“When a post about Naale Elite Academy came up on my Facebook feed, I mentioned it to my daughter in passing, almost as a joke,” says Londoner Elisa Zoldan, mother of Hadas. “But Hadas had always harboured a dream of living in Israel and she really caught on to the idea. Once she realised that it was a possibility, she wouldn’t let go.”

Today Hadas is at the end of her first year at Ulpanat Amana with Naale, and enjoying every minute. She has friends from all over the world, as well as from cities throughout Israel. After she graduates from high school and completes her National Service, her dream is to attend nursing school and become a midwife. “With all the support and guidance I receive at Naale, I believe that I can achieve that dream,” Hadas says.

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Elisa stresses that parents who are considering Naale should not see it as taking the “easy way out.” Citing the language barrier as well as differences in mentality – not only on the part of Israelis but also American girls – Elisa says that students should be prepared for the culture shock. On the other hand, both Hadas and her mother stress that it is “so worthwhile.” And for anyone thinking about Aliyah, says Elisa, it’s the best way to entrench oneself in Israeli life.

Hadas loves being in Israel and sees Amana as home. She has a packed schedule for the summer, including working in a summer camp in London, but she and all her friends will be back in Israel before the end of the holidays [SB1] to attend the wedding of their beloved madricha at Amana.

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Adam Freeman-Shor, at the Mosenson Youth Village

Adam Freeman-Shor, now finishing 11th grade at the Mosenson Youth Village, also joined the Naale program, after hearing about it by chance. “If you would have told me that our son would ask us to leave home, where he had three rooms to himself, to live in a dorm, I would have said that you were teasing,” laughs Michal, Adam’s mother. But Adam had a dream of living in Israel, and nothing could stop him, not even Covid.

“I had always wanted to go to Israel and connect with my roots, as a Jew and as an Israeli,” Adam says. “I chose Naale, and specifically Mosenson, because I felt it was the best program for me outside of the UK.”

Among the subjects that Adam enjoys are civics and Bible studies, as well as his electives – agriculture and environmental sciences. “I would never have had the opportunity to study those things at my high school in England,” he says.

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When Adam’s parents investigated Naale, it was 2019, well before anyone dreamed that Covid-19 would put countries under lockdown. “After Adam left our home in Maidenhead for Israel to start 9th grade, we were sure that we would be able to visit him as often as we wanted to. Who would have thought that in just a few months, the skies would be closed,” Michal recalls.

As it turned out, being in Naale was the best thing that could have happened for Adam, an only child. “Even during the pandemic, we were able to hang out with our friends. We had loads of time to just relax, study together, and work out at the gym.”

Adam says that what surprised him most about Naale was the fact that the other students came from so many different countries. “Here at Mosenson, I have friends from South Africa, America, Japan, China. I never thought I’d ever meet people from those places, much less call them my good friends.”

Founded in 1992 in collaboration with the Jewish Agency, Naale Elite Academy provides Jewish teens from across the globe with the opportunity to attend high school in Israel. The program operates in a broad range of host schools all over Israel, each with its own style and orientation. Naale participants integrate with Israeli and international students, developing meaningful connections that will allow them to thrive on both a personal and a communal level.

Naale is fully funded including tuition, airfare to Israel at the start of the program, room and board, health insurance, trips and more. The dedicated staff at Naale are committed to supporting students’ educational and emotional growth, enabling them to enjoy the experience of a lifetime while achieving academic excellence in core and extracurricular subjects.

To hear more about Naale Elite Academy, please contact Ravid Meron, Naale Regional Manager for the UK, at naale.uk@gmail.com