Kesher Yehudi – doing “the impossible”: Connecting ultra-Orthodox and secular Israeli youth in Israel

July 24, 2023
10:00 am

Communicated Content

Longtime Jerusalem resident and mother of 11, Tzili Schneider vividly remembers as a little girl dancing joyfully with her neighbors following the capture of the Kotel at the end of the Six-Day War.

“I never forgot the special connection all Israeli Jews felt to one another during that unique time, regardless of what they wore on their heads.”

Regrettably, that unity did not last, and sinas chinam (baseless hatred) has grown among different sectors of Israeli society.

“But in the last 80 years, Hashem has presented the Jewish nation with a test. He has brought thousands of Jews back to Eretz Yisrael. He has given us the opportunity to fix what nearly destroyed our nation 2,000 years ago. We must not fail this test,” says Tzili Schneider, Chareidi founder of Kesher Yehudi—an organization that aims to build true achdus among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox and secular populations through Torah learning.

According to Schneider, the media has painted a false picture of Klal Yisrael.

“Jews don’t hate one another. They just don’t understand each other because they’ve grown up in such different ways.” But how do you help such a divided population to love one another?

Kesher Yehudi (KY) discovered the key. Founded in 2012, KY is a groundbreaking national program that fosters long-term friendships between religious and secular Israelis by deepening their connection to their Jewish heritage.

Astonishingly, since its establishment, Kesher Yehudi has achieved the unimaginable.

In addition to organizing 600 events per year and 75 Shabbatons, KY has facilitated 26,000 chavrutot (study partnerships) between ultra-Orthodox and secular participants. For many participants, it’s their first exposure to Jewish ideas despite graduating from top Israeli high schools. KY has also implemented programs in 30 (out of 50) pre-induction Israeli military academies across Israel, providing a curriculum of learning vital to the Jewish identity.

In 2016, Tzili Schneider’s unique organization was awarded the prestigious Jerusalem Unity Prize by former Israeli President, Mr. Reuven Rivlin.

When the mayor of Tzfat (who is not religious) recently visited one of KY’s Mechina Programs in the North, he commented:

“A setting like this can produce a solution to the problem of our nation. If each side would sit and explain his point of view to the other side, everything in Israel would look different…Each group has its way of living and each group is important for our nation.”

At present, with tensions high in Israel, more mechinot and potential students have approached Kesher Yehudi. Across the spectrum, most Jews understand that the only solution to Israel’s societal “mess” is through love and mutual understanding of the “other.”

How do Israel’s young “chilonim” respond to KY’s initiative? Secular Israeli, Yaron Azrieli, participated in Kesher Yehudi’s program while attending an Israeli Mechina Program (pre-military academy). When the program finished, he reported this:

“At first, I was angry at the mechina for pushing Kesher Yehudi’s program into our schedule. What was I supposed to do with these ultra-Orthodox people who flooded the mechina one evening? I saw them as a black mass, fighting with me over the future of the country I love so much.”

Yaron dreaded his first meeting with some “good-for-nothing religious guy.”

And then came Chaim…

“Chaim was a complete shock. 180-degree perception shift…” And from that first introduction, their relationship just “snowballed.”

“After one month of contact, my walls completely collapsed. After two months, we were the best of friends. When I won a photography contest, the person I wanted to call the most was Chaim. He had become that good of a friend.”

Yaron didn’t agree with everything Chaim had to say, “But Chaim helped me see so many things in a new light. And Judaism became much more present in my life.”

The feelings are mutual between study partners. One of KY’s Chareidi volunteers recently expressed what so many other volunteers feel:

“Yuval, my study partner, is a special neshama (soul). We are like David and Yonaton. Even though we come from two different camps, we are connected to each other’s souls.”

Kesher Yehudi’s success reminds us that there is a reality beyond what the media portray—a reality where we are one family, even when our differences seem insurmountable.