Be’eri Educational Enterprises
Progressive Zionist Leadership
Progressive Zionist Leadership
Be’eri Educational Enterprises seeks to lead a transformative movement of Zionist, rooted, and democratic education for Israel’s liberal camp. Our educational role is to make this country, and the spiritual world that gave rise to it, into a home for our participants — a place to which their souls are deeply connected and attached. We believe that genuine influence on the future of the country can only be achieved through the patient and thorough development of values-based education and the building of groups that will work together within Israeli society, out of a sense of responsibility for its future.
In order to bring about deep social change, a holistic approach is required. Therefore, we are building a comprehensive educational ecosystem that enables young people from across the social spectrum to join the Zionist-liberal journey through a variety of pathways.
All of our programs converge toward one goal: building a layer of liberal-Zionist leadership within Israeli society.
The Beeri Mechina is a one-year leadership program that promotes democratic and egalitarian dialogue and shapes a Jewish-Zionist society based on liberal and humanitarian values. The mechina is located at two branches – Beit Berl and the Kanot youth village – and is named after Berl Katznelson, one of the leaders of the Labor Movement.
The mechina consists of high school graduates, secular and traditional, before their military service, coming from various backgrounds with a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to Israeli society.
The mechina year combines Torah study, group living, social action, military preparation, and work weeks.
All of these elements create a life-changing experience that makes our graduates partners in our journey.
Mechinat Be’eri is a year-long pre-military leadership program based at Beit Berl and named after Berl Katznelson, one of the leaders of the Labor movement. The Mechina is intended for secular and traditional graduates of 12th grade from diverse backgrounds, who come with a sense of responsibility and commitment to Israeli society.
The year at the Mechina is a meaningful and immersive year that combines Beit Midrash study, communal life, social action, preparation for meaningful military service in the IDF, and periods of hands-on work – a transformative, life-changing experience that provides participants with tools for leadership, responsibility, and influence, and turns the Mechina’s graduates into committed partners in shaping the future.
Guided by a Jewish-Zionist, democratic, liberal, and humanistic worldview, the Mechina works to promote democratic and egalitarian dialogue and to shape a Jewish-Zionist society grounded in these values. We aspire to cultivate a generation of young people who act out of a commitment to Israeli society, take responsibility for its future, and choose to play an active role in shaping it.
Nadav Mechina is a six-month pre-military leadership program focused on liberal Zionism, dedicated to empowering young women and men who choose to take responsibility for Israeli society. The Mechina educates toward action out of a sense of purpose, commitment to the State of Israel and the Zionist project, and the belief that values are not merely ideas, but a way of life and a driving force for change.
Through in-depth learning, communal life, social action, and hands-on experience, participants undergo a meaningful process of developing their identity, cultivating leadership, and deepening their sense of personal and civic responsibility. The Mechina provides young people from diverse backgrounds with the tools to lead, influence, and take action out of a commitment to Israeli society and the State of Israel.
The Mechina was established in memory of and inspired by Staff Sergeant Nadav Cohen, a graduate of Mechinat Be’eri’s sixth cohort, who fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip during the Iron Swords War at just twenty years old. Nadav believed that a better society does not create itself, but is built by people who choose, day after day, to live according to the values they believe in.
“That’s how life works: The choices that go hand in hand with the values you believe in will inevitably be the most difficult choices. The choices that require the greatest sacrifice. I ask you to continue making these choices, to look at each such choice not as a sacrifice, but as an opportunity to bring the values you believe in to life. Have an impact, make a difference, improve your surroundings — but above all, experience life.”
A focused and intensive six-week pre-military program.
Designed for young men and women from diverse backgrounds before their enlistment, the program focuses on strengthening identity and values and preparing participants for meaningful military service.
All pathways lead to a vibrant and growing alumni network — a “long furrow” of people of integrity and exemplary individuals within Israeli society. Our graduates step forward to meet the country’s greatest challenges: through meaningful military service, public service and education, and active social engagement.
