On December 10th, a delegation of ethnic cooks from the Region will leave for the Partnership community in Washington as part of the Beit Shemesh-Yehuda Plain-Washington-South Africa Partnership 2000 of the Jewish Agency. The activity will take place in synagogues and community centers in Washington itself and in North Virginia and will include workshops on cooking and spices and food festivals.

The cooks will prepare ethnic food according to their countries of origin. Some 600 people are expected to attend each of the events. Apart from the cooking, each of the cooks will have a personal exhibit with emphasis on their ethnic background.

Five cooks were chosen to represent the Region: Bat Sheva Gabai and Aliya Gabai from Moshav Gefen who will prepare Moroccan food; Lili Aziz from Zecharia who will prepare Kurdish food; Leora Samuel from Beit Shemesh who will prepare Ethiopian food; and Dina Alfasi from Beit Shemesh who will prepare Tunisian food. The delegation is organized and accompanied by Smadar Kaplinsky.

"A Sample Meal" took place in mid-November which was attended by representatives of the Partnership, the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council and Washington. Thanks for the incredible food!!!

This is the second ethnic food delegation from the Region to the Partnership communities. The first delegation traveled to South Africa in 2004. In the summer of 2008, another delegation of cooks will leave for South Africa. The Partnership hopes to continue this tradition in years to come.

The Partnership attributes the highest priority to promoting the region's economy and helping small businesses.

We wish success to the cooks and bon appetit to the Jewish community of Washington!!!