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How can we ensure that millennials, Gen Z, and coming generations take part in the future of the Jewish people and our culture, through connecting to our past and glorious legacy?
Can we answer the ultimate question of how we guarantee the continuity of the Jewish people?
How can we encourage the Israeli leaders and activists of tomorrow to engage with their past, connect with their present, and design their own future, guided by the enormous cultural legacy they inherit?
How do we create a vibrant, pluralistic, 21st century Judaism that is relevant to today's generation, while tackling the challenge of conserving and enhancing our Jewish legacy?
Welcome to the hidden Jerusalem – the Jerusalem of your dreams. Welcome to the true Jerusalem, the heart and soul of an innovative, vibrant, rich, modern, contemporary Jewish culture. A city reclaimed, that serves as a source of inspiration for young Jews in Israel and around the world.
Tucked into the pastoral hills of Ein Kerem, we make the Jerusalem of dreams come true for hundreds of young Jewish cultural entrepreneurs, and have been since 2011. We take pride in developing innovative educational programs and cultural events that invite Israeli young adults, ages 20-35, to take an active role in the search for their own identity and meaning.
Join us as we create a community of cultural innovators who, through intense Jewish learning and cultural entrepreneurship, will serve a key role in the rejuvenation of Jerusalem as a center for pluralistic, enriching and uplifting Jewish culture.
Spring Forward: A four-month intensive experience of immersive Jewish learning and social action that includes facilitated study sessions of classic and modern Jewish-Israeli texts, history, philosophy, music and the arts; cultural entrepreneurship training, and volunteer work in the community. Through a meaningful conversation between the old and the new, the past and the future, tradition and innovation we are creating the Jewish-Israeli culture and identity of the present.
Our month-long summer/Elul program on Urban sustainability, community and Jewish culture in Jerusalem. HaBustan is for young adults, students and activists who are interested in specializing in environmental work and studying Jewish Israeli culture. The goal of the program is to educate young Israeli activists about the intersection between Jewish values, social justice and environmental justice, to ultimately create a movement of Israelis working together on environment and social justice issues inspired by Jewish values and texts.
The JSY alumni community choose to make Jerusalem their home and are committed to community involvement and the betterment of Jerusalem. Living, working and studying together, our alumni provide support for one another and social-cultural activities for an increasing number of young adults in the city, changing the way young Israelis think about Jewish culture and Jerusalem. We are creating future leaders who are deeply committed to Jewish culture and Israeli society, who see a future for themselves, living and working, raising families in their city, Jerusalem. Our alumni community continues to live together even after the program, studying together, creating cultural events, and celebrating Jewish and Israeli holidays. They have become an inspiring model of a young, secular but very Jewish, activist and growing community in the heart of Jerusalem.
Join us as we create a community of cultural innovators who, through intense Jewish learning and cultural entrepreneurship, will serve a key role in the rejuvenation of Jerusalem as a center for pluralistic, enriching and uplifting Jewish culture.
The JSY's cultural events have become a known phenomenon throughout Jerusalem and beyond. We organise intimate and large scale celebrations of Jewish learning, music and culture, which combine tradition and text study alongside contemporary popular culture– innovative and exhilarating events that attract thousands each year.
JSY holiday events in partnership with other leading Jerusalem cultural institutions are highly anticipated highlights on the Jerusalem calendar, such as Yom Haatzmaut at the Tower of David with over 1000 participants; A pluralistic Tikun Leil Shavuot in partnership with HUC which brings over 700 participants; Environmental Tu Bshvat Seder with the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens which gathers hundreds of Jerusalem based environmental activists; Our infamous Purim parties that revellers can't help but remember; and musical Kabbalot Shabbat that serve to educate and inspire.
Our community "haflot" (celebrations) have become a tradition in Ein Kerem, a kind of secular synagogue and a space of inspiration.
For the past two years, JSY has artistically directed and produced all the cultural content for "HaDir – The bar at Hansen House", a local culture bar and culture club, and has turned it into a major entertainment and cultural center in the city, attracting hundreds of young people a week, and visitors from Israel and the world.
The egalitarian humanistic democratic and multicultural vision of Judaism that drives JSY is meant to derive inspiration from Jerusalem, but not to isolate it there. One of our main tenets is connecting with communities, organizations, and their leaders in the Diaspora, and mending the worrying gaps that are widening between Israel and the Diaspora. In the past several years, the yeshiva has led study events and international delegations and has devised projects for connection and cooperation between Israeli and American Jewry. This includes several international delegations in cooperation with the Schusterman Foundation and ROI Community to Ukraine, Thessaloniki, Krakow, and Morocco; and lectures and partnerships that bring the JSY's vision to your community. Our delegations delve into the past and deconstruct the Jewish mythology in these places to examine how we can bring lessons from history into our present and future. For more information on visits, lectures, collaboration and future delegations, please contact us here: Office@jsy.org.il
Today, the Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva is one of the most influential, young, creative communities in Jerusalem and one of the largest growing non-religious Jewish communities in the world. With its innovative educational programs for young adults, a growing alumni community, worldwide delegations, cultural events that attract thousands, the Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva is spearheading a new phase in the development of Israeli Jewish identity.
JSY is a proud grantee of The Diane P. & Guilford Glazer Fund, The Honey Foundation, The Moses Montefiore Foundation, The Sapir Center, The Gimprich Family Foundation, The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, and The Jerusalem Foundation. Additionally, we receive funding from the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality, several Jewish Federations, and private donors from Israel and around the world.
