Yom Hazikaron & Yom Ha’atzmaut In The Words Of Young Emissaries

Posted by JLedger on May 4, 2011 in CT News, Jewish Holidays

Many American Jews are aware of Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel Independence Day – when the Jewish state pulls out all the stops to celebrate the day in May 1948 when it came into existence.  Not as many American Jews, however, know that Yom Ha’atzmaut is preceded each year by another equally significant day on Israel’s calendar.  Yom Hazikaron – Israel Memorial Day – which honors the state’s fallen soldiers, is marked on the day before Yom Ha’atzmaut.  When Yom Hazikaron ends…Yom Ha’atzmaut begins. Connecticut’s Israel Young Emissaries told us why these two important days are held consecutively…and how they are celebrated at home.

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A Shin Shin From Toronto:”Someone Is Thinking About You In Israel!”

Shalom everyone!

It’s been so long! Time passed by so quickly and before I could make peace with the fact that the year in Toronto has come to an end, I was already deep in my old-new life, back home in Israel.

Let me start with two apologies: to everyone who I couldn’t say goodbye to before I left, and an apology for not doing a very good job with keeping in touch. I promise to try harder!

Well, as you can see in the pictures below, I am a soldier now! It’s been three weeks and I have been enjoying it very much. The first two weeks were the basic training- Tironut, every soldier goes through it, but in different forms (depends on his/her job).

I finished my Tironut last week, and I am very proud to tell you that in the ending ceremony of the Tironut my commanders announced me as the best soldier of the unit, out of 75! I believe that the right term would be graduated with honors.( מצטיינת טירונות)

Last week I started the course that will train me for my job. It is 4 months long. We are studying a lot, and have 2 tests every day, plus a concluding test at the end of every week. It is interesting and will get much more interesting as the material gets harder.

I feel like the year I spent in Toronto has made me so much more prepared for what I am experiencing now. I am much more mature, more organized, with more experience and a better idea of who I am and who I want to become.

And when all the girls are desperate to go home at the end of the week because they miss their families and friends, I smile to myself… I mean, what is a week comparing to a full year in the snow, eh?

I would like to thank you for being a part of that, you are a part of who I am now. I miss you and think about you all the time. Everything reminds me of Toronto and sometimes it’s hard to keep my thoughts to myself, because it is almost impossible to share them with someone who hasn’t been through it.

Experience in US Leads Nine Young Israeli Women to Each Celebrate Bat Mitzvah

There are nine young Israeli women who never expected to celebrate a bat mitzvah. But thanks to their experience with Jewish life here in the US as emissaries this past year – a far cry from their “secular” homes in the Afula-Gilboa region in Israel and the predominant Orthodox practice funded by the Israeli government – the nine have reconnected with their Jewish identity and learned there is another way to observe Jewish law and tradition.It is the Masorti way: open, tolerant, egalitarian, pluralistic.

In fact, more than half of the bnot mitzvah took place in Conservative synagogues in communities in Connecticut and central Massachusetts where the young women were living and working for a year of national service prior to enlistment in the IDF. They are participants in the Israeli Young Emissary Program, jointly sponsored by Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) and the Jewish Agency for Israel. The federation consortium is partnered with Afula-Gilboa. (The other ceremonies took place at one Reconstructionist and two Reform congregations.)

Unfamiliar with many aspects of Jewish life practiced in a context of openness, tolerance, pluralism and modernity, the young women broadened their view of religious observance working in the SNEC Jewish community in day schools and after-school congregational schools; with youth groups; and in homes for the elderly.

“When I was 12-years-old, I did not have a bat mitzvah. I did not even know girls could read from the Torah. But today, when I am 18-years-old, I got my second chance to become a bat mitzvah,” Hadas Nafshi told the Shabbat morning crowd at Beth Tikvah Synagogue, a Conservative congregation in Westborough, Massachusetts. In her dvar Torah on Parshat Parah/Ki Tissa, delivered from the bimah, she compared herself to the Jewish people, who got a second chance after committing the sin of the Golden Calf…Press Here For More

Young Emissary From Beit Shemesh Sums Up A Year With The North Virginia Community

Michaela Cohen from Beit Shemesh was sent by the Jewish Agency as a young emissary to one of the partner communities (the community of North Virginia, which is part of Greater Washington). We, at Partnership 2000 Beit Shemesh – Mateh Yehuda – Washington – South Africa, asked her to provide us with a mid-term summary. We can only be proud of her and wish her every success in her second year there too.

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A Special Video from our Israeli Emissaries

This year, our community has been blessed with two young women from Israel – Dvir Dor and Keren Shemesh – who have devoted their year of service to bringing Israel to our synagogues, JCC, Merkaz, youth groups, Jewish Home, Day School and many, many families.  As we enter the final months of their time with us, we asked Dvir and Keren to create a short photo collage that captures just a bit of their tremendous impact on our community’s children, youth and adults.

Please view this “youtube” video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDxYjQIWKNk to see this past year through their eyes.  The video shows how Israel has come to our community through the efforts of these two exemplary young women.

Karen ,Young Emissary from Afula,Celebrate Bat-Mitzvah In Her Community

The principles of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, women mandate that women be fully integrated in religious ceremonies.

In recent years, we have begun to encounter an increasing number of our females Young Emissaries who choose to hold a religious bat-mitzvah ceremony after being introduced to and living in a progressive Jewish community in the US.

The Young Emissary’s family generally comes to celebrate the ceremony in the US with her, thus seeing first-hand the experiences enjoyed by their daughter during her national service in the Jewish community…Read More.

March pictures of the Shlichut in Baltimore

On the day we started the second half of our Shlichut we went to see Hadag Nachash in concert. We toured around Baltimore together with the Diller group from Ashkelon and had a great time. In our spring vacation we went to see the Amish people in Pennsylvania, and the Naval academy in Annapolis. An excellent start to the second half of the year!

Pictures 

Movie

This Is An Article That Was Written For The Jewish Chronicle In Worcester

Our Young Emissaries And Their Host Families

For each of the last 12 years, young Israelis just out of high school become temporary residents in 13 communities throughout Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Sponsored jointly by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) of Jewish federations, the Israeli Young Emissary Program of Partnership 2000 brings these teens to serve as “ambassadors” of Israel for 10 months before their Israeli military service. each of the last 12 years, young Israelis just out of high school become temporary residents in 13 communities throughout Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Sponsored jointly by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) of Jewish federations, the Israeli Young Emissary Program of Partnership 2000 brings these teens to serve as “ambassadors” of Israel for 10 months before their Israeli military service..Read More

Israel, Environment At Forefront Of Darchei Noam’s

 
For environmentalism and green living, along with strong links with Israel. From study sessions with scholar-in-residence and environmentalist Rabbi Lawrence Troster, to preschool songs about caring for our planet, Darchei Noam, Toronto’s only Reconstructionist synagogue, is big on green. Even the synagogue’s home is environmentally friendly – with solar panels, light sensors to conserve electricity and more; in fact the building’s environmentalism is a key value in itself. That’s why, on Sunday, January 31st, children and their families at Darchei Noam took part in what has become a new tradition among progressive Jewish communities: a Tu b’Shevat seder… Read More