In the winter of 2003 I was fortunate to be selected as one of 16 students to participate in Ambassadors for Unity. This is a program sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and Partnership 2000. The program allows 16 high school students to pair up with 16 students from Beit Shean.

We visited Beit Shean, and they visited Cleveland. Although that trip in 2003 was not my first trip to Israel, it was a trip that influenced me in a very important way. I fell in love with Beit Shean, the people, the area and the tight knit community. Ever since that trip I have kept in touch with my host family, the Edry's, always wanting to come back.

This past spring break, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend two wonderful weeks in Israel. My Emah and I stayed in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, we even spent Shabbat at Vered HaGalil. But the highlight of my trip was being able to spend three days back in Beit Shean, making a video. Thanks to the hard work of Zvia Shelly from Partnership 2000 and Julie Auerbach from the Cleveland Federation, I was able to make a video of life in Beit Shean.

This video is part of my senior project. The seniors at my school have the option of spending the last two weeks of their high school career working in their field of interest. Next year I am majoring in Jewish Studies at Indiana University. One of the things I wanted to do before I left for college was somehow thank the Jewish community in Cleveland for allowing me to be a part of the Ambassadors of Unity. Therefore, I decided to make a video about Bet Shean for the Cleveland Jewish Community.

Many of the younger Jewish children in and around Cleveland haven't had the opportunity to visit our sister city, Bet Shean. I spent three days video taping the places in Bet Shean, including Bet Cleveland, the supermarket, Huma Migdal, Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, the schools, and even the Edry's home in Bet Shean. One of the most special things for me was the ability to reconnect with some of the girls from my AFU group while I was there. I was able to have Or and Morag and her family help me with the video in order to make it more authentic.

I hope that this DVD will help to strengthen the bond between Bet Shean and the Cleveland Jewish community and that eventually someone in Bet Shean will come to Cleveland and make a video about Cleveland for the Bet Shean Community.

In the meantime, todah rabah Beit Shean and L'hitraot.