A program in the Mediterranean resort city of Netanya – a sprawling beach town municipal leaders like to refer to as “the Israeli Riviera” – is introducing local second-graders to a centerpiece of Jewish life many have never before entered: the synagogue.

Run by Chabad-Lubavitch of Netanya, the program distributes individual bound copies of the Torah to an estimated 90 percent of the city’s youth, gathering them together for special ceremonies each fall at local synagogues.

According to Rabbi Noach Sollish, public school classes are first introduced to a rabbinical scribe, who visits schools in the area and demonstrates how he writes letters in a Torah scroll. Later, each class is taken to a nearby synagogue to see Torah scrolls up close.

Rabbi Levi Yitzcha Tiechtel, education director for Chabad-Lubavitch of Netanya, estimated that roughly 2,000 students take part in the program each year.

“This is their first encounter with a synagogue,” said Tiechtel, “and it leaves a lasting impression. Because of this, they have a reason to come again.”