By Cindy Mindell
Published: Wednesday13/10/2010 At The Jewish Ledger (the Jewish newspaper of Connecticut).
For each of the last 12 years, young Israelis just out of high school become temporary residents in 13 communities throughout Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Sponsored jointly by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) of Jewish federations, the Israeli Young Emissary Program of Partnership 2000 brings these teens to serve as "ambassadors" of Israel for 10 months before their Israeli military service.
Working in synagogues and day schools, senior residences and JCCs, the Young Emissaries work to strengthen the ties between their host communities and their partnership region of Afula-Gilboa in northern Israel.
While in their SNEC communities, the emissaries live with host families, one of the most important aspects of the program, says SNEC Israeli Young Emissary program director Sharon Conway. "It's a metaphor for the whole concept of the program," she says, "a microcosm-like opportunity to build living bridges in a very basic and intimate way." The emissaries develop very close relationships for life with their host families and are introduced to American and American-Jewish cultures from a native perspective. The families develop ongoing relationships with their emissaries, keeping in touch after their service year and often visiting them and their families in Israel.
The program works to make suitable matches between each emissary and host family. During training in Israel, the teens are taught the importance of the host family's role and the basics of being a good house-guest. In each SNEC community, the local program coordinator meets with the candidate host family at home to make sure the arrangement will be a comfortable one. Each family hosts for three or five months.
"While hosting is open to any kind of family, the program requires that each family have a Jewish home life and children, whose presence enhance the experience for all involved," Conway says, "because more levels of connection are possible with both adults and children."
Feedback from the emissaries and families has been nearly unanimous: 90 percent of families would host again, and all emissaries list life with their host families among the top experiences of their service year. In fact, Conway says, the program has to turn away many veteran host families who would like to host again. "We try to not have repeats because our mission is to involve as many people as possible and broaden the touch of the program as much as we can," she says.
"Most of the families who take advantage of this opportunity are doing so because of their own interest in learning more about Israel and the culture and developing a relationship with Israel via the young emissary," she says. "The family and emissary are starting with a basic commonality of Judaism and they come to appreciate how it bonds them, how it makes them different, and how they can learn from each other."
Here is a look at what several of the families hosting this year's "crop" of emissaries have to say about their experience.
SHOHAM FAMILY, WEST HARTFORD
EMISSARY: OR SHAHAR
We have three kids, two girls and a boy. Our oldest daughter Maya just graduated from college and is spending time in Chile. Our second daughter Koreen is in her first year of college. So, our son Ben, a sophomore at Kingswood Oxford School, is the only one home. Ben loves having his sisters at home and with the two of them gone, there has been a void. We feel that Or is just like a son to us and a brother/friend for Ben. So, our home and table is just a little bit fuller by adding Or to our family. I am from Israel and have been living here for the past 27 years. Although I visit Israel, there is a lot that I miss not being there on a daily basis. Or helps bridge that gap. He brings with him the recent day-to-day happenings in Israel.
We were hoping to have another son to be part of our family, another member to share holidays, shabbat, meals, a person to share our daily lives with us. My kids enjoy having a family. Having Or is creating more of a family for all of us. We are enjoying sharing first experiences with Or, like his first snow. I have a picture of Ben and Or in the first snow. We are planning to take him skiing, to a UConn game and other things. We love taking him to our favorite places to eat (Ben made a list). It is fun to see these everyday life occurrences that we enjoy but have become our routines through a new set of eyes.
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SCHINE-KLINGHER FAMILY, WESTPORT
EMISSARY: INBAL MAGEN
Inbal was a wonderful addition to our family. [She] is currently living with another host family but we do see her every week or two. We were fortunate to have our daughter's bat mitzvah while Inbal was in our household. She was able to help Natalie with her Hebrew and remind our daughter of the religious significance of events that she was reading from her Torah portion. Inbal helped to bring Israel to life, in the day-to-day living as a Jew in a Jewish state. She and my teenage son would often have political discussions over dinner. Inbal's experiences and day-to-day life in Israel could be conveyed in a manner that television and the media were unable to portray.
All 14 young emissaries spent a night at our house and it was heartwarming to see them all get together, partying, talking in Hebrew and listening to the universal language of rock. They were all such mature, confident and respectful young adults. We also had the opportunity to meet Inbal's mother; she came and stayed with us for a few nights on her way to a conference in California. As we are both doctors, she and I could compare notes on the differences and similarities in health care between the two countries.
The best thing about hosting Inbal was Inbal herself. She was a wonderful, cheerful, intelligent young lady. Our only wish is that she could have stayed with our family longer. We do plan on visiting Israel in the future and hope that Inbal will serve as our tour guide.
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CHESKIS-GOLD FAMILY, NEW HAVEN
EMISSARY: MATAN AVIEL
This is the second time we have been a host family. Our youngest son, Carmi, is a senior in high school who plans to spend a year in Israel before going to college. It seemed to be a good idea to have an Israeli who is just a year older than Carmi live with us this year in order to 'prime' Carmi for next year. Also, next year, Carmi will now have someone to visit and hang out with in Israel!
