More than
Students currently attend YABA schools
Alumni positively impact Israeli society
Percent of students complete their bagrut (matriculation exams) and go on to serve in the IDF/sherut leumi
Years as leaders in the field of religious-Zionist education
Students currently attend YABA schools
Alumni positively impact Israeli society
Percent of students complete their bagrut (matriculation exams) and go on to serve in the IDF/sherut leumi
Years as leaders in the field of religious-Zionist education
American Friends of YABA
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Yonina Eldar received a bachelor’s degree in physics and a second bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, both from Tel Aviv University. She earned a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and was a postdoctoral fellow in MIT’s Digital Signal Processing Group.
Prior to this, she attended Ulpanat YABA Tel Aviv.
“There were several schools close to my home, but I chose to travel to Ulpanat YABA Tel Aviv,” she explains. “My daily commute took two hours—in each direction!—but it was worth it. The education I received, and the friendships formed at Ulpanat YABA Tel Aviv still inspire me today.”
Yonina Eldar is currently a professor in the Department of Math and Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
She is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, an IEEE Fellow and a EURASIP Fellow. She is a Visiting Professor at MIT, a Visiting Scientist at the Broad Institute, and an Adjunct Professor at Duke University and was a Visiting Professor at Stanford.
Professor Eldar has received numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching and was named one of the 50 most influential women in Israel and one of 50 distinguished women scientists in Asia. She was a member of the Israel Committee for Higher Education.
She is author of the book Sampling Theory: Beyond Bandlimited Systems and co-author of four other books and is the Editor in Chief of Foundations and Trends in Signal Processing.
Ofer Winter is a brigadier general in the IDF who serves as commander of the Fire Formation, Israel’s highest division of paratroopers and commandos.
Winter, the oldest of four brothers, was born in Rechasim and raised in Kiryat Ata. He inherited his military skill from his father, David, who fought in the Yom Kippur War.
Winter attended Yeshivat YABA Or Etzion, YABA’s military boarding school, and the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli.
In 1990, Winter joined “sayeret matkal,” the IDF’s special reconnaissance unit. He went on to train as an officer, and then served as a team leader in the elite Maglan commando unit.
He then served as a platoon and company commander and participated in several military missions, including Operation Grapes of Wrath.
Winter then held several command positions in the Givati brigade in the war against Palestinian terror during the second intifada in Gaza. Under Winter’s command, his battalion was cited for outstanding service and received The Medal of Distinguished Service, the third highest medal awarded by the IDF.
Winter served in numerous command positions, including as brigade commander of the elite, counter-terrorism Duvdevan Unit during the Gaza War. Winter’s battalion was singled out for outstanding military achievement. He was also the commander of the Givati brigade during “Operation Protective Edge.”
In 2015, Winter was appointed to head of the Central Command staff, going on to serve as military secretary for the Minister of Defense.
Winter attributes his success to deeply-held Torah principles that guide and anchor him. These values were nurtured and developed at YABA and Bnei David in Eli.
Winter, who lives in Mitzpe Netofa, is married to Revital. He is the father of eight children and has four grandchildren.
Rabbi Haim Sabato was born in Cairo in 1952. He descends from a long line of rabbis from Aleppo, Syria. His family moved to Israel when he was five, and he was educated at Yeshivat YABA Netiv Meir, where the rosh yeshiva, Rav Arye Bina zt”l, was a formative influence.
A tank gunner in the IDF, Sabato fought in major battles of the Yom Kippur War, an experience that became the basis of his later fiction. Rabbi Sabato is the co-founder and teaches at Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Sabato’s first novel was published in 1997, and his second novel, Ti’um Kavanot (Adjusting Sights), was awarded the prestigious Sapir Prize for Literature in 2000 and the Yitzchak Sadeh Prize for Literature in 2002. His novels Aleppo Tales, Adjusting Sights, From the Four Winds, and The Dawning of the Day have all been published in English.