3,500 Teen Leaders. Tens of Thousands of Younger Children. The Multiplier Effect of Education.

This summer, 3,500 Israeli teenagers are preparing to change the lives of tens of thousands of younger children.

At HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed's (NOAL) eight-day Leadership Training Institute, they arrive as participants. They leave as educators.

Teenagers from across the country gather during summer break for eight days at the NOAL's Leadership Training Institute, one of the youth movement's flagship educational programs. We believe that the some of the most powerful educators for children are often just a few years older than they are. By investing in teenagers today, we are preparing the mentors, role models, and community leaders who will inspire Israel's next generation tomorrow.

The institute brings together teens from all over Israel

Over the coming school year, each newly trained teen leader will guide a group of 15–20 younger children in their local youth movement branch. Together, they will reach tens of thousands of young people across Israel, demonstrating one of Dror Israel's core beliefs: education creates lasting societal change because it multiplies itself.

The Institute brings together teens from every corner of Israeli society: from cities and kibbutzim, Jewish, Arab, and Druze communities, and from neighborhoods and towns facing very different realities. While participants share many experiences and values, each leadership institute also addresses the unique challenges facing its communities. This year, for example, the Arab Leadership Institute places a special emphasis on reconciliation and community conflict resolution, equipping young leaders with the tools to strengthen dialogue and resilience within their own communities.

Arab teens learn skills for conflict resolution amid wave of intra-community violence.

Hikes, discussions and games give teens hands on experience and tools to lead.

At the Leadership Institute, participants learn far more than how to run games or activities. They don't simply learn about leadership, they practice it. Throughout the Institute, participants design and facilitate activities, lead their peers, receive feedback from experienced educators, and develop the confidence and skills they'll use when guiding younger children throughout the coming year. Guided by NOAL's gap-year volunteers, themselves graduates of the program, participants experience Dror Israel's educational philosophy firsthand: young people learning to lead by taking responsibility for one another.

This year's Institute carries particular significance. These are teenagers who have grown up through more than two years of war, displacement, and uncertainty. Many come from communities that have been directly affected, including evacuees from Israel's northern border and kibbutzim near the Gaza Strip. Throughout the week, participants explore current events and the questions they will face as young educators. This year's curriculum places special emphasis on helping teens navigate the realities of a society shaped by war while building stronger, more resilient communities through education.

During a visit to the Institute, NOAL Director Nitsan Rozenwaks-Ziv asked one participant from the northern Kibbutz Kfar Giladi what had been most meaningful.

His answer wasn't the hikes or the games.

"It was meeting the participants from Be'eri and Sderot," he said. "I could share what we've been going through in the war, and they told me about their experiences."

In a generation shaped by conflict, one of the most powerful educational experiences was simply listening to one another.

Teens visit the powerful October 7th memorial exhibit.

The Institute also includes a visit to NOAL's permanent October 7 memorial at the campsite, where participants learn about the attacks, the war that followed, and remember members of the youth movement who were murdered. Together, these conversations help young people process a shared national tragedy while asking an essential question: What kind of society do we want to build next?

The answers begin with education.

As these 3,500 teens return home, they carry with them new skills, stronger friendships, and a deep sense of responsibility. More importantly, they return ready to become the educators who will inspire Israel's next generation of children to lead with compassion, resilience, and hope.

Teens take an active role in the institute, including building their own campsites.