This month we strengthened our connections with Jewish communities oversees when we were graced by visits from two groups of Australian High School students from Sydney and Melbourne who visited Israel over the course of the winter (Southern Hemisphere summer) in between tenth and eleventh grade. Fifty students from Sydney’s Emanuel High School came to Akko on the last night of Hanukkah to meet with graduates of their own high school who are now living out their dream as memb

We were very blessed in November to host many friends and partners who came to visit Akko to see the Educators’ Kibbutz first hand. We met Julie Diamond from the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation together with Lee Gordon, the cofounder of Hand-in-Hand, at the Jam. We talked with Julie and Lee about the challenges Akko faces as a city in Israel’s periphery, the special role the Jam plays as a nightlife venue for locals, and the importance of encouraging local arts and culture