Youth Aliyah is a child rescue program that Hadassah helped to create in 1934 when Henrietta Szold assisted Recha Freier in rescuing tens of thousand of children from war torn Eastern Europe. At the beginning, the youth were settled in agricultural villages and helped to build the fledgling country that would become Israel. Today the job of Youth Aliyah is to help resettle the children of the Ethiopian and Russian migrations as well as the Israeli children who are part of the over 300,000 youth living on the streets, doing drugs, drinking and doomed to a life that goes nowhere. They are all our children.

We are in the business of fulfilling dreams:

• Gadi will go to the Olympics in 2012 representing his country, having graduated from Hadassah Neurim last year, and where he still lives and trains.
• Racheli has a home to go to every weekend that she gets leave from the IDF. But her parents are still in Russia, so she lives in Meir Shfeyah, in the Lone Soldiers’ Home there—the home she has known for the last four years.
• Ziv will graduate from Ramat Hadassah Szold as a certified animal trainer, having studied with the horses in Ramat Hadassah Szold. As one of five children from a single parent home he is thankful for the education required to become a useful citizen of his new country.

Youth Aliyah has always spoken to the women of Hadassah of all ages because the project does what women do—take care of the young. It is instinctive for us. Today many of our offspring choose Youth Aliyah as their bar/bat mitzvah tzedakah project because it also speaks to them. They understand that all it takes is someone to believe to make dreams come true.

The History of Youth Aliyah/Children at Risk

Hadassah's Youth Aliyah Villages:

• Hadassah Neurim
• Meir Shfeyah
• Ramat Hadassah Szold

Extracurricular Programs

Youth Aliyah staff encourages students to participate in fun and purposeful extracurricular activities designed to build self-esteem, develop social and vocational skills, foster empathy and encourage leadership. Programs include regularly scheduled field trips throughout the country, multicultural concerts, chess tournaments, community celebrations of holidays and all types of athletics - from soccer to ballet – that open up exciting new worlds for youth from each of our villages and Day Centers. Music also plays an important part in tall three villages’ programs. Performers, song writers, dancers—all find a place to shine.