The 7th grade students of the ORT-Oren Middle School in Afula cannot wait to begin the "Building a Jewish World" Project. The objective of the initiative is for the young people to develop and maintain People to People relationships with other Jewish young people (grades 6-7) from around the world.
The children from Afula have been selected to collaborate with their counterparts from the Heritage Academy in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In order to assist in the development of new contacts and enhance existing community relationships, the participants will study jointly the significance of Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the age that they celebrate this important event and its reasons. They will exchange opinions and experiences with their counterparts from the various communities around the world during the six classroom sessions leading up to Jerusalem Unification Day, through use of the Internet.

Throughout the year, the children will participate in a series of videoconferences, giving them the opportunity to see one another and develop their relationships. The highlight of this initiative will be when all the young people will have the chance to meet each other face to face in Israel in another 18 months. The project will draw the young people ever closer together and create new friendships that will accompany them as they grow and even encourage them to participate in additional projects aimed at building relationships between the communities.

If your community might be interested in participating in this project, please contact Shiran Akunis, (who is currently replacing Nava Chen, our project coordinator) at NavaCh@jafi.org .