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72 Youths Leave U.S. for Israel on Cultural Exchange Program

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A group of 72 young’ Americans, most of them undergraduate and post-graduate students, will leave for Israel tomorrow by plane to participate in a cultural exchange program in Israel. Another group of 64 will leave for Israel early in July.

The two groups, including eleven Canadians, comprise the largest number to participate since the Israel Summer programs were launched five years ago by the Youth Department of the Jewish Agency. They include members of Junior Hadassah, the Intercollegiate Zionist Federation, Young Judaea, Mizrachi Hatzair and B’nai British Hillel Foundations.

The majority are enrolled in the Israel Summer Institute. They range in age from 18 to 35. The curriculum provides for three weeks of lectures and study groups and an extensive tour of the country. Lecturers and study group leaders include outstanding experts in Israeli economics, sociology and ancient and “contemporary Hebrew culture. Another two weeks are devoted to a pragmatic study of Israel pioneer life, during this period the students will reside and work in Israel’s model collective settlements.

A group of 43 young people, ranging in age from 16 to 18, will participate in a program planned jointly by Young Judaea and the Israel Scout Movement in cooperation with the Jewish Agency. Still another group of American professionals and technicians, members of the PATWA organization of the United States, have accepted summer employment in Israel. Some of these have enrolled in “Ulpanim,” intensive seminars in the Hebrew language. The young Americans will be joined by similar groups from Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries.

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