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March 24, 2006
The Children of Israel
CJA helps immigrants, youth and others.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Normally when I travel, I take photos of things – buildings,
monuments, landscapes, what have you – including only the odd
picture of myself in front of such things to prove I was there,
too. My recent trip to Israel was different: I took more than 90
photographs of people.
As one of about 1,200 participants in the young leadership conference
Tel-Aviv One, I had the privilege of meeting some of the people
whom our Combined Jewish Appeal dollars are helping: truly amazing
Israelis doing much-needed work under very difficult circumstances.
What struck me most about these educators, administrators, volunteers
and others was their obvious joie de vivre, even though no one expressed
optimism about peace with the Palestinians or successful international
intervention in Iran's nuclear plans. As well, I was awed by the
cultural diversity that exists in Israel, with approximately one
of every two Israelis having immigrated to the country since 1948.
The leadership conference itself took place March 5-8, but the Jewish
Federation of Greater Vancouver led a pre-conference mission. The
federations of Toronto and Montreal also offered pre-conference
tours and our small group of four – Lauren Dudek, Greg Samuels,
Guido Setton and I – met up with them upon our arrival in Tel-Aviv
March 1.
The agenda was packed and every day except Shabbat went from a 6
a.m. wake-up to at least 10 p.m., after which many Canadians –
myself excluded – still had the energy to enjoy each other's
company and check out Israel's night scene.
For the first day of the trip, we separated, with Toronto heading
to Eilat and Montreal to Beersheva. Vancouver, accompanied by Jeff
Bicher, director of leadership development at United Israel Appeals
(UIA) Federations Canada in Toronto, and tour guide Eva Yaron, went
to our sister city, Kiryat Shemona, and its surrounding areas.
Yaron was an excellent asset, making every minute a learning opportunity.
She and Tzvi Sperber, the main guide for the Canadian group, provided
biblical to present-day context for the places we visited and for
sites along the way. They were friendly and engaging, and they enriched
the entire experience.
Our first stop was at Vancouver Talmud Torah's (VTT's) sister school,
Alei-Giva, which is in Kfar Giladi, about as far north as you can
get in Israel. Principal Ruthy Calvary and vice-principal Amoty
Or took us around the school grounds and buildings. Children were
happily darting about everywhere; some were playing a makeshift
game with a beat-up soccer ball, others were anxious to use the
computers in the library. The 375 children that attend Alei-Giva
live in a danger zone, with Lebanon a stone's throw away and Syria
nearby as well. The school has three bomb shelters – not enough
to provide a haven for all of the children, so the library is also
used, though it is not as protected. Classes are held in these shelters,
said Calvary, so that the children are not afraid to seek refuge
in them.
Calvary explained the importance of the Canadian connection, which
includes funding, as well as video conferencing, a pen pal program
and other exchanges with VTT. She said the relationship makes her
students feel supported and safe.
The importance of this hit home when we were taken to one of the
kibbutzim that is served by Alei-Giva. At Kibbutz Misgav-Am, we
were feet away from the Lebanese border and Mike Ginsburg, who sadly
died of a heart attack days after he spoke to our group, explained
to us the history of conflict in the area. The precarious position
of Israel could not have been more clear.
Coming face-to-face with this reality added a solemnity to the day's
visits to the Beyachad (Together) project at the Migal Technology
Centre and the Arthur and Ancie Fouks Community Centre that was
not mirrored by the people working at these places. The people we
met seemed barely able to contain their excitement at meeting us;
sharing the details of their work, as well as their appreciation
of Canadian financial aid.
At the Migal centre, which is in Kiryat Shemona, Beyachad project
manager Ilan Hadas told us there are 50 multi-partner educational
initiatives in the Galil region, ranging from programs to raise
student achievement to activities for children at risk to reforms
of school management. Dr. Dina Bartfield of Migal took us on a tour
of the facility, where a Beyachad program had gifted high school
students working on various advanced science projects with the help
of Migal scientists.
At lunch, we met other talented youth, who were volunteers with
the Idan movement. (Idan is an acronym for the Hebrew of
"Beautiful World Through the Youth.") Later that day,
we visited their home base, the Fouks Community Centre, which was
built with funding from the Vancouver family after which it is named.
At the centre, we met more involved youth and learned more about
the centre's programs from director Kfir Maoz.
The next day, we made our way to Jerusalem via the Jordan Valley
and through the West Bank. Following a moving visit to the recently
rebuilt Yad Vashem and another excursion, we rejoined the Montreal
and Toronto groups for Shabbat.
