On December 11, 2016 the academic director of the International Yiddish Center at the World Jewish Congress, Dr. Mordechay Yushkovsky, gave a lecture in Jerusalem for 43 officers of Israeli Defence Forces, who participate in the "Mahut" project.

This is the joint project of the IDF, "Genesis" foundation and WJC Yiddish center, its main goal being to explore Jewish history and Jewish identity.

The cooperation between IDF and WJC Yiddish Center started on September 8, 2016 in Vilnius. Within the "Mahut" project the participants visit Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and objects connected with the Holocaust.

The Jerusalem lecture has been held under the insistent request of the officers, since their previous meeting in Vilnius raised their great interest in Yiddish culture as a key component of searching for Israeli/Jewish self-identification.

The subject of this lecture was "Longing for Zion in the Yiddish Literature". This topic has high educational value and emphasizes self-sacrifice of the Jews for the retrieval of Zion.

The officers expressed their unanimous wish to carry on cooperation with WJC Yiddish center and to include topics of Yiddish culture into "Mahut" program in 2017.