With a rising number of young men and women from North America choosing to enroll in universities and colleges in Israel, the Orthodox Union’s Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (OU-JLIC) has opened its second campus program in Israel at Bar-Ilan University in Givat Shmuel, in partnership with World Mizrachi.
“There are more and more American and Anglo students choosing to continue their higher education in Israel, and our goal in bringing OU-JLIC to Bar-Ilan is to serve them as we do on our campuses here in the United States,” said Orthodox Union executive vice President Allen Fagin.
The program will also serve students who reside in Givat Shmuel and attend Tel Aviv University or IDC Herzliya, where there is already a prospering OU-JLIC program on campus.
Students from yeshivah backgrounds face certain challenges when entering the secular college campus environment, and OU-JLIC Torah educators serve as mentors to help them observe Jewish life, as well as offer social opportunities, Torah learning and Shabbat and holiday meals. The program serves more than 4,000 students on 23 college campuses across the United States, Canada and Israel.
Rav Yehuda and Chagit Peles serve as the OU-JLIC educators at Bar-Ilan. Rav Peles is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Herzog College. Chagit Peles is an alumna of Hebrew University and the Bar-Ilan Azrieli Faculty of Medicine.
“In Israel, OU-JLIC programs serve as an important base for our students studying abroad,” said Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane. “Our programs and services on campus help create a community within a community, providing personalized opportunities for growth in Torah study and mitzvah observance.”
