Girls for success - part of them already serving in the IDF.

On a recent Shabbat in the Israeli town of Naharyia, 19 Jews from Boston sat in tight circles with 25 Jews from Haifa. Sharing their deepest feelings about being Jewish in this "Jewish Journey" seminar was one of the highlights of the four days they spent together in Israel.

"Our stories represent who we are as Jews," says Boston-Haifa Steering Committee member Debbie Kurinsky. "We all come from different places and now lived thousands of miles apart, but that morning we realized that, at heart, we all share our love of Israel and our common history and traditions as Jews."

It’s moments like these that put the "Connection" in the Boston-Haifa Connection. Engaged in work that spans the ocean, the Boston and Haifa members of the Connection’s Steering Committee are two halves that make up a powerful whole.

Harvi lowell - the director general of "Big Brother Big Sisters" in greater Boston and the "Boston father" for Girls for Success adressing the openning ceremony.

This was the first time the Boston steering committee had traveled to Israel exclusively to meet and plan with their Haifa counterparts, apart from a larger community solidarity mission. And the days – and evenings – were filled with planning sessions, workshops, briefings and social interaction. As they explored, evaluated and planned, they ramped up what is already a national model of Israel-Diaspora sister city relationships, and strengthened bonds between individuals and the two partnership communities they represent.

Dozens of the Boston and Haifa partners already keep in touch throughout the year via e-mail, telephone and videoconferencing. "But nothing replaces the face-to-face personal time we spend together," says Kurinsky, who chairs the Connection's Living Bridge/People to People Subcommittee.

"It really helps to solidify our relationships and reach new understandings about our differences and the things that draw us together."

The group gathered in Israel to plan the Connection's coming year. A CJP allocation of $1.2 million makes possible a wide range of programs including social services, job training, social justice, educational projects and student exchanges. And each of the Connection's six subcommittees focus the combined Israeli and American energies in such arenas as economic development, helping to integrate the Ethiopian-born into Israeli society, promoting a civil society, and helping Haifa's most vulnerable people.

"As we looked at the next year's programming priorities, with an emphasis on community-building and accountability, the group worked to refine the vision of where the Connection needs to be going," says Karen Doryoseph, CJP’s new Boston-Haifa Connection Director.

In addition to meetings, they also heard presentations about Haifa's pioneering bio-tech work, met with the city's mayor, Yona Yahav, and toured Ironi Hey High. And they learned about educational challenges and opportunities for Israeli Arabs, and services helping Ethiopian immigrants with education, job-training and Hebrew and life skills.

The group also met with Haifa's 29 participants of the Young Leadership Course and worked on plans to link them with CJP's YLD Kadima leadership group.

Another new Connection initiative is Yedid Mishpacha (family friend), which pairs veteran Israeli with Ethiopian-born friendship families in an effort to help the new Israelis acclimate. Next step for the program: To widen the circle by partnering them with Boston families.

A trip highlight was a visit to the new home of Girls for Success, which provides an after-school home-away-from-home for at-risk young immigrants. The program originated with a Connection grant and is now funded by the Haifa municipality. "This is the Boston-Haifa Connection model" says Stuart Rossman, Chair of the Connection's Boston Steering Committee. "We see a need and create a program to address it, then the municipality or another agency takes over, freeing up our resources to meet other unmet needs."

One chance conversation brought home the message of peoplehood for Boston artist and Israel activist Fay Grajower. The day after he'd seen Grajower's artwork, the group's normally silent guard told her his story: His father, a well-known sculptor, has suffered a stroke and the young man divides his time between university studies, his job and caring for his father. "So the worlds between Israel, Boston, art and life just got a bit smaller and tighter," Grajower says.

That closeness was felt by everyone involved, especially during the Shabbat "Jewish Journeys" seminar. "As we took our deepest and darkest feelings, experiences and fears out of the closet and shared them, we realized that no topic is taboo any longer," said Rossman. "Together we had the type of honest discussion you usually only have with your closet friends and family."

To learn more about the Boston-Haifa Connection, e-mail Karen Doryoseph karend@cjp.org .

Kislev 5765 - November 2004