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Celebrating the 20th anniversary of a program that helps make its students' journeys to Israel a reality, Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen is hosting a concert with legendary singer and composer Debbie Friedman on Sunday, April 25 at 3 p.m.

Friedman, who in 2009 released her 22nd album ''As You Go On Your Way: Shacharit -- The Morning Service,'' last performed at Neve Shalom in 1993. Each year since 1991, the synagogue had welcomed prominent Jewish artists such as David Broza and Avram Grobard, and groups such as Beged Kefet, for the Susy Schwartz Memorial Scholarship/Passport To Israel Program and Annual Concert.

The objective of the annual program, explained organizer Rena Kallman, is ''to bring a vast cultural reserve of Jewish music names directly to the community.'' The event is always around the time of Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), which fell on April 19 this year.

''You could probably name a name, and we had that person in the 20 years,'' Kallman said.

The Passport To Israel project provides a $1,000 voucher to bar and bat mitzvah students at Neve Shalom, redeemable towards the cost of any Israel trip that has an educational component taken between 9th grade and the end of college. Since the program's inception, over 90 youths at Neve Shalom have used their ''passports'' -- including 10 in 2009 alone.

While a number of Jewish federations or central agencies for education manage programs that award stipends for Israel travel, not many have ''initiated their own program with their own funding,'' said Dr. Eliot Spack, chair of the Susy Schwartz Fund.

Schwartz, who died at age 47 in 1990, loved three things during her lifetime -- Israel, music, and young people -- that are the inspirations for the fund as well as the annual program, Kallman said. Her enthusiasm for Neve Shalom as chair of the membership committee, Kallman said, attracted ''some of our greatest members.''

''When she held an open house, people joined,'' Kallman said, calling Schwartz a ''magnet.''

''She was almost irreplaceable as a worker, and never replaceable as a person,'' she said.

Spack added that Schwartz's death ''set us back in many ways.''

By running the Passport To Israel program, Neve Shalom understands that traveling to the Jewish homeland is a critical step in cultivating the Jewish identity of youths. ''I think the synagogue is mindful of the fact that Israel is prominent in the mind of the modern Jew,'' Spack said.

Neve Shalom's program is also unique because, unlike many others, its stipend does not expire at the end of high school, Spack said. That can be especially valuable for a college student who attends a free Birthright Israel trip but wants to follow that up with a subsequent educational Israel experience, he said.

''They cannot use the passport if they are just going on a trip with grandpa and grandma,'' Spack said to emphasize that the vouchers must be used for educational trips.

The 3 p.m. concert on April 25 is at the synagogue, 250 Grove Ave., Metuchen. Tickets are $25 per adult and $12 per child (under 12 years old) at the door. Full concert information is at http://www.neveshalom.net/debbiefriedmanform.html.

To find out more about Debbie Friedman and listen to her music, visit http://www.debbiefriedman.com/.