Each year, thousands of Jewish high school graduates, many with day school and yeshiva educations, travel to Israel for a year of study and growth. There are many fine schools that accommodate them with hours of intensive study inside their buildings. Rabbi Yaacov Shapira, Founder and Head of the Yeud, and Mr. Shmil Atlas, Executive Director of Yeud, realized that these mortar and brick buildings with their staffs could be located anywhere. They felt that a critical part of learning in Israel is to expand the walls of the beit medrash (study hall)—to include Israel, the country itself, something that cannot be done in Chutz La Aretz.
Three years ago, Mechinat Yeud embarked on a program built on a foundation of Torah learning in Israel which includes Gemara, Tanach, Halacha, Chassidut, and more. Studies are balanced between learning in the classroom as well as with Chavrutot in the beit midrash, and includes experiencing the entire country through travel and integrating it into the studies. It involves learning about one’s self by developing leadership and advocacy skills that will last for a lifetime. Students apply their learning through volunteer opportunities that are as varied as the interests of the participants. Finally, the young men are challenged to understand the limits of their physical capabilities: the program is becoming known for its “boot camp” regimen of running, physical fitness, krav maga, and even navigation and survival training. These elements serve to supplement and motivate the learning—they are not held during core study hours—and result in students who look forward to each day and each new experience (just look at our Facebook page and you can see for yourself!).
“During the first years that we recruited, many of the day schools and yeshivot were skeptical of the concept,” said Rabbi Naftali Rothstein, the program’s educational director. “This went beyond the reservations that they ordinarily have about new programs. We were doing something different. Now that they can see the success that we have had with their students and the reactions of students and parents, we are receiving warmer welcomes and recommendations. It took a few years to get the message out, but we believe that we are a great option for many students.”
Each Mechinat Yeud educator and administrator on the MY staff brings educational and/or leadership experience to their tasks, and they include people who are licensed tour guides, former army commanders, renowned authors, and even a popular recording artist.
Mechinat Yeud is located on the campus of Yeshivat Hamivtar at Migdal Oz (adjacent to Efrat and a short ride to Jerusalem). All classes are held in the new Yeshivat Hamivtar facility shared with the Israeli Yeshiva Machanaim. The scenery is breathtaking, with rolling hills and room to run and hike. This dynamic—MY students sharing a campus and beit midrash with Israeli students of the same age—also provides a more intense and authentic Israel experience for them.
Mechinat Yeud recruits and accepts a specific type of student. New schools sometimes choose numbers over direction or quality. The administration of MY understood that those who attend, even from day one, establish the character of the school and serve to advertise who the school should attract. “In each of our initial years, we turned down many more than we accepted. It was important for us to let the principals and guidance counselors know that we want their best students, like the ones we have going to YU or on academic scholarships to Queens, Rutgers, Maryland, and Columbia.”
Mechina comes from the Hebrew root word to prepare. Mechinat Yeud’s ultimate goal is to prepare each of its students for active participation in Jewish life wherever they settle. Of course, one of MY’s main goals is to create an indelible bond between each student and the Land of Israel. By using the entire land as the school and fully engaging the students’ bodies and souls, Mechinat Yeud’s approach may well alter perceptions about the Israel gap year.
Josh Ettinger is the director of Mechinat Yeud.
By Josh Ettinger
