78 programs found
A pre-military academy at Kibbutz Magen in the Eshkol Regional Council (western Negev, near the Gaza border), founded in 2023 by the Israeli Scouts movement (Tzofim) as its newest addition to the mechina landscape. The program is built around Scouting-movement values -- leadership, love of the land, democracy and equality, and social activism -- and presents itself as a deliberately new pre-military track for participants open to 'starting a new journey.'
A leadership-training gap year (shnat hachshara) for Habonim Dror members from Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, combining practical experience, Zionist-socialist education, and movement leadership preparation.
The Mahal program allows Jewish youth from foreign countries to serve in the IDF without making Aliyah (citizenship). Volunteers serve for 18 months, fighting alongside regular Israeli soldiers.
A 6 month or one year program living in Tel Aviv. Working in an internship at a company of your choice. You live in Tel Aviv and get to gain skills and experience for a resume. There are trips all over Israel and a Ulpan to help you integrate.
The Coller School of Management's flagship English-language, AACSB-accredited MBA at Tel Aviv University, focused on entrepreneurship and new-venture creation through hands-on hackathons and accelerators; caps each cohort at 50 students drawn from 40+ countries, with an internship component and access to a 500+-member alumni network.
A one-year, AACSB-accredited English-language MBA at the Hebrew University Business School combining business fundamentals with biomedical-sector knowledge, taught by Israeli and international faculty with a year-long internship placement; open to applicants from business, scientific, or medical backgrounds.
A one-year, AACSB-accredited English-language MBA at the Hebrew University Business School focused on entrepreneurship, strategy, and innovation, combining coursework taught by Israeli and international faculty with a year-long internship placement at a startup or venture capital firm; open to applicants from both business and non-business backgrounds.
A 15-month English-language MBA at Bar-Ilan University's School of Business Administration, combining alternating on-campus and online sessions with coursework in entrepreneurship, global management, finance, and marketing; includes a study tour to China and draws an international cohort of 30-35 students per class.
A Masa-affiliated organization based in Tel Aviv offering professional internship placements (2-5 months) across finance, tech, marketing, consulting, and other fields with a network of 1,200+ partner companies, alongside shorter volunteer tracks (1-6 weeks) with organizations like Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah, and a remote-work track for participants continuing outside employment while based in Israel. Includes housing and Hebrew ulpan options.
The Jewish Agency's umbrella network connecting young Jewish adults with 2-12 month study, internship, volunteer, and teaching programs across Israel. Rather than running a single program itself, Masa operates as a matching and grant-support portal spanning gap-year, academic-semester, teaching-fellowship, and professional-internship tracks -- some of which are separately listed in this directory under their own program names.
A secular leadership pre-military academy named for Lova Eliav, with branches in south Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, developing participants who take active responsibility in Israeli society and during IDF service through a year combining learning, action, Jewish-Israeli identity development, and leadership training within group living.
A secular pre-military academy founded in 2005 by Maj. Gen. (res.) Muki Betzer and Prof. Yossi Leshem, near Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, promoting responsibility, initiative, and Zionism toward social and military leadership. For secular 12th-grade graduates deferring military service for personal development, learning, community contribution, trips, leadership workshops, and group living.
A secular pre-military academy established in 2001 by the Magal Center for Leadership, based at Midreshet Ben-Gurion within Midreshet Sde Boker, run with the Ramat Negev Regional Council and the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute. Branches operate at Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Tze'elim.
A spring excavation open to volunteers of any experience level, offered in flexible one- to five-week blocks, with the first four weeks focused on digging and the fifth on digging and restoration.
An archaeological field school open to undergraduates, graduate students, and general volunteers with no experience required, offering hands-on excavation work under a team of professional archaeologists (including veterans of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon) in flexible 1-6 week blocks across the 2026 summer season.
A 10-month fellowship for post-college young adults with strong Hebrew (Arabic a plus), interning 32 hours a week at an individually-selected Israeli NGO working on civil and human rights, environmental justice, Jewish-Arab equality, women's status, religious pluralism, or economic gaps, with monthly enrichment programming and leadership training.
A 10-month gap year for Habonim Dror Southern Africa members, combining leadership and educational training at Jerusalem's Machon LeMadrichim, work and communal living on Kibbutz Revivim, and a trip to Poland to confront the history of the Holocaust, all within the Progressive Labor Zionist youth movement's framework.
