Please join us for a brown bag lunch on Monday, July 12 from 12 noon to 2 PM at 126 High Street, Room 912 as we welcome 5 young Israeli leaders.

These student leaders are participating in a training for a Israel Friendship Project to be established in Israel during Summer 2005. The training began on June 17th and is taking place at the Interlocken /Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp in New Hampshire under the leadership of Richard Harman and Paula Rayman, chair of JCRC's Ethiopian Jewry Committee.

The 5 student leaders include 2 Jewish Ethiopians, two Israeli Arabs and one native born Jewish Israeli. The students underwent an intensive selection process and have shown great leadership potential through their experiences in the Open Apartment Project, working with children through the Neve Joseph Community Center in Haifa and through participation in the Yemin Orde community. Their one month stay at Interlocken will include training as camp counselors and also discussion regarding the challenges of designing a culture respecting diversity for the future Israeli Friendship Camp.

The overall purpose of the future Israel Friendship Camp, a partnership of Neve Yoseph Community Center in Haifa, Yemin Orde and Interlocken under the umbrella of the Boston Haifa Program of CJP/JCRC, is to foster a new generation of young Israelis and American students to come together to actively focus on the issues of building a civil society in which people of all backgrounds can live in a peaceful, democratic nation.

Tamuz 5764 - July 2004