My name is Tina Yehudith Ben Atar, and I am the new Living Bridge Coordinator for P2K Arad Tamar – New Jersey Delaware.

With this new and exciting job I am closing a circle.

30 years ago I came to Israel to volunteer in a kibbutz.

As I descended the stairs from the plane in that early September evening and felt the hot air envelope me as a warm blanket, I had the strange feeling of coming home, something I had never experience before.

After two weeks at the kibbutz, I got annoyed by the fact I couldn’t understand the language and when I expressed my desire to learn Hebrew, I was told to go the Jewish Agency in Tel Aviv to see what they could do about it.

So I went, waited in line, and was that I could not join the Ulpan program since  I was not Jewish.

Now that was true, I come from a Dutch, non Jewish family, and at that time I was only vaguely aware of the fact my father is from Jewish descend.

But maybe I wasn’t Jewish at the time, I was stubborn (that’s my mothers side of the family), and did not accept their answer.

They told me to come back the next week and speak to another person (maybe hoping I wouldn’t show up?).

I returned, was more or less told the same version, and the week after I turned up again, and again.

The fact I am now employed by the Jewish Agency closes the circle.

Many things happened in those 30 years.  

I made it to a kibbutz Ulpan (kibbutz Regavim), stayed for almost a year and a half, then went back to study in Holland (English) and made aliya in 1984, immediately after finishing my studies.

I also had started studying in order to convert, and tried to be Jewish observant as best as I could under the circumstances.

Not an easy thing if you have only about 20 Jewish families living in the area and maybe one Shul service a month.

After coming here in February 1984, it took me a little over a year to convert.

It wasn’t easy, being sent back and forth from the Rabbinical court to studying more.

But I was stubborn again. 

It didn’t make me angry or frustrated, it only made me more determined to do what I felt was my destiny.

And now, after 23 years after making Israel my permanent home, I’m back again at the Jewish Agency, hoping to make that difference in other people’s lives.

Being a truly “Living Bridge” between those who are here, and those who are – still – on the other end.

It would mean a lot to me, if because of what I do more people would decide to come and settle in Israel.

But it doesn’t mean less if I, together with my co-workers here and in New Jersey - Delaware, the young emissaries we send, the missions coming and going and all the hard working  volunteers on both sides, make a difference for the whole Jewish people, young and old, observant or not.

I’m looking forward to getting to know the Partnership and all involved and hope to meet at least some of you in person soon.