A Mechina is a post-high school leadership program for Israeli teens, dedicated to a year of study, leadership training, the exploration of Jewish-Israeli identity, and participation in community service before beginning compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces.  The Mechina at Hannaton is the only program in Israel affiliated with the Masorti movement, and it promotes religious pluralism in Israeli society and in the IDF.

The program seeks to train and educate a new generation of leaders who will effect change and instill the intrinsic values of Judaism and modernity in the course of their lives, starting with their army service.  Hannaton’s Mechina students volunteer in the kibbutz community, and in the community at-large, and engage with Hannaton’s Arab neighbors in order to facilitate dialogue and change.  The participants come from all over Israel, from religious, secular and traditional backgrounds.  The program is inclusive, welcoming students with disabilities, with the understanding that all people are part of the larger community with which it is important to engage and from which to learn. Now running its fifth annual cohort, the Mechina is accredited by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense and is recognized as part of the Joint Council of Mechina Programs.

To learn more about the mechina, call +972.4.905.9605 or send us an email.

Click to view a sample weekly schedule.