In the first three months of 2006, over two hundred youth groups visited Yad Vashem with the birthright program. Some 20 one-day seminars were held for Jewish teachers and students from all over the world, and a winter seminar and a Spanish seminar were held in January, with some 60 participants. From January to March seminars for IDF senior personnel were conducted, as well as preparatory seminars for “Witnesses in Uniform”—IDF delegations in advance of their upcoming trip to Poland.

In preparation for Holocaust Remembrance Day, the School was engaged in a number of special projects in the field of arts, including: “Visions”—a film competition for high school students on the subject of the Holocaust; “Meeting of Worlds”—a joint project for students of the Ohn School for disabled youth and students of Shenkar Art College, who created a poster exhibition; and “Musika—Young People Connect with the Holocaust”—performances by youth in different spheres, such as music, poetry, theater and the visual arts.

During the Chanukah vacation, some 1,400 participants in the year-long courses of the International School for Holocaust Studies visited Yad Vashem for a focused one-day seminar. Specially tailored seminars were also held for high school guidance counselors, kindergarten teachers, elementary school principals, principals of special education schools, and others.

In January 2006, Yad Vashem held a special course for teacher training instructors in the ultra-orthodox sector. On the week of 10th Tevet—General Day of Mourning—some 20 ultra-orthodox groups visited Yad Vashem, among them women from Agudath Israel, Beit Rivka Religious College for Women, Beit Yaakov Teacher Training Seminary, Gur Hasidic seminar, Moreshet Yaakov Religious College of Education, “Binyan Olam” Synagogue College, and Talmud Torah pedagogic teams.

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