A contemporary-dance program (established 2012) for male dancers 18-28 and female dancers 18-25 with a dance background, from Israel and around the world, offered by Vertigo Dance Company at its Eco-Art Village on a Judean-foothills kibbutz; recognized by Israel's Ministry of Culture & Sports, with graduates going on to the independent dance scene internationally.
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.
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 10-month gap year for members of the Labor-Zionist, secular Hashomer Hatzair youth movement (active in over a dozen countries including France, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay), living communally in Israel and becoming part of Israeli society before returning home to lead the movement's younger members.
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 Bachelor's/Master's/Artist Diploma program (established 2008) for outstanding foreign musicians in instrumental performance, voice, conducting or composition, taught by IPO principal players and other leading Israeli musicians, with performance opportunities in the school's Symphony Orchestra, chamber ensembles and bilingual (Hebrew/English) opera productions.
A semester-long option for international students 18+ to study at a college combining engineering, design and art under one roof, taking English-taught courses plus hands-on art/design workshops conducted in simplified Hebrew; the International Office also runs exchange, internship and transdisciplinary-project partnerships with schools like Cornell and Yale.
An International School offering English-taught and hybrid English-Hebrew degree programs at a 23,000-student college, including an International Law LLB for international students, Olim and globally minded applicants seeking a legal education grounded in Israeli, comparative and international law, with support gradually integrating students into Israeli academic life.
An English-language M.D. program (running since 1983) for U.S. and Canadian pre-med graduates who intend to practice in North America, combining basic medical sciences at the Technion with clinical education at leading Israeli medical centers; graduates sit U.S./Canadian licensing exams.
A new (launching 2026-27) pre-college gap year combining a minimum of four for-credit Tel Aviv University courses with cybersecurity, AI and entrepreneurship workshops, hands-on research in TAU labs, mentorship from Israeli entrepreneurs, Jewish-peoplehood programming, and immersive tours across Israel.
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 5-10 month post-high-school program combining Machon Le'Madrichim leadership seminars, an optional taste of IDF Marva training, Magen David Adom EMS training, kibbutz living and work, touring across Israel, and a Poland trip focused on Shoah education; fully supervised by Maccabi World Union madrichim.
An 8-month gap year for UK school leavers built around Socialist-Zionist and collective-living values: 3 months on kibbutz (Shorashim) for group bonding, Hebrew ulpan and Jewish/Zionist education; a month of leadership training; and 4 months (Anafim) living communally in an Israeli city, volunteering, running youth groups, teaching English, and a March of the Living trip to Poland.
An 8-10 month program for young adults (18-21) combining Sherut Leumi-style social-service volunteering (health, education or welfare, participant's choice) with an educational program on Israeli-Arab conflict, politics and current affairs, leadership/entrepreneurship seminars, and cultural/outdoor activities, while living independently in rented Tel Aviv apartments.
A personalized, one-on-one Hebrew program built around the 'Rapid Language Acquisition' method, with the flagship Sabra Immersion track combining three hours of daily one-on-one study with 1.5 hours of interactive outdoor activities; also offered as 10-day, one-week and two-week intensives.
A 5-month program combining multi-level Hebrew language classes with kibbutz dormitory living and work assignments, giving participants an immersive experience of rural Israeli community life alongside their Hebrew studies.
The Jewish Agency's flagship Hebrew ulpan, founded in 1949, offering five months of intensive Hebrew instruction (5 hours/day, 5 days/week) to roughly 1,600 immigrants and young adults aged 22-35 per year from 30+ countries, with cultural activities and preparation for IDF service or Israeli employment.
A secular/pluralistic, co-ed pre-military academy in the western Negev near the Gaza border, combining standard mechina Jewish-identity and leadership study with community volunteering in the region.
A Foreign Volunteer Program placing short-term overseas volunteers alongside nursing staff, in service laboratories, and in patient-comfort and care roles at Hadassah's two university hospitals, with a coordinator introducing each volunteer to their unit and staying in touch throughout their placement.
Israel's national food-rescue organization runs gleaning trips to pick surplus produce in the fields, night-time food rescue runs, and sandwich-packing sessions for schoolchildren, redistributing rescued food to a network of 200+ partner nonprofits serving over 175,000 people weekly; sessions require no prior training or professional credentials.
