'This is where I'm supposed to be'

Naale high school students describe their experience studying in Israel, far away from home.

In cooperation with Naale, | updated: 17:37

Naale students
Naale students
Yoni Kempinski

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Israel's Naale program in Kfar Saba's Amana girls' high school and Sha'alvim's Yeshiva, offers Jewish students from abroad the opportunity to earn an internationally recognized matriculation certificate while integrating into Israeli society.

Rabbi Daniel Hershenson, Yeshivat Sha'alvim's Naale Coordinator, said, "Many of them after the first summer they go home, they come back at the beginning of eleventh grade they say, 'You know, we feel we've gone through an experience that our friends have not. We're much more mature, we're much more independent.' After a year they see the difference between where they were, where their friends are today, but where they are today."

Eduarda Gutman,an Amana student from Brazil, emphasized that she felt totally at home: "You get off the plane, and just feel like, yeah I did the right thing. Like this is where I'm supposed to be. And it's something."

Jenifer Morgulis of Germany said: "I met friends, also from Germany, from Brazil, from America, from France, all around Europe, and yeah that was a very interesting experience."

"Language is a barrier for some people," Noam Aronston, of Australia, says. "But you get over it 'cause everyone's in the same situation together."

At Sha'alvim, student Elisha Klein from the UK emphasized that "If you make an effort and try to integrate with the Israelis, it's actually quite easy."

"After three years, we're almost together and just like a family, and we cant really feel the culture differences," Benyamin Rozsa-Groo, of Hungary, added.

And what of the Israelis studying at their schools?

Chana Bauer, of Delaware, USA, has the answer: "They're really nice and they're welcoming. And they're like, they try to make you feel welcome. And understood."

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