Council Head Ezra Ravins addressing the newly arrived Academy Students

It's not every day that you have the pleasure of meeting a group of bright, engaged young people who want to make a difference in the world, and to meet seven such young Australians who have come halfway around the world to try to do just that is truly outstanding.

Amy-Lee Sesel, Jeremy Davis, Brandon Alter, Gabriel Segal, Paul Fayman, Bec Searle and Jeremy Rosengarten all came to Israel on the IBC (Israel By Choice) program in February with a group of 73 18-19 year old Australians. The group spent two months in Jerusalem, volunteering at various institutions, including ILAN (Israel Foundation for Disabled Children) and soup kitchens, and studying in the afternoons. This was followed by a week of hiking from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), after which the group moved to Ashkelon for more volunteering, this time with the elderly and Ethiopian immigrants.

 
Brandon Alter, Jeremy Davis and Amy-Lee Sesel
 

 
Jeremy Rosengarten, Bec Searle, Paul Fayman and Gabriel Segal

 All of the seven who decided to spend their last three months in Israel at the Arava Leadership Academy had also volunteered at Magen David Adom, which requires some knowledge of Hebrew, as well as taking a two-day course prior to beginning the volunteer work. On August 31st they arrived at the Academy on Moshav Hazeva in the Arava, together with 28 young Israelis, having hiked down through the Yamin Plain to get to the moshav. The Australians were accompanied by their madricha, Sara Ribner, of whom they clearly think highly.

So why have seven young Australians come to Hazeva? The idea to establish an academy for social leadership in the Central Arava was conceived and implemented by the second generation on Moshav Hazeva who felt the need for an academy which would instill the values of Judaism and Zionism, contribution to the State and the community, working the land, preserving the environment, and equality and respect for all. The academy is open to all high school graduates who would like to put off their army service for year in order to decide upon their paths in life, and the students come from all walks of life and streams of Judaism

The Academy opened its doors just last year, and one of the objectives was to bring in Australian students, to both diversify the student population and to reinforce the ties with the Arava's Partnership 2000 partner community. The Academy's first year was extremely successful, and both the Israelis and Australians are uniformly positive about this year's experience so far. Just prior to Rosh Hashana the newly-arrived Academy students split up into groups of five or six, and together with some of the moshav's children, went to each and every home on the moshav to say Happy New Year. We wish them a wonderful year of learning, growth and friendship.