Volunteers support children from developing countries receiving pediatric cardiac care, organizing games and activities and providing companionship and emotional support to patients and families before and after their procedures; tracks range from an 'Immersive' 3-week minimum to longer 'Superstar' and 'Buddy' commitments of 2+ months.
Israel's only hi-tech-focused gap year, combining a 4-month coding bootcamp (earning a Front-End Developer certificate in mobile and web app development) with a hands-on internship at Be'er Sheva tech companies and start-ups such as Wix and PayPal, plus Hebrew study and organized trips around Israel.
An intensive 10-day seminar bringing together Israelis and Palestinians ages 20-30 for 18 hours of hands-on tech/entrepreneurship training alongside 18 hours of facilitated conflict-dialogue sessions and a hackathon, followed by ongoing alumni dialogue and cultural-exchange programming.
An internationally-ranked film school's lab program bringing a small cohort of outstanding local and international emerging filmmakers to Jerusalem to develop their debut feature film projects, alongside the school's separate four-year directing/producing and two-year screenwriting degree tracks.
A juried two-week international artist residency at Musrara's Naggar School selecting five interdisciplinary artists from Israel and abroad working in photography, new media, video art, sound and experimental music, alongside the school's ongoing three-year photography, new-media and phototherapy departments.
A highly competitive 7-week summer research program (running since 1971) placing outstanding undergraduates from physical sciences, chemistry, life sciences, math or computer science majors into a Weizmann lab under a research scientist's supervision, working on a real research project alongside the scientific team.
A university-level dance program for international students combining technical training in classical ballet, contemporary dance (including Ohad Naharin's Gaga), choreography and improvisation with Rothberg International School's academic coursework on Israeli history, society and culture.
An English-language study track for overseas students combining first-semester courses from Ariel's three-year undergraduate programs with an intensive 500-hour Hebrew ulpan, run in partnership with Masa Israel Journey; students live and study alongside Israeli peers on the Ariel campus.
The Conservative/Masorti movement's gap-year program, run in partnership with Aardvark Israel: a full academic year split between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with intensive Hebrew ulpan, university-accredited coursework, internships/volunteering, and leadership training grounded in Conservative/Masorti values.
A 5-month permaculture and sustainable-living program for English-speaking young adults ages 18-24, centered on a Permaculture Design Course (internationally certified) and hands-on farm work. A Masa-affiliated long-term program.
A month-long, hands-on program in permaculture, natural building (straw-bale and earth-plaster construction), and organic agriculture, living on Lotan's eco-campus of student-built earthen domes. Graduates receive an internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate.
An accredited university-level semester (or full-year) environmental studies program bringing together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and international students to study topics like sustainable agriculture, cross-border water management, and environmental diplomacy.
Places North American medical students, nursing students, and other healthcare professionals as volunteers in Israeli hospitals and primary-care services, matched to placements by ability and availability. Also runs an annual APF/Birthright medical trip for medical, nursing, and allied-health students to see Israeli healthcare firsthand.
A four-year, North American-style M.D. program taught in English, integrating global health coursework throughout. First three years in Israel (with Medical Hebrew in years 1-2), fourth-year clinical electives at Columbia University Medical Center, and an eight-week clerkship in an underserved community worldwide. Applicants need an undergraduate degree, at least one year of North American college coursework, and an MCAT or GAMSAT score; must hold a passport from a country with diplomatic relations with Israel.
A pluralistic, non-movement-affiliated program combining outdoor adventure with workshops in visual, performing, and literary arts, community service, and creative Jewish study. Israeli and North American participants travel together through four regions of Israel exploring the land's role in Jewish history and the future of Jewish life, with a multi-day service project benefiting Israeli children.
One or two semesters of study at Israel's oldest and most prestigious art and design academy, in fields including fine arts, photography, visual communication, animation, fashion/jewelry design, ceramics and glass, industrial design, architecture, and material culture. Courses in Hebrew or English; a week-long Hebrew course precedes the spring semester. Exchange students are housed at Hebrew University dormitories. IMPORTANT CAVEAT: this is a university exchange, not an open-enrollment program -- applicants must be nominated by a partner institution's international office (Bezalel partners with ~100 art schools worldwide), so it is not available to individuals applying directly without a partner-school affiliation.
