ShinShinim

ShinShinim are a select group of promising Israeli high school graduates who choose to defer enlisting in the Israel Defense Forces to spend a year in Jewish communities around the world—a year known as Shnat Sherut (Service Year) or ShinShin for short. The Jewish Agency’s ShinShinim initiative enables community organizations worldwide to host these young Israelis locally, connecting global Jewish communities to the Jewish homeland.

We welcomed our ShinShinim Mia and Alon to our community on August 23, 2023, for one year. They will be volunteering in all our supplementary schools, day schools, and local educational programs. 

There’s no more effective way to strengthen vital ties between Israeli and Jewish communities around the world than with authentic, interpersonal relationships between World Jewry and Israelis themselves. While ShinShinim spend the year teaching, connecting, and experiencing life in a Jewish community abroad, locals have the unique opportunity to learn about Israeli life. Upon returning to Israel, after immersing themselves into the complexities of Jewish life outside the Jewish State, exploring their own Jewish identities and gaining new perspectives, ShinShinim become change-makers in Israeli society.