For more than ten years, the Jewish Agency has been conducting a project for absorption of youth in Israel. The project enables Jewish youngsters from the Former Soviet Union to come to Israel and finish their high school studies at a local boarding school without changing their status from tourist to immigrant.

Three groups have completed their studies with remarkable success over the past decade. This year, the fourth group will be graduating the six-year high school at Ein Gedi.

The project's name, Naaleh, explains school principal Ruti Lior, is a Hebrew acronym for the phrase "youngsters move to Israel ahead of their parents." The project, that began operation in 1993, focused on absorption of sixteen-year-olds from the FSU, expecting their parents would follow them to Israel - as indeed occurred in many cases.

The project's success is partly due to the warm reception and considerable attention these youngsters receive. The kibbutz and boarding school became their only home in Israel. Each student is "adopted" by a kibbutz family that provides a home-like atmosphere. They also receive much attention from the house mother, who accompanies them and helps them through their absorption pangs on the kibbutz. She also corresponds regularly with their parents overseas and reports to them about their children.

Ruti Lior: "Although some of the youngsters miss access to the big city, they are satisfied with the high quality of kibbutz life."

At the end of their studies, on graduating twelfth grade, most students are recruited into the IDF. Some even return to their kibbutzim after military service.

Ruti Lior notes that "it's not always easy for students because they encounter another culture and another language and have to cope with these differences and absorption difficulties without their parents. At Ein Gedi, we exert extensive efforts to facilitate their stay in Israel, nurturing them in a kind of family "hothouse."

In conclusion, we say: Keep up this welcome tradition and continue your fine absorption work!

Av 5762 - August 2002