Four Netanya Partnership 2000 (P2K) committee members had a whirlwind week in Cincinnati. They attended three consecutive nights of intensive, hours-long meetings with the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati's P2K team.  They joined the Federation's Young Adult Division (YAD) for an Israeli hip-hop concert.  They served as ambassadors, having met with Cincinnati's Mayor Mark Mallory.  They explored Cincinnati's rich historic and cultural sites.  And, most importantly, the Netanya team accomplished the primary purpose of its visit: to achieve a consensus on P2K's mission and goals.

The Netanya team came to our city to meet with the Cincinnati P2K committee members to work out the Committee's mission and vision- a difficult task working half-way across the world from different perspectives.  The delegation's working visit to Cincinnati afforded the Netanya committee a better understanding of their American counterparts and was conducive to results-oriented dialogue.

Explained Hirsch Wise, co-chair of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati's P2K Committee, "The dedicated and hard work put in by all of our volunteers and professional staff both in Netanya and Cincinnati over these past two years merged a mutually agreed upon Vision and Mission statement that I am sure many people would have said could not be accomplished! I congratulate everyone on achieving this milestone in our Partnership's relationship and anxiously look forward to moving forward with a truly meaningful program of building strong people to people relationships and funding mutually agreed upon projects."

"I found enthusiastic partners at both sides of the "pond" willing to think out of the box and take the partnership to new uncharted territories," said Jaime Amsel, Ph.D., who facilitated the dialogue between the two groups.

A key outcome of the meetings was the decision that, going forward, all P2K programs and expenses must support its broader mission: to create living bridges and human connections so that American Jews are attached not only to the land of Israel but to the people of Israel. P2K supported programs will have a people-to-people component, focusing on young adults ages 13-45.  This age group is where there is documented need to connect with Jewish identity and enhance this connection.

The Netanya group's visit accomplished more than a vision and mission statement: more importantly, the visit helped to build relationships between the committee members. For some of the P2K Netanya team, this was their first trip to the United States and their first exposure to Jewish life in America.  Not only did the visit help them better understand their American counterparts and sister-city, it also enhanced their understanding of how important American Judaism is to Israel.

"The greatest accomplishment was the personal "give and take", the mutual respect and affinity between all members, and the forging of a base for a mutual agenda," explained commented Tsila Evers, a member of Cincinnati's P2K Committee. "I had two members from the Israeli group stay with us for a couple of days. We had a great time getting to know each other better, spending time just socializing and creating a personal bond. We are now real friends- CHAVERIM."

Observed Dr. Gary Zola who gave the committee a tour of the American Jewish Archives: "I sensed that the representatives of our sister city, Netanya, were amazed by the rich Jewish history that is preserved at the American Jewish Archives.  Once they saw authentic letters that Prime Minister Ben Gurion had written to HUC president Nelson Glueck in the 1950s and 1960s, our guests immediately recognized the central role that Cincinnati Jewry has played in the course of the American Jewish experience," commented Dr. Gary Zola.

Noteworthy highlights from the group's visit included:

• Attending the Strong Black Coffee, an Israeli hip-hop band from Netanya, performance on November 29 at 20th Century Theatre.
• Attending the Bat Mitzvah of Carol Ann Schwartz's daughter.
• Meeting with Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory who returned recently from Israel.  The Mayor expressed an interest in pursuing our sister-city relationship and creation of a document, working with the JCRC,  supporting Israel@60.
• Visiting Crayons to Computers.  The Netanya committee was very interested to learn about this program's success, in line with one of the goal's of the group's visit to be inspire new ideas that could make a difference in Netanya: exchanging ideas and best practices.
• Touring the American Jewish Archives with Dr. Gary Zola.

The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati's Partnership 2000 Program (P2K) connects Cincinnati with Israel and specifically, its sister-city Netanya.  P2K builds human bridges, organizing community exchange programs and trips that create bonds within our global community that help bring Cincinnati and Netanya communities together to strengthen one another and bring about change.  For more information about the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati's P2K program, please contact Barbara Miller at the Jewish Federation.