Intensive Arabic Semester

Our program operates out of Kibbutz Barkai, which is located North of Tel Aviv and South of Haifa in the Wadi Ara Region (also called the Nahal Iron). The Wadi Ara is 20 km valley in Northern Israel that connects the Israeli coastal plain with the Jezreel and is mostly populated by Arabs. Today, highway 65 runs through the Wadi Ara along an ancient trade route. Although it was originally caputred by Arab League forces controlled by Iraq in the 1948 war, it was given to Israel in exchange for territory south of Hebron in the 1949 Israel-Jordan armistice. Kibbutz Barkai is located in the center of Israel and our students are able to travel easily to Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and plenty of other Israeli destinations.

Kibbutzes are collective communities in Israel that were traditionally based in agriculture. Today Barkai, like many other kibbutzim in Israel has privatized, but it still retains some of the original communal culture.

Our students are fully immersed in kibbutz life, from meals at the dining halls to meals with their kibbutz families. From enjoying the pool in the summer to spending Shabbat with the community, Kibbutz Barkai offers our students a home away from home while they are here.