After one day of rest, the entire Canadian group headed to Mevasseret
Zion, a relatively wealthy suburb of Jerusalem and home to the country's
first kosher McDonald's, as well as the Jewish Agency-supported
Mevasseret Zion Absorption Centre. The centre is one of 35 such
places where new immigrants are given shelter and are educated for
their new lives. Mevasseret Zion houses 1,600 Ethiopians, more than
50 per cent of whom are under the age of 18. We were introduced
to a classroom of the most adorable children, who sang Hebrew prayers
for us, as well as to an adult class being taught Hebrew by a man
who himself was illiterate in his own language when he arrived in
Israel from Ethiopia about six years ago.
Another project we visited that morning was Atidim (Futures),
which enables young academic achievers from periphery (underprivileged)
communities in Israel to acquire higher education. UIA Federations
Canada is one of the Atidim funders, which include many corporations,
foundations and universities. The three-year-old program operates
in more than 120 schools in Israel and has about 7,200 students.
We met an enthusiastic class in Ramle at Gimnasia Atidim High School.
In proficient English, several of the students – including
a visiting university student – shared with us the positive
impact that Atidim has had on their lives, and the hope it has given
them for their future.
We had a couple more stops before joining the leadership conference,
including a briefing by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson
Aryeh Green on the security barrier being built by Israel. We met
him near Kalkilia, just north of Tel-Aviv. There, he explained to
us that a person could walk from our position to the sea in about
eight hours. Again, the enormity of Israel's existential predicament
was evident, as was the complicated nature of the security issue,
which will be discussed in a future Independent article.
The conference itself comprised several social events, lectures
and more visits to endeavors funded by North American federations.
I opted to learn more about the Peres Centre for Peace, which was
established in 1996 by Shimon Peres with the aim of encouraging
a "new Middle East," in which people of the region work
together to build peace.
We were treated to a short theatre performance by Israeli Naomi
Ackerman and Palestinian Achsen Turkieh called Sisters, Enemies,
where the two women share how they became friends despite their
differences, which are spoken of freely and with humor in the play.
Eran Levi, deputy director general of the centre, provided an overview
of its various departments, which correspond to the types of activities
it co-ordinates – peace education, international relations,
medicine, civil society, business and economics, and sports. Department
directors fleshed out the details of several initiatives. We were
also shown a video about the mixed sports teams and watched two
other videos, one that highlighted a medical project in which Israeli
ophthalmologists trained Palestinians doctors and another in which
Israeli doctors provided life-saving surgeries to Palestinian babies.
It was inspiring to see that such projects are being undertaken.
It was also affecting to hear about some of the cases with which
Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Viveca Hazboon, who works with the
centre, has to deal. She spoke of the negative effects of the intifada
on Palestinian children and of how she has managed to convince a
few would-be homicide bombers to choose a different path.
The penultimate stop on our week-long tour of federation-supported
projects was the Betar Youth Centre in Rehovot, which is part of
the Ethiopian National Project (ENP). The ENP was created to help
the many Ethiopians who are having difficulty adjusting to life
in Israel; more than 70 per cent live under the low-income threshold,
for example. At the youth centre, we were honored with a traditional
Ethiopian coffee ceremony after we made several collages to give
to the youth served by the centre.
Last, but not least, on our final day, we visited Ehad Ha'Am Public
School in Hadera, where the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
has one of its language programs that uses unique methods such as
storytelling and theatre to help Kavkazi children learn Hebrew.
The children, who are from the Caucasus Mountain region of the former
Soviet Union, often have trouble acquiring Hebrew language skills,
which impacts their academic achievement and self-esteem. We were
welcomed to the school by a talented choir and, after hearing about
the program, we were invited to participate in a couple of the puzzle
games, as well as theatre-type exercises. Two mothers took the time
to speak with us about how their children have benefited from the
program.
The trip ended with a farewell concert at an airforce base near
Ben-Gurion Airport. Arriving at the base was unexpectedly emotional.
That a small country that contributes so much to the world must
live in a state of perpetual war is so incredibly sad. Chatting
with the young, cheerful IDF soldiers who may not live to see their
career and family dreams fulfilled gave that tragedy yet another
human face.
Money given to the CJA doesn't just go to pay the salaries of North
American federation employees. It helps fund many innovative and
courageous ventures locally and in several countries worldwide,
including Israel. Seeing some of those undertakings in person and
receiving firsthand the appreciation of our help was gratifying.
We have a lot to be proud of ... and a lot more to do.
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