On July 16th, 11 JWRP women from the Greater Washington area visited the Partnership2Gether and were deeply inspired.

Devorah Buxbaum, one of the group's leaders wrote the following:

"WOWWWW! What an incredible day it was!  We left from Yad Vashem feeling emotional.  It was so sad to have seen so much destruction that happened to the Jewish nation...but we left Beit Shemesh tonight feeling so super energized and aware of the power of women and possibility for rebuilding, that it was incredible!!!

The afternoon started with the most adorable tour around Beit Shemesh with our "tour guide" Yehuda Gubany and his friend Chava who accompanied him with an accordion.  It was great to visit his shul and hear his Yemenite Troupe as he read to us from his siddur.

We then visited the Ethiopian National Project, where we heard all about how DC Federation supports this amazing cause for these wonderful kids. We also got to hear stories from an Ethiopian woman (who it ended up stayed at Tammy Bermans house a couple years ago, so that was powerful when Holly met her), who shared her experience about coming to Israel. 

We had fun at the EPN playing a competitive game with two teams and loved singing with the kids! We presented our gifts to the kids!

We then headed to a tap dancing workshop with Kerry Bar-Cohn, a.k.a., Rebbetzin TAP.  We had a wonderful time! 

The session with the local women from Mateh Yehuda and Beit Shemesh women was really inspiring. To hear about how these women were able to start up their small businesses thanks to the Partership2Gether was very powerful for our JWRP participants!

As Allison Stein reported, "I had been learning so much about the role of the Jewish women in the home. This trip allowed me to realize that the Jewish women can also have such an important role out of the home!".

We then went to the most amazing cafe , Margo's Cafe on Kibbutz Tzora for an INCREDIBLE dinner! It was delicious and meeting the other women from the region who joined us was a remarkable experience. Today was definitely a day NONE of our women can forget!!!!

Thank you so much for making this happen and for all the work that went into it. Amit did an incredible job and Brenda was so sweet!

What a terrific day!"

JWRP is an initiative of Aish HaTorah which is an international organization that aims to bring Jews around the world closer to Judaism. The idea is like a Birthright for adults. They bring women here who have never been to Israel. They tour all around the country and also have classes and speakers. The Partnership hosts them every year.