I suppose the 'lowlight'' was that Matan got Swine Flu, and I, taking care of him, contracted it as well. We two tried to segregate ourselves from the rest of the family for most of a week. I guess that gave us a nice bond in terms of the time we spent together!
A highlight of the experience is that Matan has become an integral part of Carmi's group of friends that meets at synagogue on Shabbat morning and hangs together on Shabbat afternoon. Besides the fact that it is fun for everyone to have a great guy like Matan around, it is also nice that Matan, who comes from a secular Israeli family, has had a chance to experience Shabbat in a unique non-Orthodox American way.
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COHEN FAMILY, WESTPORT
EMISSARY: NA'AMA KELMAN
We will be hosting Na'ama Kelman in the spring. We decided to be a host family so that we could forge a stronger bond with the emissaries. Na'ama has also said that she will help all of us with our Hebrew! My daughter Julia is going to Israel this summer, so we thought this would be a great way to enrich that experience. Even though Na'ama is not yet living with us, we see her often and can't wait for her to be here full-time.
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SIMONSON FAMILY, WATERFORD
EMISSARY: HADAR ELYA
This is our second time hosting. We first hosted Aviel Maftsir in 2005-2006. We had such a good experience that we are hosts again this year to Hadar Elya.
Mainly we were hoping that our three children, Joel, Eli and Leah would form a bond with the emissary. This in fact has happened. Joel was in Israel this past summer with USY and spent a weekend with Aviel's family on their moshav. He also had a chance to visit with Aviel in Eilat. We are sure that our children will remain close with Hadar and we hope that they will visit her in the future in Israel.
Highlights have been visits by the emissary's family. Aviel's parents Yuval and Rena came during Passover, and Hadar's father Yoel just was here. We also visited with the Maftsir family when we were in Israel in 2007. It is really wonderful to feel that we have family in Israel to visit.
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SCHLAPFER FAMILY, GREENWICH
EMISSARY: HAMUTAL ZIMBERG
We thought hosting a Young Emissary would be a good experience and we have a 17-year old son. We were hoping to see the world through the lens of someone from Israel. Hamutal is a wonderful young woman who has enriched our lives by her presence in our home for the last four months. She is easy going, fun, diplomatic and very different from American 18-year olds -- less jaded.
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BROSTOFF FAMILY, WESTPORT
EMISSARY: NA'AMA KELMAN
We decided to be a host family when the Westport-Weston coordinator of the program, Susie Weiner, asked me. She had been given my name by a mutual friend. I was a little nervous, but thought it would be a great opportunity for my family to learn more about Israel. I was hoping to bring a little bit of Israel into my home. I have been there, but no one else in my family has.
Na'ama built our family our first Sukkah and we had a traditional dinner in the sukkah which she cooked for us. We took Na'ama to Orlando - Universal -- and this was a great bonding experience. I really felt that she became part of our family at this point.
Na'ama taught me how to make the best Israeli salad that I continue to make weekly. Na'ama was so excited for her first Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to share that American experience with her and two of her friends who were visiting.
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BROSTOFF FAMILY, WESTPORT
EMISSARY: NA'AMA KELMAN
We decided to be a host family when the Westport-Weston coordinator of the program, Susie Weiner, asked me. She had been given my name by a mutual friend. I was a little nervous, but thought it would be a great opportunity for my family to learn more about Israel. I was hoping to bring a little bit of Israel into my home. I have been there, but no one else in my family has.
Na'ama built our family our first Sukkah and we had a traditional dinner in the sukkah which she cooked for us. We took Na'ama to Orlando - Universal -- and this was a great bonding experience. I really felt that she became part of our family at this point.
Na'ama taught me how to make the best Israeli salad that I continue to make weekly. Na'ama was so excited for her first Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to share that American experience with her and two of her friends who were visiting.
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AVNI-SINGER FAMILY , NEW HAVEN
EMISSARY: KAREN BRUSTEIN
We are hosting Karen Brustein, an incredible young woman from Kibbutz Izrael in the Afula/Gilboa area of Israel. Our children attend Ezra Academy and for years we have welcomed the emissaries to the school community and always thought that at some point our family life will be such that we will be able to host one of these energetic kids in our home.
I grew up in Israel, both my husband and I have family in Israel and we are a family that travels to Israel often. At the same time, I don't feel that my kids have a sense of what it's like to live there. Our visits are as tourists and we are always there on vacation. I hoped that having a connection with the emissaries who are youngsters would allow my kids the opportunity to understand life in Israel from a perspective that is meaningful to them, and perhaps forge relationships that they will want to maintain.
I am in total awe and amazement at how dedicated and hard working Karen is. I have tremendous respect for the courage and commitment she shows in coming pretty much alone to a large and strange community having to negotiate multiple new roles, take on leadership, forge relationships, carry out responsibilities and all while representing the identity of a very complex country and political situation in the utmost respect and pluralistic attitude.
An unexpected gain for me personally has been the chance to speak Hebrew daily and connect with aspects of my youth.