Getting Together: The Michigan - Central Galilee Young Leadership Contingent

We gathered from Natzeret Elit, Migdal HaEmek, Kibbutz Ein Dor, Alon Ha Galil, Nahalal, Hoshaya and Givat Ela; and we gathered from the Detroit suburbs and Ann Arbor, 37 of us, together at last, after months of individual group meetings, talks, and planning.

We put ourselves into a new situation, one of partnership, a new relationship in the family of Jews.

We celebrate together the 50th year of the modern State of Israel; we celebrate 100 years of modern Zionism, we celebrate 3,000 years of Jerusalem, and now we come together again to celebrate and to share, to remember and rebuild, to learn and to teach.

All of us, the partners in this grand new experiment, enter this new relationship with more than a bit of trepidation; after all, not knowing the end product can be a daunting and frustrating thing.  We are, at first, tentative, edging around the subject of who we are, what we are about, what we want, and what we can do.  We talk, we listen, we endeavor to overcome our tentativeness, and we learn.

Seventeen Israeli Jews sit around at tables with nineteen American Jews, young leaders in our communities, committed to our communities, used to speaking with others, in front of others, leading others.  Yet we are tentative, sharing stories of trips to Israel, trips to America, places we’ve been and things we’ve seen or experienced. We slowly learn about each other, and our stories become more personalized, our sharing more intimate. 

What is American Jewry? What is Israeli Jewry? What do we believe? How do we believe? How do we raise our families? How do we pray? Do we pray? How is our Jewishness expressed? What can we learn from each other? What can we teach each other?  What are our goals as a group? Why have we come together? What is it we hope to accomplish?  

We sit now next to each other; we eat with each other, we spend time with each other, and we begin to talk.  We talk about ourselves, our families, our lives, our hopes and our dreams.  We begin to insert ourselves into each other’s lives.  

American Jewry believes many things about themselves, and about Israel. We believe that Israel is the place of the Jews, the ‘halutz,’ the pioneer depicted in the advertisements (the one wearing the ‘kova tembel’) building the nation of the Jews.  We believe Jews in Israel are Jews because they live in the Jewish State.  We believe that Zionism built the State of Israel.  We believe that, except for perhaps some radical ‘haredim,’ Israelis are the embodiment of pure Jewry

As our time together progresses, we all learn more about each other. We learn about who we are, what we believe, what we dream and hope for the future.  Israelis visit Americans and meet our families, eat with us, talk with us, learn about our lives here in America.  We also learn about our Israeli friends, we see the pictures of their families, we hear about their lives, jobs, beliefs and spirituality.  

We all travel together to Washington, DC to participate in a unique experience.  Every two years, the UJA Young Leadership Cabinet; over 400 committed and involved young leaders from all over the United States and Canada, present a conference that is attended by 3,000 young Jews from all over the US.  This year, included in that number were Israelis, participating in Partnership 2000; young leaders from communities all over Israel.  Michigan’s Partnership 2000 region is the area of the Central Galil.

Our visions become clearer as we spend more time together; along with professional staff to assist us in our vision.  We look to Yoav and to Devorah, and to Tanya and Tovah to help us negotiate through building ourselves into a cohesive group, a collaborative group, and a family.
We are all strengthened by the vision of Bob Aronson of the Detroit UJA Federation, who has nurtured us all the way, and through his vision, ours becomes clearer.

What happens at this conference that helps our group understand each other better?

Several points emerge. Israel is no longer David fighting the Goliath of the combined Arab worlds.  Peace is breaking out all over; Israel is a major economic power, its people are wealthier and more secure than ever.  It is becoming clear to us, especially to the Americans, that the old relationship of giver and taker will not work any longer.  We must build new relationship based on collaboration and, well, partnerships.  The structure of the Jewish community and the building of a Jewish community is the focus of some of our conversations.  

We ask questions, the Israelis ask questions, and we together begin to focus on issues and questions that are impact the future of the Jewish identity, both in the United States and in Israel.  We listen to speaker after speaker at the conference talk about Israel-American relationships, pluralism in America and in Israel, Jewish identity and Jewish education, re-defining the role of American support for Israel, re-defining the structure of the American Jewish Federation, and focusing our passion for the Jewish people towards something that provides concrete action.

I can sense what the future might be. I have been part of planning it.  Our time together has been a beginning; we are part of a process that is changing the landscape of Jewry worldwide.  Acceptance and pluralism, self-identity, continuity; these are phrases that we, the next leaders of the Jewish world, are redefining such that all Jews will have a place at the table and be part of the family.  We are more confident that it is possible, especially after our time together.

At the conclusion of the Washington DC conference, we all went our different ways, some returned to Israel, some stayed on to visit relatives, the Americans went back to Michigan.  I woke up the next morning and returned to my job.  But I am different.  My thoughts have been altered because of this meeting.  I am, I know, on the verge of wonderful new experiences.  I think all of us are. This is a beginning for all of us.  We will remain in contact over these next few months; and in June, 1998, we will all meet again in Israel.  There, we will deepen our relationships and strengthen our commitment to the future we have laid out in front of us.  After all, how could we do less? It is the work of building our family; the family of Jews.

  May 1998