Beit Morasha

The Russell Berrie Foundation believes strongly in strengthening Jewish identity in Israel.  It is supporting the growth and development of the Identity and Purpose program with Beit Morasha, which seeks to strengthen Jewish and Zionist identity of Israeli soldiers, increase the sense of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people as well as heighten motivation for meaningful military service. 

Binyamin Ish-Shalom, Founder and Rector of Beit Morasha and Angelica Berrie, President of the Russell Berrie Foundation

Beit Morasha has found that Israeli youth often lack basic knowledge of Jewish history, tradition and culture and feel disconnected from their land and people.  This has been most evident in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which is often thought of as a microcosm of Israeli society.  Service in the Israeli army represents a commitment to the state of Israel.  Soldiers and commanders are faced with difficult challenges which often put their Jewish values and ethics to the test.  The Identity and Purpose program seeks to change this by educating IDF officers in Israeli-Jewish identity, ethics, leadership and empowering them to serve as “commander educators”; assuring that the rich Jewish heritage informs the IDF soldiers as they perform their duties. 

Five years ago, the IDF initiated the Identity and Purpose program, which is designed to strengthen Jewish and Zionist identity of Israeli soldiers, clarify questions of values and heighten motivation for meaningful military service.  IDF trains 20,000 IDF commanders and officers a year in Israeli-Jewish identity, ethics and educational leadership.  This training empowers them to serve as “commander educators” who can infuse the soldiers under their charge with Jewish and Zionist values.  Since its founding, the Identity and Purpose program has reached over 100,000 commanders and soldiers.

Last year, the Russell Berrie Foundation provided Beit Morasha with a 3 year challenge grant of $1 million for the Identity and Purpose program with the goal of institutionalizing it over the long term.

Over the next year, Beit Morasha will be expanding the Identity and Purpose program to train more commanders as well as increase the scope of educational tools and techniques and create new tools and training models for the IDF.

For more information on the Identity and Purpose program, please here to be directed to the Beit Morasha website.