What is the Village Way?
The Village Way refers to both an educational methodology developed at Yemin Orde Youth Village in Israel, and efforts to expand those techniques throughout the country.
The Village Way methodology was initially created by educational visionary Chaim Peri at Yemin Orde — a home, school, and safe haven for 450 at-risk youth in Israel. Over decades, the Village has helped some of Israel's most marginalized teenagers become accomplished students and value driven professionals.
The Village Way Educational Initiatives brings the Village Way methodology to other at-risk communities in Israel, including secular, Ultra-Orthodox, Druze, Bedouin, and Arab Israelis.
Together, these efforts are impacting Israel in many positive and transformational ways.
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About Youth Villages
Youth villages have played a vital role in the development of the modern state of Israel. In the 1940s and 1950s, such villages integrated waves of new immigrants into a cohesive Israeli society. Beginning in the 1960s, other youth villages were created to nurture young people from troubled homes, providing an educational framework for such immigrant and native-Israeli youth. Over the decades, Yemin Orde has remained the most successful youth village for turning at-risk youth into highly productive members of Israeli society.
Yemin Orde Youth Village
Yemin Orde Youth Village, located on 77 acres atop Mount Carmel in northern Israel serves 450 at-risk and immigrant youth from around the world. Most of the children have suffered trauma in their young lives including loss, neglect, abandonment and extreme poverty. At Yemin Orde, they find a home, a family, and a future.
Jewish and Israel education is integrated into daily life at Yemin Orde in a vibrant and meaningful way. Children learn about prayer in morning discussion groups and services, Shabbat and holidays are celebrated, and the youth build a connection to their new home through field trips and hikes all over Israel, where Torah and modern Zionism come together.
Graduates remain connected to the Village long after graduation and often return for guidance, assistance, and celebrations. This lifelong support is one of the unique elements that makes Yemin Orde Youth Village a model of excellence.
The Village, founded in 1953 by British Friends of Youth Aliyah, was named for British Major General Orde Charles Wingate, an ardent supporter of the Zionist cause. “Yemin Orde” means “in memory of Orde”
Village Way Educational Initiatives
In 2006, the Israeli Ministry of Education encouraged Yemin Orde to expand its innovative methodology to other at-risk populations in Israel. This resulted in the formation of Village Way Educational Initiatives (VWEI). Now over 2,800 educators from dozens of communities have received training, workshops, and funding for programs to help transform the lives of thousands of students and their families across every facet of Israeli society
The effect on Israel has been nothing short of transformative. It has enhanced the spiritual well-being, character development, and leadership potential of first-generation and native-born Israelis who come from poverty-stricken families and broken homes.
The Village Way methodology has also been integrated into university-level education courses and in Israel’s public high-school school system. Branches of the police forces and IDF have also used it to provide an environment that allows youth from underrepresented communities to succeed.
The Methodology
The Village Way is a comprehensive educational methodology inspired by the African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." Based on years of success at Yemin Orde Youth Village, it serves as a blueprint for educators working with youth-at-risk. It provides educators with a unified language, shared values, and a step-by-step work process, while enabling youth to refocus their energy from daily struggle to achieving success by embracing the concepts of Tikkun Olam (healing the world) and Tikkun HaLev (healing the heart).
The Village Way envisions graduates as self-reliant, productive adults, with a sense of social responsibility.
Read about the 10 core components to this amazing educational philosophy/methodology.
