A new institution has been added to the growing list of pre-military academies in Israel - this one in the northern-coast city of Acco (Acre).
Over 30 students - 18 boys and 13 girls, recent high school graduates - have started the 2008-9 school year in the new mechina, or pre-military academy.
Continuing the mechina movement's pursuit of excellence and leadership, the 31 were chosen from more than 100 candidates, having displayed a willingness to learn and contribute as well as leadership qualities and potential. Most of them live in peripheral areas of Israel.
The new instituation, located in the city's Cultural Center complex, is named Gal, in honor of the late renowned educator Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael Gal. It is the 35th such academy in Israel, with the first one, Yeshivat Bnei David, having been established in in the Shomron (Samaria) town of Eli in 1987. In 1997, the first non-religious mechina sprouted - Nachshon, currently located in Metzudat Yoav near Ashkelon.
Of the 25 recognized mechinot (ten are still in the process of receiving recognition), 13 are yeshiva academies, and the others are "general" - either secular or mixed secular/religious. Nearly half of the mechinot are located in Judea, Samaria, greater Jerusalem, and the Jordan Valley. Others are in the Galilee, Golan, Tel Aviv, Negev, Massuot Yitzchak and elsewhere.
"The pre-military academies are a Zionist and principled enterprise of the first degree," MK Limor Livnat (Likud) said at the time. She added that she helped develop the project when she was Minister of Education.
The yeshiva mechinot study Talmud, Jewish Law and Jewish thought, together with the courses in Zionism, leadership and Judaism given in the other pre-military academies. "The best IDF officers and commanders come from the mechinot," Livnat said.
Just a month ago, the Knesset passed a law by a whopping 72-0 vote anchoring the mechinot's budgets in law. As a result, the pre-military academies will no longer have to fear annual budget cuts.
Cooperation and Respect
Rabbi Ze'ev Sharon, head of the Maaleh Efraim Mechina Yeshiva, told IsraelNationalNews, "The cooperation, affection and respect between the religious and non-religious leaders of the mechina movement is something that should be emulated in the rest of the country. It is simply outstanding, and truly - and not just as a turn of phrase - one for all and all for one. Specific examples abound."
The pre-military academies were established to prepare high school graduate youth for meaningful IDF service, to encourage them to serve in combat units and become officers, and to grant them spiritual and physical strength in anticipation of their encounter with army life. The mechinot seek to develop young leadership, enrich the youth's Zionist-spiritual world, and to prepare them to accept responsibility and a sense of national mission and challenge in various spheres.