By Maya Shoham, P2K Living Bridge Coordinator

As part of Partnership 2000, one of the Jewish Agency's flagship program, Jewish communities around the world maintain personal connections, a "living bridge", with Israeli communities and towns. In the Hadera Eiron - UJC Southeast Region Partnership, "Jewish People-hood Day" has become a tradition. This year some 2,000 students from the region took part in this event.

Elementary and high-schools in the region conducted activities, in parallel with Jewish schools in the USA, focusing on Jewish identity and connections with the Jewish Community around the world. As part of the activity, the students opened with discussions dealing with our identity as American Jews, Israeli Jews and how can our connection help us strengthen our Jewish identity.

The Partnership's regional youth leadership program participants (YP2K team) led activities at Elisheva high-school, Pardes Hana agricultural school, Multi-disciplinary Center (Amal), Beit Eliezer Junior high and high-school, Mevo'ot Eiron and Gvanim.  The youth showed impressive leadership skills in the activity, which encompassed many students at their school.

Some of these students went last summer to the communities in the USA as summer camp counselors and returned full of life long experiences. Their discussions with their peers focused on the differences between Jewish lives in Israel and in the communities abroad, the challenges facing the Jewish communities and the importance of the connection on both sides. Our youth return from their visit to the communities with a strengthened sense of Jewish-Israeli identity. The meaning of "being a Jew" receives another dimension in the States. Usually we hear them saying that if the religion in Israel was as "fun" as in the States, they would attend synagogue more often.

This is the second year that Jewish People day was conducted in the elementary schools in the region: Reut in Menashe, Alonim in Pardes Hana and Zafririm in Hadera. The schools adapted the activity to the children' age: bringing from home objects with Jewish-family-tradition value and presenting them, conducting Kabalat Shabbat, learning Shabbat chanting and conducting games and other activities dealing with Judaism around the globe.

Recently our region hosted a Educators exchange delegation from our partner communities in the US. The American educators were dispersed last week at various schools in the region and worked together in order to become acquainted, cooperate and create awareness about Diaspora Judaism. This visit, and reciprocal visits of educators from our region to the American communities, builds relationships and friendships between teachers and partnerships between classes and students, which expose the children to the many meanings of having a friend across the ocean, starting from actual practicing of English and ending with understanding the cultural gap and differences.

The Jewish People-hood day this year is the delegation's summary and conclusion celebration.

Partnership 2000 activity in the region is not religious, but it exposes the tradition that binds us all and opens the way to enhancing the students' Jewish and national identity, to the connection with other Jews, our differences and similarities. The content of the activity is meaningful and full of insights as to personal identity. Jewish People-hood day strengthens each student's personal identity.