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We believe strongly in the power of education for tikkun olam (repairing the world), and we also know that education alone is not enough to bring about the change we wish to see in the world. Therefore BINA combines education with providing skills and opportunities for hands-on social action.
Partnership | BINA partners with dozens of grassroots organizations, schools, municipalities and government offices, working together with local communities and initiatives to support and empower them to bring about the change they wish to see – and to make sure that our work is truly impactful.
Pluralism | As a social and educational organization, BINA encourages and empowers individuals and communities to learn and explore the change they wish to create locally and globally, without dictating what that change should be.
Rooted in Education | We see social action, activism and volunteerism as part of the educational process and vice versa. Our social action is rooted in learning and our learning is informed by our interaction with the world around us. For us, our social action is a part of our education, and education is an act of social activism.
Every year, BINA brings hundreds of individuals to volunteer with underserved populations in Israel and beyond. We provide our volunteers with training, guidance and supervision to make sure that our volunteerism is impactful and meaningful. We also strive to empower individuals from underprivileged backgrounds to engage in meaningful volunteer work and to blur traditional distinctions between “volunteer” and beneficiary.
BINA’s newest mechina, GEVA, is dedicated to assisting Yotzim (those who have decided to leave the insular ultra-Orthodox community) in fully integrating into mainstream Israeli society. What sets BINA apart from other programs is that instead of providing piecemeal support, Mechinat GEVA is a holistic, comprehensive, full-time program to support these young adults to gain and build the skills they need for long-term success. Our program helps Yotzim with daily life skills needed for independent living, establishing financial independence, drafting into the army , and preparing for higher education and/or meaningful employment.
BINA works with cities, neighborhoods, and communities across Israel in projects of community organizing and empowerment. BINA uses pluralistic Jewish learning and culture as a tool to empower individuals and communities to work together and create the change they wish to see locally and globally.
The Jewish tradition speaks of both tzedek (justice) and tzedaka (acts of giving and social action working toward justice). At BINA we engage in tzedaka (social action) every day, while also working to shape the Israeli and global Jewish discourse on matters of tzedek (justice). We do this through educational outreach, public events and activities, publications – and engendering a more open, public discourse on what it means to be a Jewish state and to be global Jewish citizens in the 21st century. For example, our flagship “We Declare” project invites Israelis and Jews around the world to come together in studying Israel’s Declaration of Independence and exploring what it means to be Jewish and democratic in the 21st century.