Jerusalem mayor: 'School's secret to success is its special balance of holy and secular'

On July 5th, 130 men, who only thirteen months prior lacked high school level mathematics, English, and science, graduated from the Jerusalem College of Technology’s (JCT) Mechina, a pre-academic preparatory program, which qualified them to enter higher education.

The Mechina provides classroom instruction, private tutoring, reinforcement courses, individual counseling, and mentorship opportunities to maximize the likelihood of each student’s success.

“Over the years, the Jerusalem College of Technology has succeeded in providing many haredi youth with the tools to help them integrate into the workforce that will serve them and their families,” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said. “The school’s secret for success is its special combination of balancing the holy and secular. It is one of the oldest institutions in Jerusalem that offers high quality academic degrees without abandoning the spirit found in the Beit Midrash (the Torah study hall).”

Lion stressed: “JCT serves as a stabilizing force for the city. It offers haredi men and women the chance to obtain a professional degree in a way that does not compromise their beliefs or their lifestyle and gives them a fantastic pathway to upward economic mobility.”

Yonatan David Rosen, a Mechina graduate, said, “Those who want to succeed professionally must study math, physics, and English. I didn’t have the baseline of knowledge in those fields, especially in English. The program’s curriculum was a difficult one, but we received a great deal of help. Tutors assisted us with everything we needed — all we had to do was ask. Thank God, today I read English well, I am proud to have been accepted as a JCT student, and I am looking forward to earning a living as a software engineer.”

“This Mechina program enables the academic success of these young men. Without it they would not qualify as students in higher education, which leads to high-paying jobs and careers,” noted JCT Vice President Daniel Fogel. He added, “It is a true source of pride watching students who begin degrees in computer science and engineering only a year after learning arithmetic.”

“We are dedicated to integrating haredi men in the workforce, especially in high-tech professions,” Fogel said. “As such, we give them access to an esteemed team of lecturers, tutors and mentors who guide these students with patience. Alongside that, their study in our beit midrash (religious study hall) remains a central core of both who we are as an institution and their identity as religious men.”