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There are a number of options available, and decisions to be made, in Israel for young men of army age, as they finish their studies in High School, and choose upon what path they will embark for their future.
They have to deal with the army, so some will choose a full time (haredi or haredi style) yeshiva and they will apply for a dichui, or deferment of their army service. Others will go to a Hesder Yeshiva in which they split their time between learning and army service over, generally, a period of 5 years. Another option is to go directly to the army and serve 3 years. Yet another option is the mechina option.
Mechina is a system that is a few years old and has gotten very popular in recent years. You defer your army service for a year. During that time you go to a school, or yeshiva, that is called a mechina. While you learn many things, a main focus of the mechina is to spend the year preparing for the upcoming army service. Preparation is concentrated in the physical training, the mental, and the social.
The popularity of this system has led to a sprouting of such institutions all over Israel, each with different religious levels and some completely secular (though most are for boys who would otherwise be hesder candidates but do not want hesder).
A new mechina has opened up, called the Leadership Yeshiva Academy. It looks like they really put a lot of effort into developing a good system for a serious guy who wants a mechina program to learn for a year and prepare for the army.
LYA has a comprehensive Torah curriculum, along with courses given on political and social issues of Israel and the Middle East.
It looks like they really have worked hard to develop a program that will produce young men of leadership skills and capabilities.
Heck, who knows? maybe they will even produce a future Chief of Staff or Prime Minister. We keep hearing in the news the lamenting of the lack of leadership skills among the younger generation. Maybe LYA is the solution....
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My nephew loves his mechina program up north.
ReplyDeleteActually, IIRC, the first mechina program was being developed by Rav Eli Sadan about 20 years ago. Back then, guys like me who thought they didn't want Hesder (what did I know?) made an arrangement with the Nahal so that we would have some sort of religious support. The first mechina came about a few years later, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteanother option is shiluv, although unfortunately one of the two yeshivot (where i learned) in this program is likely closing down and the other may not be far behind.
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