Footnote to Tragedy

Mechinah Gal’on is one of the three Nachshon mechinot (pre-induction academies) founded by Maj. (res.) Gilad Olshtein in the wake of the Rabin assassination. About a decade ago, Olshtein approached Mrs. Tzila Schneider, the founder and moving force behind Kesher Yehudi. He wanted his charges to understand their role in Jewish history and why the defense of the collective Jewish people in Israel is worth risking their lives for. And he sensed that the Torah community might have some answers to those questions. Mrs. Schneider jumped at the opportunity to create such a program for Israel’s most idealistic youth, many of whom will go on to become officers in the IDF and societal leaders.

The original three mechinot in the Kesher Yehudi program have grown over less than a decade to 27, with a total of approximately 1,350 students. That rapid growth owes largely to the enthusiastic cheerleading of Olshtein. He used his position on the presidium of the national council of mechinot (of which there are about 50) to continually talk up the Kesher Yehudi program.

The basic program consists of ten meetings between mechinah members and young avreichim and their wives from a nearby Torah community. Each mechinah member is paired with a study partner for the year, and once a month the two spend three hours together discussing and learning materials related to essential issues in Torah thought — e.g., Creation, Shabbat, emunah, prayer, the meaning of “love your fellow Jew as yourself,” the role of women in Torah society, the transmission of Torah, etc.

At least once a year, mechinah members are hosted for a full Shabbos, in the nearby Torah community from which their chavrusas are drawn. Spending a Shabbos together with the chavrusa and his or her family is the capstone of the deep relationship that has been forming over the course of the year, and which will, in many cases, last long after the mechinah ends and its members have entered the IDF.