The Jewish Agency’s “Derech Eretz” program launches today at the educational community of Nitzana. The program will enable youth from all strata of Israeli society, religious and secular, to participate in in-depth educational programs for a period of six months before their recruitment to the IDF. The program’s goal is to make a significant impact on their lives, which will be reflected in a meaningful service in the IDF followed by successful academic studies and integration into social activism and positions of influence in Israeli society.

25 youngsters from around the country, set to be drafted in March 2012, will participate in the program. Many of the participants are from the periphery, immigrants, from families from lower income groups, and from youth villages, and do not have an alternative educational program prior to their induction into the army.

The program will take place in the southern village of Nitzana, and will hopefully be another example of the fulfillment of the vision of Nitzana’s founder Luba Eliav of making the Negev bloom.

Program participants will be living alongside other participants of Jewish Agency programs, including immigrant students from the FSU, MASA and the school for refugees.