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For Adam Jenshil, who took the reigns of Young Judaea's flagship Year Course on Feb. 1, the century-old Zionist youth movement has been more than just a career.

Jenshil, an alumnus of the Year Course himself, met his wife, Dganit, when they both worked as counselors of the program in the early 1990s.

"It has had a huge impact on my life, and I'm very proud to now lead the future years of this fantastic movement," Jenshil told The Jewish State in a phone interview from Israel on Feb. 4, three days after he was installed as the director of the organization's Year Course. "Young Judaea and Hadassah (Young Judaea's parent organization) have had a huge impact on my life not only professionally, but personally as well."

Jenshil, 39, has spent his entire career working for Jewish youth organizations, including three years as the shaliach (emissary) of the Northeast region of Young Judaea in New Jersey, which is based in Metuchen.

Young Judaea Year Course is a pluralistic gap-year program for recent high school graduates that combines travel in Israel with study, volunteer work, and 12 different specialty tracks, such as fashion, visual arts, and business.

Although Jenshil, who grew up in London, went to a Jewish day school there, he said that it was his involvement with the Federation of Zionist Youth (Young Judaea's sister program in the U.K.) that "started my connection with Israel."

"My involvement in the youth movement made me want to visit Israel and also sparked my interest in going for the year," he said.

Jenshil first visited Israel at the age of 16, when he participated in one of the Federation's short-term programs for high school students. "When you get to go off at the age of 16 for a month, there is nothing like traveling around with 40 of your peers around Israel for a month and getting to know the people and culture, and language, and food," he said. "It gets you going, starts that connection."

Following high school, Jenshil enrolled in Young Judaea's Year Course, where he spent the year immersed in Israeli society, past and present.

"There is nothing like studying about Israel and Jewish history and Judaism when the textbooks are the places around you," he said.

He then enrolled in the University of Leeds, graduating with a degree in ecology and zoology, after which he worked for a year as the national director of the Federation of Zionist Youth in England.

Over the next several years, Jenshil worked as a counselor on the Year Course and then in 1995 made aliyah and worked for Camp Ramah in Israel and served in the IDF.

In 1999, he joined Young Judaea's office in Israel and worked there for four years in its Short-Term Programs Department, helping to organize high school, young adult, and volunteer programs to Israel. In 2003, Jenshil became the shaliach (emissary) of the Northeast region of Young Judaea in New Jersey, where he lived in Metuchen for three years and worked out of the Hadassah office there for one year and then commuted to the New York office for the following two.

"I had a wonderful three years there," Jenshil said of his time in New Jersey, during which he toured the state speaking with Young Judaea and Hadassah groups.

Jenshil fondly recalled the YM-YWHA, that used to be located in Highland Park, where his twins, Lee and Maya (who are now 9 years old) attended nursery school.

In 2006, Jenshil returned to Israel with his wife and children, to serve as the director of the Short-Term Programs Department at Young Judaea until accepting his current position, following the resignation last month of Keith Berman, who served as the program's director for more than 10 years.

While he acknowledged that Young Judaea and Hadassah have faced financial challenges of late, Jenshil said he remains optimistic. "That's been the situation around the world," Jenshil said of the difficulties that many non-profits have endured since the recession began two years ago, "but we're heading into brighter times this year."

Jenshil said he is currently in the process of listening to staff, participants, and alumni of the Year Course to determine what changes the program should make, which he said will be announced in the next several weeks.

"At the moment, I think it's the best program out there, but that doesn't mean we can't make it better," he said.

"We will continue to always to look to improve where we can," he added.

Jenshil said that the Year Course has proved a formative experience for the thousands of Jewish youth, including himself, who have gone through the program.

"They grow as a person, as a Jew, as a Zionist, and as a human being," he said.