A one-year, English-language program for international students at Israel's leading contemporary music school, covering music theory, ear training, arranging, music technology, songwriting, composition, improvisation, private instruction, and ensembles. Begins with a month-long Hebrew ulpan and orientation. Students fluent in Hebrew may continue into Rimon's full majors (jazz, performance, production, composition, education). Commuter campus -- no on-site housing, but staff help arrange shared apartments.
A volunteer medical based program for young Jewish adults (ages 18-40) that provides certified first-responder training followed by experiences in real ambulance shifts alongside Israeli medics; offered independently and through Masa Israel partnerships.
An official Israeli government program placing overseas volunteers from 51+ countries into welfare settings (group homes, day centers, nursing homes) to support people with disabilities, at-risk youth, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly.
A national civilian service alternative to IDF service for young adults ages 17-24, placing volunteers in hospitals, schools, at-risk-youth programs, farms, and other social service settings. There are many different organizations that are in charge of sheirut leumi that individuals can reach out to to find the best placements,
A Masa-affiliated program for English-speaking young adults (ages 21-30) to live, study Hebrew and Jewish culture, and volunteer in south Tel Aviv-Jaffa, choosing between Social Action, Coexistence, or Internship tracks over 5 or 10 months.
A long-running lone-soldier program (since 1991) that brings young Jewish adults from abroad to make aliyah and serve in the IDF, providing a 'garin' (seed group) peer community, host absorption support, and ongoing assistance before, during, and after military service.
Sapir Academic College's International Office offers semester-based courses in English for overseas students in fields such as marketing, communications, cinema, law, economics, and social work, studying alongside Israeli peers.
The University of Haifa's International School offers a semester or full-year study abroad program with English-taught courses in fields like Arabic, archaeology, business, history, international relations, and peace and conflict studies, with students living alongside Israeli students on Mount Carmel.
BGU's overseas student program offers a semester or year of English-taught coursework spanning anthropology, environmental studies, political science, global health, and Israel studies, plus a six-week Hebrew ulpan and dorm life with Israeli suitemates.
Technion International's exchange program lets undergraduates (2nd year and above) study engineering and science courses in English for a semester or academic year, living on campus with Israeli and international students and joining industry site visits.
Tel Aviv University's international school offers undergraduates a semester or full academic year of English-taught coursework in fields like international relations, business, Jewish and Israel studies, plus intensive Hebrew study, while living on TAU's Tel Aviv campus.
Hebrew University's school for international students, offering undergraduate study abroad and exchange tracks with English-taught courses across the humanities, social sciences, business, and Israel/Middle East studies, plus Hebrew ulpan.
A four-week traveling Israel program bringing together teens from six Habonim Dror North America camps, emphasizing values-based education, youth empowerment, and engagement with contemporary Israeli society.
A semester or year-long visiting/study-abroad program at Israel's first private university, offering English-taught coursework across all schools.
An immersive program for young adults engaging in social-justice partnerships between Israelis and Palestinians, combining Arabic/Hebrew study, activism, and homestays.
A volunteer program placing civilians (17+) on IDF bases for 1-3 weeks to perform non-combat logistical support such as packing medical supplies and equipment maintenance, living alongside soldiers.
A 9-month service-learning fellowship for ages 22-32 involving ~30 hours/week of grassroots volunteering across multiple placements, Hebrew ulpan, and immersive learning about Israeli society.
The longest-running Israel gap-year program, an 8-month experience combining kibbutz-based collective living, volunteering with Israel's Hanoar HaOved VeHalomed youth movement, a Poland seminar, and deep engagement with Israeli society in all of its complexity.
A competitive 8-week summer internship program for active TAMID Group chapter members, placing fellows at Israeli companies in finance, tech, and entrepreneurship while living in Tel Aviv.
A 5-6 month professional internship program for Jewish young adults over 21, offering internship placements with Israeli companies, central Tel Aviv housing, Hebrew classes, and career-development seminars.
A 6-10 month fellowship placing Jewish young adults as English-teaching assistants in Israeli public schools, paired with Hebrew study and professional development.
An academic gap-year program for high school graduates based in Jerusalem that combines Jewish and Middle Eastern studies (including Hebrew and Arabic) with extensive travel to up to a dozen countries, offering a transferable Hebrew College transcript.
A customizable gap-year and semester program combining internships or volunteering, Hebrew ulpan, academic courses for college credit, and field trips, with participants living in staffed apartments in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Israel Programs Wiki
