Jewish Student Leadership at Memizrach Shemesh
What is the Jewish Student Leadership Program?
The Jewish Student Leadership Program aims to raise awareness among students in Israel, preparing them for community work while at the same time providing a space for them to learn about the relationship between Judaism and social justice. Students meet weekly for study workshops that deal with three main topics: poverty, education and leadership – through which an ethical worldview committed to tikkun ‘olam [world-healing] is emphasized. Additionally, all student group members complete a volunteer project that relates to issues discussed within the group.
What Do We Stand for?
We believe that students are at an ideal point in their lives for meaningful and powerful identity development; we take advantage of this opportunity by initiating a process of Jewish social justice learning at Israel’s universities and academic colleges.
We recognize the power and potential of Israel’s students to initiate social change and improve their communities and Israeli society as a whole.
We see how Jewish Student Leadership Program graduates are inspired by Memizrach Shemesh learning; these students take with them a renewed Jewish and social justice identity that accompanies them throughout life.
We encourage action. Jewish learning has more meaning when it leads to action: the Jewish Student Leadership Program helps students realize how they want to improve society and gives them tools to affect change within their communities.
Our Groups:
We are proud to announce that for the 2009-2010 academic year we have 12 Jewish Student Leadership Groups throughout the country:
* Sapir Academic College in Sderot
*Achva Academic College, in the Lachish region
*Sami Shamoon College of Engineering, in Be’er Sheva (2 groups)
*Ashkelon Academic College in Ashkelon
*Holon Acadmic College in Holon
*Start-Up Youth Center in Be’er Sheva
*The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2 groups)
*Ohalo College in Katzrin
*Hillel at Tel Chai College in Kiryat Shmona
*Jerusalem Area Student Group
Since 2003, more than 700 students have participated in the Jewish Student Leadership Program.
Our Participants:
*44 % of all Memizrach Shemesh Beit Midrash participants are students at a university or academic college.
*76% of Memizrach Shemesh student participants are studying towards a Bachelor’s degree, 17% of participants are studying towards a Master’s degree
*24% of Memizrach Shemesh student participants study Engineering and Technology, 17% study Behavioral Sciences and 7% study Arts and Humanities.
-Research provided by the Hizon Institute, 2009Participant Feedback:
“I always felt like I had no power to make a change. The year I spent at Memizrach Shemesh and the project we initiated in the community made me realize that even us the simple residents of this community can make a change- I am not alone!”
-Jewish Student Leadership Participant, Sapir College, Sderot“I fell in love with the torah over this year- I always felt that the torah only belonged to religious people and then I discovered that I also have opinions about it, that I can interpret the text. I found a new socially aware Judaism, a Judaism that I could connect with, a Judaism that can assist me as a social activist.”
-Jewish Student Leadership Participant, Jerusalem“This year I thought a lot about my identity: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where do I belong? Where do I want to take action?”
-Jewish Student Leadership Participant, Ashekelon Academic College, AshkelonFunding:
The Student Leadership program has an annual operating budget of $210,056. The program benefits from the confidence it has earned over several years from partner universities and from the Avi Chai Foundation, the Rashi Foundation, The Gruss Foundation, Partnership 2000, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the United Israel Appeal of Canada. A sum of $12,743 is needed to complete the budget.