire to learn. And incredibly, seven years ago, he invited Kesher Yehudi to create chavruta programs for his three pre-military academies known as Mechinot Nachshon.
The response was overwhelming.
Today, KY is well-known and actively involved in 24 mechinot across Israel, connecting more than 1,200 young men and women every year to their Jewish heritage and to one another.
How it works
Each mechina is connected to an adopting ultra-orthodox community in Israel, and every student is assigned a personal chavruta from that community. Once a month, the community volunteers visit the mechina and meet face-to-face with their chavrutot to study core topics in Judaism. The adopting community also hosts their mechina group for a Shabbaton and for many special events around the Jewish holidays.
For many students, it’s their very first encounter with authentic Jewish text and wisdom.