Who Are The American Friends of Maccabee Institute?

You will now read about an organization that answers a host of human problems, that has various teams of lay people and professionals who can respond to your particular difficulty. We are a crisis intervention team per excellence. We consistently come up with creative and effective approaches to complex situations. We have a long track record of quiet accomplishments of rehabilitation, rescue, reach out and emergency counseling. There is a long list of difficult problems of human frailty and breakdown that much bigger organizations have given up on. Mossad Maccabee has taken up the challenge, ran the extra mile and succeeded beyond professional expectations.

The American Friends of Maccabee Institute began twenty years ago when several Gruss Institute students decided to contribute something significant to Israeli society.  Since then, this tax-exempt, fully volunteer organization has helped hundreds of disadvantaged youth and their families.

Our goals are preparing, maintaining, and executing volunteer programs, including educational, artistic, and religious guidance for the handicapped and socially disabled.

The response
A unique creative educational institution

The Maccabee Institute is an organization designed specifically to help individuals who have strayed from an attachment to their heritage. Through its innovative programming it attracts hundreds of teenagers and young adults to share in Jewish experiences. With the help of its uniquely talented staff of volunteers it has created a warm and affectionate atmosphere in which to teach and educate those seeking their roots. No one is turned away. No one is discouraged. Young men and women, from all walks of life, find a safe and healthy haven at the maccabee institute. Shabbat services and Oneg Shabbat programs are run throughout Israel to expose young men and women to the beauty of their heritage. Through the religious services , song and dance, it has touched the spiritual souls of these people.
The Institute has been extremely successful at helping Russian immigrants who often have no Jewish background of any sort. The Institute has created a network of educational forums geared specifically to care for the special needs of these immigrants.

The challenge
A problem of Jewish Identity

  Assimilation is rampant and we are loosing our Jewish children.
  The rate of intermarriage amongst Jews is increasing beyond 50%
  Attendance at synagogues is decreasing rapidly.
  Interest in adherence to Jewish traditions and values is decreasing steadily.
  Attachment to a Jewish communal institution is disappearing.
  Russian immigrants who are in need of a Jewish education are coming to Israel in      large numbers.