The KKL-JNF House for Developing Technological and Scientific Excellence was dedicated in Upper Nazareth on March 13, 2018 at a festive ceremony in the presence of the President of Israel, Mr. Reuven Rivlin; KKL-JNF World Chairman Mr. Daniel Atar and the Mayor of Upper Nazareth, Mr. Ronen Plot.
“We must make certain that every child who is born and grows up in Upper Nazareth should be able to climb any peak that he or she aspires to,” said Israeli President
Reuven Rivlin. “This center narrows gaps and offers hope that the sky is the limit.”
The center, which is
KKL-JNF’s pilot project in this field, provides tutorials and enrichment activities for youth, with the goal of encouraging excellence and developing young leadership in Israel’s peripheral regions, offering equal opportunities for youth in order to bridge the gap between the country’s central and more distant regions. The structure was designed with a young and innovative spirit and includes classrooms, a computer lab, an auditorium and an open space for social activities.
“This center represents the meeting point between ideas and their realization in the field,” said KKL-JNF World Chairman
Danny Atar. “The story of renewing Zionism is the story of realization. Here we will provide tools so that everyone will have an equal opportunity for excellence.”
Atar also added that KKL-JNF’s work “is the result of our working concept that our most important job is to strengthen peripheral regions and to assist in those areas where no other entities are active. Among the first things that we did was to adopt the
pre-military academies and all of Israel’s youth movements, out of our conviction that Israel’s future is in its youth and the coming generations. Personal empowerment is part of the developmental program of each and every girl and boy, which is why we are trying to direct them towards deciding that self-realization can be about living and making a livelihood in the peripheral regions.”
The building of the KKL-JNF House was made possible thanks to the support of friends of KKL-JNF worldwide, including a contribution from the estate of Maurice Kamoun from Marseilles,
France.
Mr.
Ronen Plot, the Mayor of Upper Nazareth, took his honored guests for a guided tour of the center and to meet the youth active there. Everyone saw the teens’ technological innovations and their work in electronics, watched a debate and presentation on space, and spoke with the students about their activities.
President Rivlin and KKL-JNF Chairman Atar asked one of the boys how the KKL-JNF house helps him. “I came here after failing physics, and thanks to the tutorials I passed the last test,” he answered. Another girl said that she had failed in chemistry in the past, but thanks to the activities at KKL-JNF House, she was now getting grades that are over 80.
“For a mayor, there is no more important field to invest in than
education,” Plot said. “Our dream is to see our youth continue to make progress so that in the future we’ll have a ceremony in honor of a resident of Upper Nazareth receiving the Nobel Prize.”
The mayor also added that there are outstanding young people in Upper Nazareth. “At this very moment, some of our youth - students who won an international space competition - are at the space center in Moscow, and another experiment that was developed by our students was sent into space by NASA. KKL-JNF’s initiative to establish the first House of Excellence in our city is a real boon for us and for our city’s educational system, which puts education for excellence in all fields at the top of its priority list, out of the belief that every child can reach as high as possible if only they are given the opportunity.”
President Rivlin expressed his certainty that KKL-JNF House will contribute towards closing the gaps between peripheral regions and the center of the country. “This place could become a springboard for changing the situation,” he said. “Today, as we are celebrating Israel’s 70th anniversary, excellence is one of Zionism’s challenges, and KKL-JNF committed itself to achieving this important goal.”
The ceremony was emceed by comedian Dudu Erez, while singer Nadav Gedj had all the young people on their feet with his songs. The guests watched a creative video animation clip, which showed the idea behind KKL-JNF House, along with a movie of interviews with youth who spoke about the center’s importance for their studies and their lives.
The Upper Nazareth House is the first to be built by KKL-JNF out of ten that are planned around Israel. The next house soon to be built will be in Kiryat Malachi, and friends of KKL-JNF throughout the world are invited to be partners and to support the project. Activities at KKL-JNF houses are in cooperation with former IDF Unit 8200 soldiers and with outstanding teachers.
“KKL-JNF House will be the values-oriented base that connects between young leadership and their city,” said Danny Atar. “The gates that we opened today are the hope that Israeli society needs and that our peripheral regions deserve.”
Members of the French delegation currently participating in the Walk for Water came at the end of the ceremony to meet Danny Atar and Ronen Plot. The Mayor thanked the guests for the contribution of friends of KKL France towards building the House. At the conclusion of the visit,
Avi Mousan, Director of the KKL-JNF Houses, took the delegation for a guided tour of the site and explained to them about the activities taking place there.