Today, in Weimar, Germany, The Jewish Agency for Israel will open a multi-day student conference for nearly 400 Taglit and Masa Israel alumni.

Titled, Jewish Agency for Israel Student Conference: From Herzl until Today, the conference will bring together German-speaking young adults from Germany, Austria and Switzerland to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl. The focus will be on modern Israel, its centrality in the Jewish world and the global campaign to de-legitimize Israel.

Weimer is a significant location for the first German speaking conference of this kind as it was not only the home of many cultural greats, including Bach, Goethe and Nietzsche, but also the location of Buchenwald, the former concentration camp.

This conference is part of a larger Jewish Agency strategy to cultivate an elite cadre of young leaders in Germany to positively impact a unique and complex dynamics of Jewish communal life.

The event also reflects the great importance the Jewish Agency attaches to nurturing Jewish life in Germany. As such, the Jewish Agency has launched a special task force for Central Europe and Germany under the direction of Dr. Michael Yedovitzky.