The new Nelech initiative offers a high school program with Israeli students as an immersive introduction to the realities of life in the Jewish state.
When 25 10th graders from Orthodox Jewish day schools across the United States and Canada arrived in Israel on Jan. 20 to begin their semester of studies alongside their Israeli peers at two schools in Gush Etzion in Judea, they embarked on an initiative that aims to change how American Jews understand and relate to Israel.
These pioneers, here to participate in the new Nelech program, will spend six months learning, going on trips and spending time eating pizza, playing basketball, and spending Shabbats with Israeli peers and their families.
The 13 girls and 12 boys—from Phoenix, Nashville, Dallas, Philadelphia, Toronto and various communities in New York and New Jersey—will then return to their schools and communities in the U.S. and Canada to complete their high school studies and serve as ambassadors for the Jewish state they experienced up close.