Kivunim Gap Year is a “Year-On” program:

Study about and travel to 10-12 countries from Morocco to India

Receive 30 transferable college credits

Meet and study with some of the greatest authorities in the world

Explore the Israel/Palestine struggle with critical thinking, open dialogue and no easy answers but knowledge and understanding

P R O G R A M O V E R V I E W

KIVUNIM at a Glance

  • Explore international history, culture, philosophy, art, music, and religion, while deepening your own Jewish Identity through the intercultural/religious experience.

  • Our teachers are distinguished historians, writers, poets, artists, musicians, philosophers, journalists - religious, political, and business leaders from around the world.

  • Open to graduating high school seniors

  • We live and have our offices at Mishkenot Sha’ananim in the heart of Jerusalem

  • We travel to up to 12 countries from Morocco to India

  • Fully accredited academic program (up to 30 college credits)

We Seek Students Who Value

  • Openness: We encourage students to look beyond our inherent biases and welcome engaging new and often challenging perspectives.

  • Curiosity: Our integrated curriculum and educational approach enables students to embrace big questions and explore the unknown.

  • Knowledge: Critical thinking is at the core of our academic program and both enables and encourages our dialogue with the “other.”

  • Experience: We believe that by doing, the foreign becomes the familiar.

  • Connection: We dare to be changed by those we encounter.

APPLICATION STEPS:

  1. Create an account

  2. Complete online application

  3. Submit the required application fee

  4. Submit required supplementary materials

TRANSCRIPTS + LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

• Advisor Name

• Advisor Email

You will be asked to provide an email for your college advisor on the application form. Please let them know that they will receive an email directly from Kivunim requesting an upload of your transcript and recommendation letters. We request at least two letters of recommendation (at least one a humanities teacher). Non-USA students should contact our office to submit materials.

TEST SCORES

Please upload a copy of the scores you received from the SAT/ACT exams. Please upload all scores in one file.

ESSAYS

Essays should be 500 words or more

  1. Why Kivunim? Why is Kivunim right for you and you for Kivunim.

  2. Autobiographical Essay. Tell us who you are as this will complete our sense of where you are coming from, and where you are headed.

Tuition

Tuition for the full 8-month program includes: roundtrip airfare from NYC to Tel Aviv; all meals and housing; a comprehensive academic program of five courses totaling 30 credits; an experiential itinerary of approximately 10 weeks of international travel; all internal Israel travel & programming; museum and other special event admissions; medical insurance; as well as many additional extras.

Kivunim's all-inclusive tuition includes housing at the beautiful guest house of Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem, all meals (other than on free weekends and vacations), all housing and meals on up to 4 international trips totaling 10 weeks, all museum and other site admission fees, all guides and the full academic program of both Arabic and Hebrew Languages; Land, People, Ideas: The Challenges of the Middle East; Civilization and Society: Homelands in Exile, our core Curricular study of Jewish Civilization integrated into both acacdemic and experiential encounter with the countries of our travels; Visual Learning: The Art of Seeing; weekly Film Festival; weekly Agents of Social Change lecture series and much more. Kivunim students may receive an official transcript from Hebrew College of Boston, MA, allowing them to transfer up to a full year of 30 credits to most North American Colleges and Universities. The cost of the official Hebrew College Transcript is $1650 and is optional.*

The Kivunim tuition for 2025-2026 is $64,900 and tuition for 2026-27 and early enrollment discounts will be announced by September 1. To qualify for the early enrollment discount the student must have completed the admissions process, parents/guardians signed the contract and paid the deposit and first tuition payment by February 1, 2026. 


* Transcript fee is set by and paid to Hebrew College and is subject to their annual review and change.

Financial Aid

Financial Aid funds are distributed on a first come, first served basis, and are needs-based. Completing the application process as quickly as possible is to your advantage. Admissions are processed on a rolling basis throughout the year. The date and time of your application is automatically entered when you click "Submit." (An incomplete application is not considered an application.)

Financial aid is available upon submission of a COPY of the FAFSA form required of college financial aid applicants and a specific request from the family to Kivunim. 

In addition to our scholarships, your local synagogue, JCC, Bureau of Jewish Education and/or Federation may have scholarship funds available.  Call your local Jewish Federation directly to check on available funds and application procedures.  We suggest calling rather than relying upon email.