Kivunim offers a unique academic/experiential gap-year program for High School graduates based in Jerusalem, with programmed field trip visits to up to 12 different countries (including India where students have had the privilege of private audiences with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, pictured above) and over 50 cities and villages significant to the history of the Jewish people. The core curriculum is based on the premise that in order to fully understand ourselves we must appreciate the cultures and religions of our hosts. Kivunim attracts those who are serious students, open-minded in their thinking and flexible in their encounter with the rich diversity of the world of our travels, from Morocco to India.
Kivunim is the only gap-year program teaching Arabic as well as Hebrew and cultivating “Critical Inquiry about Israel” ( the title of a major academic study about KIVUNIM by Dr. Bethamie Horowitz and published (2024) in “Teaching Israel – Studies of Pedagogy from the Field” edited by Sivan Zakai and Matt Reingold and published by Brandeis University Press. The program includes a significant art component with noted artist-in-residence Tobi Kahn.
Hebrew College is keenly interested in Kivunim graduates as key prospects for our graduate programs in Jewish leadership, ordination and Jewish Education. The pluralist, academic and contextual orientations of the Kivunim program align closely with Hebrew College’s mission.
Hebrew College offers five courses totaling 30 credits as part of the Kivunim program.
Accreditation
Hebrew College is accredited by NECHE to offer undergraduate credits to students attending Kivunim.