A delegation of 10 leaders from Pittsburgh’s Partnership 2000 communities of Karmiel and the Misgav region, in Israel’s Galilee, were in Pittsburgh conducting meetings and providing briefings throughout the community on the current situation in Israel.

Partnership 2000 builds people-to-people connections between Israeli communities and Jewish communities throughout North America through an array of educational, cultural and economic initiatives. The current Partnership meetings are for the purpose of evaluating current programs and planning for the future. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are linked to Karmiel/Misgav through the program.

The delegation, comprised of professional and volunteer leadership, addressed some 50 individuals at a community dinner reception this week, just prior to a phoning session on behalf of the Israel Emergency Appeal and the Annual Community Campaign. Participants heard impassioned accounts of life in Israel from Misgav Chair Scott Mann and Hana Koval, Karmiel City Administrator; a Partnership 2000 update from Pittsburgh Chairs Essie and Raven Garfinkel; and an Israel Emergency Appeal update from Co-Chairs Karen Shapira and Edgar Snyder. UJF Chair Jim Rudolph commended the Partnership leadership for their hard work and the program’s ongoing successes.

During their two-day stay in Pittsburgh, the Israeli delegation also spoke at local community agencies, gatherings of the Young Adult Division and Cardozo Society and in private homes. In a briefing for UJF professional staff, Misgav Chair Scott Mann stressed the need to strengthen the Jewish presence in our Partnership 2000 region, which currently has a demographic of 70% Arab to 30% Jewish. He emphasized that financial and human resources, including advanced education among residents, is considerable in Karmiel/Misgav, but that there is a need to encourage more Israeli Jews to settle in the area.

His goal for the Partnership entails involving more people - both in our community and in Israel - in the program and increasing the prevalence of visits to the area by Pittsburghers. He also feels it is critical to build connections for the next generation, so that our children will feel a bond with Israel and be equipped to respond to anti-Israel bias. He stressed that e-mails from members of our community have “really fortified” him during the current difficulties in Israel and such communications make the people of Israel feel “less isolated.”

For information about Partnership 2000 and opportunities for getting involved, please contact Rebecca Reiser at rreiser@ujf.net .

Sivan 5762 - May 2002