Pre Army Programs | Mechinat Reut

Half Year Leadership Academy

Mechina Reut is a half year pre-military preparatory program founded by HaMidrasha–HeChalutz and the Kibbutz Movement and is located on Kibbutz Yechi’am in the Western Galilee. The duration of the program is from September to the end of February.

Mechina Reut is designed for high school graduates nationwide, and aspires to create a diverse mix of young adults representing all sectors of Israeli society, with emphasis on young adults from communities that do consider themselves eligible for pre-army frameworks.

Reut’s participant population and alumni includes young adults from the social periphery, traditional, religious, Ethiopian, Russian, working, urban, and suburban communities. This is an inclusive project that combines Jewish pluralistic and liberal values, study, volunteering and social action, and getting to know the land of Israel through working the land with the desire to build a deep and shared sense of home for the different parts of Israeli society.

Unlike regular mechinot, the Reut program takes place over only six months, because family circumstances and other factors prevent many participants from investing in a whole gap year. At Reut, groups are kept smaller than at other mechinot in order to help participants use the group forum to meet personal challenges.