Israeli rabbis no longer need to fly across the ocean to recruit American students for a post-high school year of study in Israel; an internet Virtual Israel Night Expo will happen this Sunday afternoon instead.
The idea is the brainchild of Avraham Venismach of Moshav Keshet in the Golan Heights. Known by its acronym VINE, Virtual Israel Night Expo is where parents and students can find an Israel program, and rabbis can find their new students, from the comfort of their own home or office computers.
VINE is designed to replace, or bolster, existing Israel Nights in many yeshiva high schools around the country – which require the attendance of both Israeli rabbis and American students. If either side misses the school's Israel Night, a good chance to match up a student with what could have been his or her ideal place of study might be lost forever.
Thousands of high school graduates, mostly from yeshiva high schools, are estimated to come to Israel each year to one of more than 150 programs that are offered.
Recruiting students is very competitive and costly, Venismach says, and program organizers have been known to spend over $20,000 and weeks traveling from place to place. Seeing 10-12 cities in the space of three weeks – three times a year – is not an unheard-of schedule for some recruiters.
Students and parents who register for VINE – a four-hour online event - can choose up to four virtual meetings and two virtual workshops. It will begin at 12 noon EST with a Financial Aid workshop; a representative of MASA, an organization that provides partial scholarships for first-year students, will be on-hand (on-line) to answer questions.
This will be followed by the virtual meetings, several of which will be held simultaneously, beginning every half hour. The final workshop will be run by Nefesh B’Nefesh, for those interested in making Aliyah to Israel. Over 20 high schools in North America will be participating in this Sunday’s pilot VINE.
Venismach says VINE is meant to provide a free platform and center for research information on the various yeshivot and programs. It is reminiscent of Skype, “except that this platform can hold up to 50 participants at a time.”
For more information and to register, visit: www.virtualisraelnight.org.