YOUTH TO YOUTH
by Simon Griver

Youth-to-Youth is an informal education program based in Beit Shean and the surrounding region, which is both funded by the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000, and which aims to nurture the connection between Beit Shean and Cleveland teenagers.

"In addition to fostering the Israel-Diaspora connection," explained Tzvia Shelly, the coordinator of the Youth-to-Youth program, which is affiliated with the Bnai Brith World Youth Organization, "we have four other aims - to create a youth leadership, to get the youngsters to help each other, to get them involved in community work and to enhance their love for the Land of Israel."

For the Beit Shean teenagers, the culmination of the Youth-to-Youth program will take place in December when a lucky 20 Israeli youngsters are selected to travel to Cleveland, Beit Shean's matched community in Partnership 2000, to spend a week being hosted by their Jewish peers in Ohio. In March 2000 a delegation of Cleveland teenagers will make the return trip to Beit Shean.

Moran Suriya, 16, was part of the group of Beit Shean teenagers who traveled to Cleveland last year.

"It was an unforgettable experience," she recalled. "We were welcomed with such warmth. The Americans were very different but we were also very similar. We had a lot in common, especially our Jewish traditions and value of family and community."

Indeed one of the major emphases of Youth-to-Youth is responsibility to the community. The youngsters are taught the importance of the volunteering and helping the needy. Following a successful campaign before Purim to send "mishloach manot" - treat packages to the elderly, the 50 youngsters who regularly participate in the Youth-to-Youth program decided to conduct a similar campaign for the High Holy Days sending food to fill up the refrigerators of the elderly and needy in the town.

"I encourage the youngsters to initiate their own projects," said Shelly. "There is a leadership committee of seven that heads meetings. The teenagers come up with the ideas and I approve or refine the project."

The project for the High Holyday festivals was funded by local businesses.

"We approached local food manufacturers and other businesses," said 17 year old Amit Biton, "told them what we were trying to do and they were happy to donate."

Other projects initiated by the Youth-To-Youth group in Beit Shean included a local clean-up campaign to rid the town of garbage. Several dozens participants from Beit Shean also took part in a national young leadership program, meeting Knesset members and government ministers in Jerusalem and discussing the challenges facing the country in the next 50 years.

The Youth-To-Youth youngsters also hosted and toured around Israel youngsters from throughout the US who participated in Israel Experience programs and also worked alongside Clevelanders who volunteered in Beit Shean in the Otzma program last spring, and at the Kefiada summer camp in July.

"I worked as a counselor alongside Cleveland college graduates at the Kefiada," recounted 17 year-old Keren Azulin. "They taught elementary school kids English. I was paired with a Cleveland counselor and we became great friends."

Shelly stressed that an important element of the Youth-to-Youth program is that it brings together the youngsters from Beit Shean itself with the teenagers living in the surrounding kibbutzim and moshavim of the Beit Shean Valley.

"The two groups do not get enough opportunities to mix with each other," explained Shelly. "The program helps rectify that problem."

Shelly's main regret is that she can only choose 20 of the 50 youngsters who regularly participate in the Youth-to-Youth program to travel to Cleveland. "

September 1999