“The future of Zionism depends on whether it will discover and develop a broad human values that lie within it from the beginning of its existence, and by finding the key to the heart of the people, to create its adherence and encouragement through a full vision of civil redemption”
(Berl Katzenelson)
The four pillars of the mechina are founded on the vision of Berl Katzenelson (Be’eri), the spiritual leader of the labor movement:
Creating and understanding the importance, the characteristics and the limitations of democratic discourse will help our students become influential members of democratic society, aware of and responsible for its constant need of protection.
The Zionist movement led to the revival of the Jewish people. Through Jewish culture, we are able to examine the values relevant to our generation’s own reality and lifestyle. Pursuing a combination of Judaism and Zionism strengthens our student’s connection to the Jewish people, to the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and to a life of participation in Israeli society.
Be’eri is a home for all sectors of Israeli society. Motivated by a civic and egalitarian agenda, we see the pursuit of fair social discourse, solidarity and relationship building between different sectors of the population, as the key to healing Israeli society.
The mechina is a year of preparation for a life of fulfillment. Through processes of gaining knowledge, taking social action, discussing values and building meaningful relationships, we hope to instill a desire and ability in our students to take action across Israeli society, becoming figures of significant impact on their own communities.
Everyday life at the mechina
Life at the mechina can be devided into five core elements.
During the year, the students work for a total of about 40 days, the purpose of which is to earn most of the annual tuition. This is a unique phenomenon uncharacteristic of similar frameworks. It creates an equal opportunity for all youth who wish to join the mechina, regardless of their financial situation. Furthermore, the work gives the students a sense of personal responsibility and independence. The students themselves choose jobs with added value, such as agriculture and archeological excavations.
The year of mechina prepares our students for a meaningful service in the IDF, through physical training, field weeks, personal meetings and lessons dealing with values, moral dilemmas and different mental situations. We see the IDF service as an opportunity for our graduates to meet various sectors of Israeli society and to expand their circles of influence through significant positions in command and office ranks.
The social action taken in the mechina reflects our motivation to prepare a generation of leaders for impacting their own communities. The encounter with underprivileged populations and the day to day challenges they face shapes our student’s actions in the world and gives them the experience and understanding to serve them in the future, when they become policy makers themselves.
A life of community and independence creates a sense of responsibility and of partnership, and encourages open and supportive discourse. We believe that creating a broad impact on society begins with establishing friendships and close relationships during the year of the mechina. These form the foundations needed for students to fulfill their worldview as adults.
Our goal at Be’eri mechina is to prepare our students for a life of social action. The various topics of study are aimed at helping shape an independent worldview, placing an emphasis on knowledge, critical thinking and opinion development. The main subjects covered are politics, current affairs, philosophy, economics, leadership and activism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Zionism, Jewish thought and Arts.
We offer several seminars, including a group-building seminar at the beginning of the year, Field trips in the Negev Desert, and in the Golan Heights and an advanture field trip next to Arad. Our educational seminars cover Politics and Liberal Democracy, Zionism, Israeli – Palestinian conflict, Periphery – center relations and more.
Matan Kedem
Head of the Mechina
Alon Zohar
Head of Nadav Mechina
Noam Tzabar
Branch Director
Roey Gabay
Branch Director
Kelly Agami
Educational Director
Eitan Namllich
Operations Manager
Ido Barnea
Instructor
Maya Nofech
Instructor
Yael Schwimer
Instructor
Neta Greenberg
Instructor
Liav Printa
Instructor
Talia Tal-Or
Instructor
Noga Botansky
Member of the Board
Yossi Maimon,
CEO of the Berl Katzenelson Foundation
Stav Gil,
Deputy Director of Education at “Acharay “
Gilad Rabinovich
Chairman of the Board
Amram Mitzna
Retired Chairman of the Board
Yiftach Dabush
Member of the board
We asked our graduates:
