Over 4000 high school students from around the world attended this year’s Lapid Youth Festival held Sunday evening in Modiin. Walking through the crowded park, and taking in the colorful tee shirts worn by most, one could see the diversity of programs represented, from NFTY to AMHSI to the Peretz School in São Paulo, Brazil to World Bnei Akiva, among many others. In addition to the expected speeches, the festival included a performance by the popular Israeli band Hadag Nahash.

During the evening, Israel’s largest flashmob turned into a protest demonstration against the government with participants holding up signs saying “Don’t put out our torch/flame” – a reaction to the lack of government funding for high school programs.

The festival program capped off Lapid’s 2nd Annual World Jewish Teen Council events held during the day at Alexander Muss High School (AMHSI) in Hod Hasharon. Here, the students participated in interactive workshops focusing on Israel engagement and Israel advocacy.

about Lapid: founded in 2008 as a coalition to strengthen the community of high-school study and travel programs in Israel and to lobby for recognition and financial and institutional support on par with comparable programs for university-age participants.

Over the past 40 years, the program partners of Lapid have brought over 500,000 teenagers to Israel on an array of programs.