ALEPH is pleased to announce a partnership between ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal and Dror Leadership High School (DHLS), beginning this January for the spring semester. Dror Leadership High School is a semester abroad program in Israel for North American students in grades 10 and 11. DLHS seek to revitalize Jewish identity for the 21^st century by offering an innovative, progressive approach to Israel education. Through our service-learning projects and our unique location in the Galilee, our students have the experience of a lifetime while gaining an authentic window into Israeli society. The school is located in the beautiful Galilee city of Karmiel, located on the Acre-Tzfat road, about 20 km from Acre.

The core of the program’s uniqueness lies in the fact that tikkun olam and service-learning are a central focus of the program. Dror High and ALEPH share core values on a very deep level. The entire leadership staff of Dror High, as well as all the informal educators and counselors, live in urban kibbutzim dedicated to improving Israel, revitalizing Jewish culture, and working towards a more socially just world. DLHS shares ALEPH’s values around tikkun olam and social justice, building community, renewing Judaism, and diversity of background and practice.,

In addition, this collaboration with ALEPH will offer several unique features, including meetings with a Jewish Renewal rabbis or educators when the program visits Jerusalem, and potentially a Shabbaton led and/or designed by Renewal educators who are currently in Israel at the DLHS campus in the Galilee. We will also work to identify English-speaking families associated with Jewish Renewal in or around Karmiel, contact them and ask them to be “host families” for 1-2 Shabbatot a month.

DLHS will coordinate certain educational programming with ALEPH for teens on the program that come from Jewish Renewal families, so that they return to their communities with a deeper understanding of and commitment to Jewish Renewal. The specific content and timing of the programming and meetings will be determined by a representative from ALEPH in coordination with the Educational Director of Dror High.

For more information on the program, visit http://drorleadership.org or email Sivan Bamberger, Director of DLHS at director@drorleadership.org Application deadlines for the spring semester (January 28-May 28, 2015) are November 30, and there is an early bird tuition for those who register by October 1st. Tuition for the semester is $13,320 for ealry bird registrations, and $14,800 after that date.

Please spread the word about this unique collaboration to anyone in your circles or community that might be interested.