For the first time, a delegation of young people from Arad-Tamar will be sent to teach Hebrew in the Jewish Community of Atlantic City - Cape May.

One of Partnership 2000's most successful programs in Arad-Tamar is the Kefiyada - a three-week day camp conducted every summer in Arad which encourages students in grades 4-8 to speak English. The beauty of this program which began operating in Arad in 1997, is its marvelous and refreshing integration of Israeli and American counselors, for which it has been widely praised in Israel and overseas.

Based on our positive accumulated experience with this project, we decided to emulate it in the United States this year. Partnership 2000 will send a group of counselors from the Region to run an American day camp called the Ivriyada that aims at exposing American Jewish children to Israeli culture and lifestyles and achieving outreach between Israeli and management Jews. The Atlantic City - Cape May Jewish Community, which is part of the Southern New Jersey Community Cluster partnered with Arad-Tamar, responded to the challenge and promoted the project, guided by shaliach, Yuval Shefi.

The screening process in Israel was very difficult. A team of four local Partnership 2000 project operators and volunteers faced a tough dilemma: How to select only five counselors from among so many applicants, all of them with astounding qualifications. Although this is not the first time we have encountered young people from Arad-Tamar, we cannot conceal our amazement at their marvelous abilities and qualities. Local pride filled our hearts once again. At the end of the meticulous process, which included personal interviews and a screening workshop, we selected six discharged IDF veterans, all of them residents of Arad-Tamar, to serve as genuine ambassadors to the United States. The counselors will participate in additional training before they leave Israel.

Camp will begin on June 30, with two four-week sessions. Counselors will stay in the United States for about eight weeks, living with a different local family for each session. The project is entirely financed by Partnership 2000 and the Atlantic City - Cape May Jewish Community.

Sivan 5763 - June 2003