After two years of the pandemic, 2022 has been a record year in the last decade so far in the arrival of Jewish youth groups from all over the world.
Eyal Tiberger, CEO of Maccabi World, said: “Maccabi World Union in 2022 is organizing about 20 youth groups, which includes about 1,600 youth from 30 countries who will come to Israel for special study programs, to integrate into society and some also for military service.”
Youth groups have already arrived from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Spain, and the US, and more will arrive later in the year.
During their stay, the youth undergo training in the fields of leadership, Zionism, Judaism, Holocaust studies, sports and agriculture, and some also go on delegations to Poland and some do 02 basic training in the IDF.
Among the groups of young Jews who come to Israel, there are also groups who come to learn about Israeli start-ups, high-tech, and technology, as part of the ISE program that allows young people to work in start-up companies, such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Mobileye.
An interesting phenomenon in the past year was also a group of young Jewish soccer players from Argentina who formed an Argentine soccer team that was integrated into the Israeli third division.
In recent years, Maccabi World has brought to Israel more than 3,000 Jewish youths from all over the world, of whom about 400 have made aliyah.
