Browse Programs

An annual two-week Israel mission for CAMERA Fellows, CCAP activists and other campus Israel-advocacy leaders from the US, Canada and Uruguay, filled with expert speakers, lectures and touring -- most of the trip based in Jerusalem, with a Tel Aviv visit, a free weekend, and closing days on a Kinneret-area kibbutz -- to sharpen participants' ability to advocate accurately and effectively for Israel back on campus.

A 10-month leadership program founded in 2015 by the Jewish Community of Oslo, open to 18-22-year-old European, Israeli and American Jews of any observance level, combining an immersive Israel experience at the Upper Galilee Leadership Academy with University of Oslo coursework and travel to Jewish communities around the world, centered on Jewish history, religion, culture and identity.

An 8-month gap year for the Revisionist-Zionist Betar movement, running March-November: four months of Machon LeMadrichim leadership training at Kiryat Moriah alongside 100+ young people from other youth movements worldwide, a taste of IDF service through the Marva course, seminars across Israel and in Poland, and an extended period of community volunteering.

A gap year for lacrosse players ages 18-30 to live, train and compete in Israel for a college semester or full year, playing in domestic league and exhibition games plus tournaments abroad in Europe, completing a formal coach-certification program and mentoring local youth teams as ambassadors for the sport.

A 16-day leadership and advocacy training program for North American college-student leaders, active on 95+ campuses, combining ten workshops on Israel advocacy and campus leadership with meetings with Israeli political, military and business figures and conversations with Israelis and Palestinians across the political spectrum, in order to return as trained pro-Israel campus advocates.

A 10-month elite government and policy internship placing Fellows in Israeli government ministries and NGOs for hands-on public-administration work, paired with intensive Hebrew study, tours, and weekly seminar days meeting Israeli officials, policymakers, journalists and activists. Founded in 2007 to strengthen the Diaspora-Israel connection and global Jewish leadership.

A 6-month leadership program (with an optional 3+ month 'Perek Bet' internship extension) bringing young Israelis together with Jewish peers from around the world to study Jewish Peoplehood, public diplomacy and Jewish texts alongside personal-growth work and volunteering that benefits Israeli society.

A Masorti/Conservative-movement gap year for young adults from Noam's global network (UK, Europe, Latin America and beyond), combining Zionism, Masorti Judaism, tikkun olam, hadracha (leadership) and democracy education, run through Kibbutz Hannaton's Education Center in the Galilee.

An immersive Jerusalem gap year for 70 recent high school graduates -- half from North America, half from Israel -- blending Jewish text study, philosophy and modern thought with leadership training and communal life, drawing on the Hartman Institute's pluralistic scholarship and methodology.

$33,000 (includes housing, meals, all programming, trips, staff support and health insurance); limited need-based financial aid available

A 9.5-month, co-educational leadership gap year combining shared living with Israeli peers, immersive Zionist learning and hands-on leadership experiences at World Bnei Akiva's flagship international mechina campus.

$17,000-$25,000, with $5,000-$10,000 Masa grants typically available

A pluralistic, co-ed pre-military academy emphasizing progressive and Zionist leadership development, alongside standard mechina Jewish-identity study and community volunteering.

$14,000-$16,000 (covers education, room, board, transit, insurance and laundry)

A pluralistic, co-ed pre-military leadership academy in Harish drawing on Israeli Air Force heritage and values as a framework for its leadership training, alongside standard mechina Jewish-identity study.

$14,000-$16,000 (covers education, room, board, transit, insurance and laundry)

A pluralistic, co-ed pre-military academy across three campuses focused on cultivating a new generation of Israeli leadership with an emphasis on social and environmental responsibility, alongside standard mechina Jewish-identity study.

$14,000-$16,000 (covers education, room, board, transit, insurance and laundry)

A pluralistic, co-ed pre-military academy established in 2018 that uses a distinctive physical-and-mental training system to build modern-age resilience and life skills, alongside standard mechina Jewish-identity and leadership study.

$14,000-$16,000 (covers education, room, board, transit, insurance and laundry)

A pluralistic, co-ed pre-military academy on the Golan Heights focused on cultivating initiative, responsibility and leadership toward building a democratic Jewish society, alongside standard mechina Jewish-identity study and volunteering.

$14,000-$16,000 (covers education, room, board, transit, insurance and laundry)

Founded in 1997 as Israel's first secular/pluralistic mechina and the first to accept international participants, Nachshon alternates 'in' weeks of campus study with 'out' weeks of hiking and volunteering, emphasizing leadership, Zionism, and Israeli identity. Runs in Hebrew and is primarily for Israelis, but has a history of hosting overseas participants through the Yachad program.

~$19,000

A pluralistic pre-military leadership academy founded in 2001, combining Jewish text study, Israeli society engagement, and leadership training for Israeli high school graduates before IDF service. Primarily Israeli-only and Hebrew-language, though it participates in the Joint Council of Mechinot's Yachad initiative that places diaspora young adults into partner mechinot.

The three-week Israel component of the year-long Diller Teen Fellows leadership program, bringing ~700 Jewish teens from 32 partner communities across 7 countries together for the Global Diller Congress.

A Conservative movement gap year program blending Israel study, army service (Marva), and leadership development.

~$28,000 (financial aid available)