Memizrach Shemesh – Our tradition of social responsibility

National Service Year Leadership at Memizrach Shemesh

What is the National Service Year Leadership Program?

The National Service Year Leadership program develops Jewish-social leadership among young people in their pre-army, national service year. The aim of the program is to raise awareness about social inequalities, while at the same time exposing NSY volunteers to tools for successful community work.  The program integrates Jewish text study as a way of understanding the connection between Judaism, social values and volunteerism.

What Do We Stand for?

We believe that all volunteers must take time to learn about the social problems they address in the field, before and during their volunteer experience. This learning will make volunteers more sensitive to community needs.

We encourage pre-army youth and volunteers to reexamine their Jewish identity through a social justice lens; this in turn helps them become better volunteers, better citizens, better people.

We recognize the potential of national service year volunteers to help communities develop strategies for long-term change.

Our Groups:

We are proud to announce that for the 2009-2010 academic year we have 7 National Service Year Leadership groups throughout the country:

*Acharai Youth Movement in Kiryat Menachem, Jerusalem

*Acharai Youth Movement in Netanya

*Acharai Youth Movement in Bat Yam

*Israeli Scouts Youth Movement in Pisgat Ze’ev Jerusalem

*Israeli Scouts Youth Movement in Kiryat Menachem

*Israeli Scouts Youth Movement at the Boyar School and the Goldstein Youth Village, Jerusalem

*Israeli Scouts Youth Movement in Gilo, Jerusalem.

Since 2005, more than 400 volunteers have participated in the National Service Year Leadership program.

Our Participants:

*In 2008, 51% of Memizrach Shemesh National Service Year Participants defined themselves as Secular Jews, 28% defined themselves as “Masorti” or Traditional Jews, 21% defined themselves as “religious” or “other.

*93% of Memizrach Shemesh National Service Year participants were born in Israel.

*90% of Memizrach Shemesh National Service Year participants live in the geographic or economic centers of Israel.

Participant Feedback

“The program was so relevant to us and all the work we do in the neighborhood…I also loved the sessions where we interpret texts from the torah, and of course all the session we did on the Jewish holidays!”

“The learning we did in the group strengthened me and encouraged me to think about how I can influence Israeli society. How can I make a change that will affect people?”

Funding:

The National Service Year Leadership program has an annual budget of $72,394 and benefits from the confidence it has earned over several years from the Avi Chai Foundation, which provides it with substantial support. A sum of $7135 needs to be raised annually to complete the budget.