Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz
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Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz (Institute for Overseas Leadership) is a MASA-funded young leadership program in Israel for high school graduates from all over the world.
The Machon was founded in 1946 by the World Zionist Organization to train a cadre of Zionist youth leaders who would go back to their home countries and work in the Jewish community to pass on Zionist values and promote immigration to Israel.
Since then, over 12,000 young people have studied at the Machon, from South America, Argentina, Mexico and the United States, North African countries in the 1950s, and more recently from the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Close to one third of those who have studied at the Machon have immigrated to Israel and contributed to the development of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.
[edit] Alumni
In the UK, alumnus Samuel Green spreads his message through Zionist rap over the airwaves of CUR1350 radio at Cambridge University. Danny Cohen of Northwestern University uses his Machon skills to organize youth through the Association of Jewish Sixthformers (AJ6). Dr. Moises Salinas, a 1986 alumnus of the Machon and a professor of psychology, founded Greater Hartford American Zionist Movement and won the 2004 Herzl Award.
Today the Machon has four active divisions:
- English Speakers
- Latin American languages (Spanish, Portuguese) speakers
- Russian Speakers
- Religious division
