A Moving Tribute to Yachdav
Keren Ziton, Director of Youth Groups at the Ministry of Education, honored us with her presence at the Yachdav Annual Summit. We received her permission to share the Facebook post she wrote following the event:
“#TheDayThatWas was incredibly moving.
#TheDayThatWas marked the traditional end-of-year event for the Yachdav Youth Organization—a Haredi youth group that moves me every single time, for several reasons:
- The children and teens who are members of the organization mostly come from areas of deep social and geographic periphery.
- They believe in genuine, heartfelt informal education. That means hard work within their communities. Volunteering and spending time outside the traditional Torah learning framework are not taken for granted—but they insist on creating meaningful educational space that doesn’t compromise community values. And they succeed. How do I know? Because the identity and sense of belonging I see in the field—both from the youth and the counselors—are strong and authentic. Straight from the heart.
- They dream—and work hard to realize those dreams. They aspire to run more outdoor activities, develop youth leadership, increase teen involvement. And they eagerly learn from others and adapt what they learn to their own branches.
When we arrived at Tel Hadid, the girls had just finished a full day outdoors, and the boys came to paint and revitalize the woodland area. The stations they went through wove together three core values that the organization instills:
- Striving for Responsibility: taking it, owning it, creating it.
- Striving to Succeed: dreaming and fulfilling our potential
- And being a Ben Torah: Identity and belonging.
After the stations came a closing ceremony led by both counselors and participants: flag processions, salutes, singing… You couldn’t help but feel the love for the organization and staff. You could feel the connection to the values.
We heard from two brothers whose home was damaged in the Iranian attack, speaking about the strength they receive from their Yachdav peers. We met and heard firsthand from volunteers who went to guide displaced families in evacuation hotels.
Yachdav is a Haredi youth movement that doesn’t close itself off from the world—it volunteers in national missions, reaches out to broader society, and acts out of a deep belief in “Hineni” (Here I am).
The teen who stood on stage and offered a blessing for all of Am Yisrael, and then when the youth sang “Acheinu kol beit Yisrael”… my eyes filled with tears. Good thing I was wearing sunglasses 😎…
This Annual Summit was truly a promise. Because I know Yachdav will continue to persevere and leave an impact.
Thank you to Ilan Kosman, whose every heartbeat radiates excitement; to Kobi Tsitrenbaum, the incoming CEO; to Yisroel Shilo, the outgoing CEO, and to all the counselors who sweated but never tired in this heat.
Thank you for being who you are 🙏🇮🇱❤️”
https://www.facebook.com/story.phpstory_fbid=24466155569634668&id=100000006949739&rdid=xYo7OlRtXkmdjIJM#