Avichai’s commander: I discovered a soldier with tremendous motivation to serve and contribute, inspired by values from his upbringing and the education he had received since childhood.

Eleanor Blum, an alumna of Yachad at the Mechina of the Upper Galilee, just finished her degree studies at Harvard University. Now, she looks back at what made her return for mechina after not being in Israel for over ten years, how she bridged the language gap, and how it is to be a mechina graduate at an American college

Shibolim, the program that helps so many young people with disabilities attend mechina, has completed its fourth year of operations. From volunteer work to the coronavirus outbreak, here’s a Shiboletter full of updates for the end of the year, with columns written by program alumni (including a winner of the President’s Prize!), a unique gallery of photos shot by a participant, and a couple that met thanks to Shibolim.

In partnership with KKL, the community-building movement of mechina alumni continues to devise events and lead processes to introduce young people to opportunities in the periphery, from the inauguration of the Western Negev Trail, to community-building collaborations in the Negev and Galilee, to the Young Cities Hackathon. The Be’Artzeinu team sums up a busy year

Yachad, a program of the Joint Council, recruits dozens of young people from North America every year to attend mechina in Israel. This year, as a result of the coronavirus crisis, many students stayed in Israel longer to take part in the broad volunteer efforts led by the mechinot. Here are all the year’s Yachad updates, including a new mechina alumni organization in the US

Representatives from mechinot participating in Lishmah, the mechina gender studies project, met twice this year for steering committee meetings. Committee members discussed gender in the military, met army officers and a gender lecturer, heard from nonprofits activists and LGBT mechina alumni, and considered whether a woman who heads a mechina is a rosh mechina or roshat mechina

This year, 700 students and staff from 11 Orthodox, secular, and traditional mechinot participated in Jewish Peoplehood, a special collaboration of the Jewish Agency and the Joint Council of Mechinot that seeks to connect mechina students to fundamental Jewish issues in Israel and the Diaspora

Tunusau Adya, a Shibolim participant at Mechinat Lavi, suffers from vision problems. Yet he’s inspired by his disability to capture new heights. His message: “You’ve just got to understand that if you have a handicap, it isn’t the main thing. It’s secondary and it’s meaningless if you choose to believe it is”

As part of the coronavirus relief campaign of the mechinot, Mechina at Hannaton student Talya Hazani is helping to provide daycare for medical workers’ children. “It’s great to have the opportunity to give the medical personnel a break and help take care of their kids”

The harvest season kept no fewer than 30 mechinot busy this year in the days before Seder night. During this period, the students of Midreshet Shiluv in Natur produced a Passover Haggada, incorporating new passages that they wrote themselves. In the meantime, their volunteerism paid off. Rabbi Rozen: “Thousands of tons of fruit that would have been thrown out have been picked”

The new reality in which we find ourselves has forced the mechinot to answer the call and alter their activities accordingly. Even in this difficult time, community volunteering is a mainstay of the mechina world. Hundreds of students, including Shibolim participants, have mobilized for action in a variety of fields