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May 6, 2005/Nisan 27 5765, Volume 57, No. 36
Scholarship program offers study in Israel
BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN
Special to Jewish News
Local Jewish teenagers can live like Israelis through the Elite Academy, a three-year scholarship program that allows academically minded Jewish students from around the world to spend grades 10-12 at more than 50 affiliated day schools, yeshivas, boarding schools and kibbutz regional high schools throughout Israel.
The program is co-funded by the State of Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and helps teens spend their formative years living like an Israeli, said Michael Landsberg, executive director of JAFI's Immigration Department in North America.
"Those years of a teenager's life are critical in their identity," said Landsberg, who visited the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix last month.
Landsberg said students live in dormitories and are immersed in Hebrew language and Israeli culture and customs with "demanding" coursework focusing on Jewish and secular studies. Classes are initially taught in English, but participants are gradually taught Hebrew.
Students are able to return home for holidays and other breaks, and bilingual host families from local communities are assigned to each student.
Applicants submit to what Landsberg called a "tough" screening process, which includes an interview, written exam, evaluation of their academic background and session with a child psychologist to determine if they are emotionally mature enough to handle living abroad. Students receive a full scholarship, which covers airfare, housing, off-campus trips, spending money and other necessities.
Although the program has been in operation since 1992, with approximately 10,000 Jewish teenagers from around the world participating, North American students only became eligible for the program in 2004, and Landsberg hopes Valley teens will apply.
"The growth of Phoenix's Jewish community is phenomenal," Landsberg said. "We would very much like to provide students from here with the chance to study in Israel."
Call (973) 884-4800, ext. 168, or visit www.israelprograms.org.
Benjamin Leatherman is a freelance writer based in Tempe.
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